For many years, Huang and her mother’s dinner trays consisted of plates of steamed vegetables picked from the garden and dipped in soy sauce and chao – Photo: MAU Truong
“Poorer than the word poor”
The weather in the west is humid and sunny, with sudden rains. Before Ms. Huang had time to react, streams of rainwater flowed straight onto the dirty, wet floor after leaking from the roof. There was no dry space left in the house, so mother and child had to give up, hiding together in the kitchen and waiting for the weather to cool before cleaning.
This small house with a roof of nipa palm leaves next to a ditch in Minh Duc commune (Mo Ke Nam District, Ben Tre Province) is the refuge of Ms. Huong and her two children, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen and Nguyen Thanh Lam. For many it has been years now – since she divorced her husband and walked away empty-handed.
Ms Huang said she was married at the age of 27 and had two children. She thought that life would go smoothly, but she did not expect that one day her husband would leave her parents and children for another woman.
She and her husband officially divorced when her youngest daughter, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, was 9 months old. Ms. Huang took her daughter to live with her grandmother, and her husband raised her son, but when her husband brought another woman to live with him, her son also had to live with his mother. gone.
Ms Huang cuts vegetables to prepare a meal for her mother and her children – Photo: MAU Truong
In the early days of living alone, he did enough work to earn money such as catching crabs and snails, raising livestock, working as a hired laborer… but always faced difficulties and accumulated debts.
Ms. Huang also has epilepsy, causing seizures whenever she works hard or thinks too much. Therefore, the land inherited by her biological mother had to be sold to pay for her illness. The house of the parents and children is currently on someone else’s land.
When their daughter was in the second grade, they decided to send her to her grandmother to work as a laborer in Ho Chi Minh City. Working as a dishwasher for a restaurant brings in an income of only 1.8 million VND per month, which is enough to cover and repay part of the debt in rural areas. However, due to being away from their child, they had to return to their hometown, fearing that it would affect their child’s education and future.
She was saddened to see her thin and pale daughter and resolved to stand by her child, no matter how difficult life was. Since then, she took up the profession of tailoring, but despite being proficient in her endeavours, she was left behind.
Grateful to teachers, resolved to become a sailor
These difficulties and privations could not stop the Tuyen brothers’ eagerness to learn. Throughout their years in middle and high school, both brothers consistently achieved good and high grades. In high school, Tuyen won the provincial-level incentive award for outstanding students in civic education.
Mr. Nguyen Trong Yuc – branch leader of the Veterans Association of Tan Hoa Hamlet (Minh Duc Commune, Mo Ke Nam District, Ben Tre Province) – said that no one in the neighborhood is as poor as Ms. Huang’s family. “In the house water drips first, it drips later, when it rains it is the same outside as it is inside, but with one thing, children work hard and study well, so every Someone loves them.
Whenever a charity group comes to the commune or has a gift, we give priority to Ms. Huang and her children. I only hope that the children will be supported by donors to continue going to school so that they have hope to change the future, but their families do not have land to farm and they cannot study, so they now Wat can be done? ” Mr. UC shared.
Ms. Huang’s house, which is dripping from the front and empty from the back, is not enough to protect her parents and their children from the sun and rain, so whenever it rains, water flows freely from the house – Photo: MAU Truong
Not only the local government, but also the teachers of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School knew about the situation of Ms. Huong and her parents, so everyone helped wholeheartedly and all for the two brothers Lam and Tuyen to come to school. Created circumstances.
“Remember three years ago when little Tuyen passed the high school entrance examination, Ms. Cao Thi Thu Thuy – my old teacher and also taught little Tuyen – immediately went to buy a long dress for her. I was very shy. Because Before that, you also taught my children, but did not take money. Now when I heard that my children passed, I also gave them clothes. Who knows when I will repay that gratitude,” Ms Huang said. Said emotionally.
Thanh Tuyen also shared that the feelings of teachers and friends are the biggest motivation for him to try harder.
Thanh Tuyen said, “I know that my aunt and teachers do not have a high income, but they all help me. I want to study well so that in the future I can face difficult situations like my own and I will also help them.” Why he chose to study political education at Dong Thap University.
Despite difficult circumstances, Tuyen and his brother are still very studious – Photo: Mau Truong
The day Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen announced that she had passed the university entrance examination, she was stunned and stood still because she was both happy and anxious. Happy that the tireless efforts of both mother and child have finally paid off, but she is worried that she will not be able to raise money to send her child to school.
Thanh Tuyen and his older brother, Nguyen Thanh Lam, both attended a university in Ho Chi Minh City, but after discussing with each other, they both went in a different direction and studied at a smaller university to study. Chose to study at a university in the province. Their weight. reduce cost.
Lam wants to be a math teacher, and Tuyen wants to be a civics teacher. And the next journey of the two brothers is still full of uncertainties…
Ms. Luong Thi Bich Lien – Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen’s homeroom teacher – said she taught both Lam and Tuyen brothers. Both are very hardworking and study well despite difficult circumstances. Tuyen is hard-working and very obedient, so her teachers and friends love her very much. Despite knowing that my family is difficult, whenever I get a scholarship I give it priority.
“In recent days, teachers have also heard the story of two brothers Lam-Tuyen, who were both preparing to go to university but their circumstances did not allow it, which was very sad…”, Ms Lien said .
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(TagstoTranslate)School Aid(T)Ben Tre(T)Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen(T)Scholarships(T)New Students
