Empowering Children of Mai Chau on Their Journey to School
On April 22, five months after returning from their visit to the young children in the Dong Van karst plateau, Ha Giang, the leaders of Kien Vuong Company once again had the opportunity to visit a highland school in Mai Chau District, Hoa Binh Province.
Recently, media outlets have reported on the story of teachers at Tan Dan Lower Secondary School in Mai Chau District, Hoa Binh Province, who have turned into 'fisherman' to catch fish and improve meals for their students. For the past six years, whenever their students fall fast asleep, these teachers close their lesson plans and head down to the Da River to wrestle with the waves, harvesting shrimp and fish. Tan Dan Lower Secondary School is nestled isolated at the end of a 40-kilometer stretch of road from the center of Mai Chau town—bordered on one side by towering mountains often shrouded in thick fog, and on the other by a sheer, fathomless abyss, with hundreds of sharp, winding bends going uphill and down. On rainy days, the road to the school becomes even more slick, treacherous, and difficult to navigate.
The crystal-clear eyes of highland children
Currently, the school has 116 students from the Tay and Muong ethnic minority groups enrolled. Because the teachers are predominantly from the Thai ethnic group, they have had to learn the local dialect to effectively teach the children. This school also serves as a shared home for 62 students eligible for boarding; however, with only 30 beds in total, two children must share a single bed. The dilapidated boarding rooms are packed with four aging beds each—sweltering and suffocating in the summer, yet bitterly cold in the winter. In rooms short on beds, some students sleep on mats laid out across the floor. From doing laundry to cooking, the children must handle all their daily chores entirely on their own. Their worn, frayed notebooks and textbooks are stored away in cardboard boxes or wooden chests.
2 students sharing one bed
The ceiling made for shelter from the rain and shelter from the sun is damaged
Mr. Ha Manh Quyet (Principal of Tan Dan Lower Secondary School) added: 'Under the support policies for students in remote areas, only those living 7 kilometers or more from the school are eligible for boarding and receive a monthly food allowance of 460,000 VND per student. Every week, they return home to fetch rice and dry provisions to bring back to school, where they cook together in small groups.' Thus, with this support level, each student has about 15,000 VND per day for food. At this point, his voice suddenly trailed off: 'Many students come from extremely poor families, but because they live just under 7 kilometers away, they do not qualify for support and must trek through forests and wade across streams for over ten kilometers every day to reach school.' Because the school is so far from the town center and the families face such harsh economic conditions, traveling to buy food and drink is out of the question. All provisions are supplied by local villagers. Unwilling to watch the children survive on such meager meals during their growing years, the teachers decided to roll up their sleeves and head down to the reservoir every night to haul in shrimp and fish to make the children's meals more complete.
It was this story of the highland children's impoverished lives and the noble actions of the teachers here that impelled Mr. Qui and Ms. Hien to make this journey to Mai Châu. 'I deeply admire the teachers for their sacrifice and was profoundly moved to hear that they go out catching fish in the middle of the night for the children, which made me determined to pay everyone a visit,' Ms. Hien shared during her conversation with the teachers at Tan Dan Lower Secondary School.
The small hooves are the tools to collect fish every night of the "fishermen" of Tan Dan Secondary School. The slope from the school yard to the lake bed is steep and slippery, with stones and stones, just slip into the lake bed like playing.
Hardships mounted upon hardships, and to make matters worse, the school sits right along the banks of the Da River reservoir, with countess lurking dangers. To ensure their safety, the teachers frequently organize swimming lessons. Ms. Vi Thi Huong Giang (Vice Principal) opened up to us: 'The children here adapt very quickly; sometimes, before the female teachers can even finish learning, the kids are already swimming like little frogs.' This truly goes to show the fierce resilience of children raised amid hardship. Even so, the teachers cannot afford to lower their guard for a single second, as young children are naturally playful, active, and unaware of potential dangers. Teachers here do not merely teach reading and writing; they step in for parents to nurture and protect the children—there are times when students fall sick and run high fevers in the dead of night, and it is the teachers who trek along perilous roads to take them to the local clinic.
Leaders of Kien Vuong company discuss with Mr. Ha Manh Quyet to learn more about the difficulties that the school is facing
For several days prior, the weather had been sweltering, so the teachers had packed away most of the extra blankets. However, on the day our delegation arrived, the temperature suddenly plummeted accompanied by a cold drizzle, causing several children with fragile health to fall ill under the harsh conditions. Seeing them burning with high fevers and curled up beneath thin blankets—without any family members nearby to tend to them—left us deeply moved and heavy-hearted. Yet, as young children do, they were not yet conscious of sadness, sorrow, or loneliness; they cried simply from exhaustion, pain, and the disappointment of being unable to go out to receive gifts and play with their peers.
We prefer not to label this as a 'charity trip,' choosing instead to view it as a simple visit to the teachers and students—bringing a few modest gifts while gaining a deeper understanding of the local conditions to offer more practical assistance moving forward. On this visit, Kien Vuong provided 213 gift packages containing everyday clothing and heavy winter coats for the primary school students, along with 116 gift packages consisting of windbreaker jackets and water bottles for the lower secondary school students. Additionally, seasoning powder and cooking oil were evenly split between both schools to support meal preparation for the children. And, of course, no visit would be complete without sweets to bring joy to the little ones.
Mr. Qui and Ms. Hien visit and give presents to the children of Tan Dan Primary and Secondary School
"Currently, with the support of generous benefactors, the school is step-by-step overcoming its hardships. We are deeply grateful for everyone's heart, and the teachers here remain fully committed to giving their all for these children's futures.' In response to Principal Quyet's sincere words, Mr. Nguyen Huu Qui – Chairman of the Members' Council – expressed his vision: 'Now, let us work together. We will share this burden with the teachers to help the children, but we must not merely give them the 'fish'—we must also inspire them to 'go fishing' on their own.' After visiting and learning about the school's struggles, Mr. Qui asked Mr. Bui Trung Dung (Branch Director of BN) to coordinate with Principal Quyet to assess repairing and building new beds, ensuring the students have a sturdy, comfortable place to rest, empowering them on their ongoing journey to school.
Looking back at the journeys Kien Vuong has taken to bring warmth to highland children—from the remote village of Nam Cha (Lai Chau), turning back to Lang Son, journeying up to the northernmost tip of the Fatherland, and returning to Mai Chau (Hoa Binh)—one cannot help but feel deeply moved realizing that our people still face immense hardships! Yet, it is truly heartening to see that even amid adversity, human kindness burns warmly. The precious, golden hearts and noble devotion of the teachers at Tan Dan Lower Secondary School will continue to spread to many other struggling schools, awakening the compassionate hearts within each of us.
