Officials of the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang have arranged a series of activities for local Khmer ethnic people to celebrate their traditional Sene Dolta festival (Illustrative photo: VNA)Soc Trang (VNA) – Officials of theMekong Delta province of Soc Trang have arranged a series of activities forlocal Khmer ethnic people to celebrate their traditional Sene Dolta festival.
Delegations of the province are paying visitsand presenting gifts to 92 Khmer pagodas, esteemed Khmer people anddisadvantaged households.
In addition, the celebration of 2018 Sene Doltaat Som Rong pagoda of Soc Trang city will be broadcast live on October 9.
Ly Soc Pha, deputy head of the provincial committeeon ethnic affairs, said the province has enhanced infrastructure as well asprovided financial assistance and seedlings to facilitate Khmer people’slivelihood.
Local people have also received technicalguidance in agriculture and aquaculture to effectively apply new productionmodels, which in turn improves their lives and reduce poverty rate, he added.
In 2018, about 79 billion VND (3.39 million USD)under Programme 135 was presented to Khmer people in Soc Trang, including 57.3billion VND for development.
The Government’s Programme 135, launched in 1999 under the PrimeMinister’s Decision 135/1998/QD-TTg on July 31, 1998, aims to improve livingconditions for rural residents with a particular focus on ethnic minoritycommunities.
A sum worth 60.6 billion VND (2.6 million USD) wasallocated to disadvantaged and border communes, from which the localities haveworked on total 85 constructions, including rural roads, irrigational works andcommunal houses.
From the beginning of the year, more than 1,500households have gained access to electricity.
About 10,000 Khmer people in the provincecurrently have stable jobs, which helped to lower poverty rate in theprovince’s Khmer group to less than 15 percent.
The Sene Dolta Festival in the late eighthlunar month is one of the three biggest traditional festivals of Khmer people,along with Chol Chnam Thmay (New Year) and Ok Om Bok (a festival to thank theMoon for good harvests).
During this festival, Khmer people pay tributeto their ancestors and take part in community celebration activities withtraditional songs and dances after a hard working year.-VNA
