Engineer Ha Trong Dung, head of the Centre for Biological Toy Equipment Protec, talks about the importance of playgrounds for children and balancing play and study.

Engineer Ha Trong Dung.

You said that Vietnamese children were not developing fully due to lack of play encouragement. Is this why you are so dedicated to playground equipment in school-yards and parks?

Decades ago, when I was still working for the General Department of Vocational Training, a friend of mine who was working at the Ministry of Education and Training’s Books and Facilities Company asked me to design playground equipment for children in Ha Noi.

I though that if the capital of the country had no playground equipment for children, this meant that other cities and provinces would be in the same situation. We had left playgrounds empty.

My idea for encouraging physical exercise for children originated then. However, about 20 years later I got the chance to turn my idea into reality.

Vietnamese children can not develop fully when they are encouraged to study without balancing out their time with play. In many primary and junior secondary schools, students always gather in knots, shouting and screaming, even beating other after each lesson. This is because they lack a better physical way to release their energy. Besides leading to aggressive behaviour, lack of exercise and play can lead to bad life habits, sluggishness and lethargy.

You have had many jobs, but was there anything related to playground equipment?

Yes, of course. If I had no experience in these jobs, I would not be as successful as I am today.

I started designing things when I was still a university student. I learned about speed, power, and efficiency from the military. I learned about human health when I was interpreter in Iraq. And I learned about humanity and affection for children when I was teacher. Of course, I have had many opportunities to work with children.

I was very lucky when I was selected to be an interpreter for the health sector in Iraq in 1988. At that time I witnessed many Vietnamese workers die suddenly. They would be chatting with their friends or co-workers the night before, but die the next morning. This helped me to understand that life is very precious but fragile. People are easily wounded from changes to their lives, jobs, and loved ones. I saw that many people who had a lot of money could still suddenly die due to disease or a cold. Money alone can not help them survive.

The key to help the body and spirit is to improve physical strength. It is necessary to maintain health and strength from life’s begin until the end from generation to generation.

After returning to Viet Nam from Iraq, I persuaded my wife to retire and open a pilot pre-school equipped with playground facilities of my own design. Now, we have succeeded, as we have received many orders from schools nationwide. Our products include a two-floor teeter totter, a combination escalator-swing, an animal-shaped swing and badminton rackets.

Our playground staples allow children to creep, crawl, run, and throw balls and be very active. We strive to find a harmonious balance between school subjects, like math and recreation in an attempt to get kids thinking while they play.

One piece of playground equipment would include 13-15 elements and cost about VND30million (US$1,600).

You are known to be passionate about yin and yang theory, the theory of balance. How is this related to your work?

On the basis of yin and yang theory, I see that our country’s education sector is unbalanced. Studying is encouraged but not play. In my opinion, we should establish a fund to improve the living environment for children rather than study encouragement.

Our children are partially stunted due to lack of exercise.

Children at the age of seven or eight lose themselves everyday in studying. But I see that way will not show our children how to live in the future and be decisive. They will become sickly. Meanwhile, when they grow, their study and work will be supported only by a computer.

What is your goal with your playground equipment, when it is obvious your products are not as beautiful as some others?

We can see that some playground equipment made in China are very beautiful and colourful, but its quality is not good. Or there are some other firms with more sophisticated equipment, but it is not affordable.

My playground equipment is inexpensive and can last for 30 to 40 years.

Being competitive with my business is not my goal.

I do not open a company with hundreds of workers. I only want to create a development direction for the education sector and I would like to work with a group of people who share the same sense of purpose with me.

Children are like fruits on a tree. If the fruits are well cared for and able to withstand sunlight and heavy rains, they would be sunburnt but very sweet.

Do you believe that you will be successful in the future as more exercise equipment is imported?

Many foreign and domestic companies are doing business following individualism. They care about rich people and ignore the poor.

My playground equipment will be located in public areas including parks and gardens. I serve all kinds of people.

I have visited many prosperous families. They have bought imported exercise machines, but this way is not as good because they are bored when they exercise alone at home.

When I design playground equipment, I focus on the public. People from all ages can play together. The more crowded, the happier for everyone. The elderly can have a chance to talk with others and not feel lonely.

What do you do in leisure time?

I love life on our earth. I take pleasure in sitting at the Indra Grandi Flower Garden in Lang Ha Street to watch people exercise on my playground equipment.

VietNamNet/VNS