Vietnamese soldiers wrap banh chung to celebrate Tet in Africa

Instead of using frozen beef like last year, the Vietnamese Engineering Team in Abyei (Africa) had pork, dong leaves, and sticky rice to wrap banh chung (square glutinous rice cakes) to celebrate the traditional Tet holiday.

Major Nguyen Mau Vu, Political Commissar of Engineering Team No. 2, said this year, officers and employees on leave in Vietnam were assigned to buy decorations, candies, dong leaves, sticky rice and especially pork to send to Abyei, a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan.

"Due to religious reasons, people in Abyei do not raise or eat pork. Every Lunar New Year, finding ingredients to make banh chung is very difficult," Mr. Vu explained. Last year, the team had to wrap banh chung with frozen beef and banana leaves.

As soon as the raw materials were delivered to the base, the team commander organized a banh chung wrapping competition among the teams. Although they were used to driving excavators and bulldozers every day, the engineering officers were very skillful in the kitchen, wrapping square banh chung in three minutes.

Vietnamese soldiers decorate for Tet and make banh chung in Abyei

Vietnamese soldiers decorate for Tet and make banh chung in Abyei. Video : Engineer team

To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, officers have pasted dragon images on doors and walls, used dry branches, colored paper, and artificial flowers to make peach and apricot trees. "In the coming days, the team will set up a stage and decorate the flag-raising yard of the Command Headquarters to organize performances, tug-of-war games, blindfolded goat-catching, water balloon hitting, and stick pushing," said Major Vu.

The Engineering Team organized a volleyball match with the Abyei locals and invited some Nigerian soldiers to serve as referees. After the match, the Team gave the locals some gifts and invited them to enjoy traditional Vietnamese food.

Abyei is a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan. The two countries signed an agreement on June 20, 2011, pledging to withdraw troops from the demilitarized zone in Abyei and establish a joint mechanism to resolve the issue. However, so far the two countries have made little substantive progress.

The 2nd Engineer Team, consisting of 184 officers, was deployed to Abyei from August 2023 with the main mission of humanitarian work, supporting the people in this town. The team regularly builds and renovates roads, bridges, drainage systems, school and hospital infrastructure in the area; and rescues UN and civilian vehicles in distress.

Son Ha

Source link: https://vnexpress.net/bo-doi-viet-nam-goi-banh-chung-don-tet-o-chau-phi-4707984.html