On the shady Le Duan street, there is a small handicraft workshop resounding daily with the whir of grinders and the buzz of cutting machines. There, coconut shells once thought to be discarded are adorned with shimmering mother-of-pearl, transformed into souvenirs imbued with the essence of Hue.

On the afternoon of January 29, as part of the contest “I Love My Homeland’s Seas and Islands” for the 2025-2026 academic year, the City Party Committee’s Commission for Information and Education and Mass Mobilization, in coordination with the Coast Guard Region 2 Command, organized a working delegation to visit and present Tet gifts to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers in My Thuong, Phu Ho, and Thanh Thuy wards and communes.

After three months of implementing the renovation and embellishment work, the Historical site of the burial place of Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan (the mother of President Ho Chi Minh), with many components, has been completed.

For over two decades devoted to mother-of-pearl inlay work, Phan Tan Dat, born 1992, has transformed seashells into shimmering masterpieces on horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, guarding screens... preserving the complete ancient soul of Hue.

In the days leading up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, the children in my neighborhood have been joyfully practicing. Calling it a “unicorn dance troupe” sounds grand, but in fact, it’s just about a dozen kids from grades 1 to 7. One contributes an old drum, another brings a unicorn head or a Mr. Earth mask, while some dig through closets for their mothers’ Ao dai, … all gathered together to form an eager, lively team of little unicorn dancers.

On the afternoon of September 8, Hue Central Hospital held a discharge ceremony for pediatric patient Vu Quynh C. (6 years old, from Bac Ninh), who had just successfully undergone an allogeneic bone marrow transplant to treat Thalassemia. This was the hospital’s 11th Thalassemia bone marrow transplant, and notably the first case in Vietnam using marrow donated by the patient’s biological mother.

In Thanh Thuy Ward, I met Minh, a 10-year-old boy in a Taekwondo uniform. Three years ago, he was a shy child, often sick and reluctant to communicate. But in the summer of 2024, his mother enrolled him in a nearby Taekwondo class. After just three summer months, Minh not only became healthier but also gained the confidence to give presentations in front of his class - something he had never dared to do before.

Organizing STEAM educational experiences for students; a warm art night dedicated to mothers; a journey carrying books to a remote village; and a discussion with young people about French architecture, etc., these activities gave August a warm start at Hue Book and Culture Space - a cultural meeting place that, despite being new, has become a cherished part of Hue.

From July 21st to 31st, Hue City Center for Disease Control organized a series of activities across local communities to implement the Action Plan of Hue City’s National Nutrition Strategy for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2045.

Bringing cooking into poetry is something the people of old time once did. And I, drawing from the treasure trove of proverbs and folk verses my mother passed down, have learned many rustic yet profound lessons about cooking.