Early childhood is a crucial period for personality development. Due to  economic conditions and insufficient resources in central Vietnam, many preschool classrooms are housed in dilapidated community buildings or village offices, with inadequate space, lighting, and hygiene, posing threats to the safety and learning of young children. Therefore, Zhi-Shan Foundation TAIWAN initiated the "Early Childhood Care Program" in remote areas of central Vietnam in 2004, assisting communities in building early childhood care centers. At the same time, the program supports children's nutritional needs, such as providing nutritious lunches and soy milk at school, allowing parents to focus on work without the need to retrieve their children at midday. This initiative helps stabilize economic income sources, realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of "End Poverty,” "Good Health and Well-being," "Quality Education," and "Reduced Inequalities." 

 Starting from 2022, Zhi-Shan has been redirecting resources originally allocated for building early childhood care centers towards establishing toy libraries. Each toy library can serve around 300 children, enabling children to learn and grow through play, safeguarding their right to play and develop.  

Community Voice 

My child is 5 years old this year and is currently in the last year of kindergarten. I remember that 3 years ago, before he went to school, he was weak and often sick. I took him to see a doctor, and the doctor said that he was malnourished and needed to supplement his nutrition. However, our family is very poor and there are many children. My husband and I mainly farm, so we have no money to buy meat, fish, and milk for our children. When my child was 2 years old, the teacher came to my house to encourage him to go to school. Because he was very young and often sick, I didn’t want him to go to school, but with the encouragement of the teacher, I agreed to let my child go to school. After a while, he often told me when he came home: "Mom, I like going to school because I can eat delicious food in school. I like to drink the soy milk cooked by the teacher the most." I am very relieved to see that my child has obvious changes, he gets sick less often, eats well, sleeps well, and is healthy.  (Mother of Xiaozhu from Banang Kindergarten)