Loving meal for students during flood season

Student Nguyen Van Duc (grade 12D5 - Thanh Chuong 3 High School)in Thanh Nho commune, has a very pitiful situation.Due to difficult family circumstances, despite his poor health, the boy's father still traveled to the South to work in the hope of earning money to support his children and 76-year-old mother. Unfortunately, more than 2 weeks ago, due to overwork, he suddenly passed away, and the village had to call on benefactors to help bring his body back.

Teachers of Thanh Chuong 3 High School prepare meals for students. Photo: CSCC

Not yet over the pain of losing his father, the flood at the end of September occurred widely throughout Thanh Chuong district, including Thanh Nho commune - where Duc's family lived. When the flood was high, water flooded the garden and almost reached the floor of the house. If it weren't for the help of neighbors, perhaps all of the family's rice and property would have been submerged or swept away in the water.

In the recent flood, almost all of Hoang Thuy Linh's family's savings (class 11D1) were swept away by the floodwaters. Linh is the eldest sister, and has three younger siblings. The youngest sibling, whose mother just gave birth, is weak and is in the hospital, so family life is extremely difficult at this time. These days, Linh has to try very hard to go to school as usual, but her heart is heavy with worry.

The vegetable garden serving the school's meals is taken care of by teachers and students. Photo: My Ha

High SchoolThanh Chuong3 has nearly 1,300 students from 10 mountainous communes and Cat Ngan area. The terrain here is partly mountainous, partly low-lying, so every year when there is heavy rain or flooding, it is either isolated or flooded. This year, most of the students from communes such as Thanh Nho, Thanh Lien, Thanh My, Cat Van, Thanh Son were affected. During the rainy and flood days, many students, mainly children from Thanh Son resettlement area who live around the school, ran out of money to buy food and daily necessities, so they had to temporarily stay at Chung Linh pagoda.
Up to this point, in many places, students of Thanh Chuong 3 High School still cannot go to school. Some students can go to school, some have to go to school by boat or go through extremely dangerous deep water.

Sharing with students in flood-affected areas, the charity kitchen of Thanh Chuong 3 High School has compiled a list of all families of students who have been flooded, have difficulty traveling, and students whose travel conditions are at risk of being unsafe. Based on that, charity meals are deployed by the school with the aim of creating conditions for students who are staying at a boarding house to not have to worry about lack of food and clothing. Students who live far away and have suffered damage due to floods are also given the opportunity to stay at school for lunch so that their afternoon classes are not interrupted.

Students of Thanh Chuong 3 High School participate in supporting the school's collective kitchen. Photo: My Ha

From October 3 to October 6, nearly 1,100 students registered, and in the past two days the school cooked more than 400 lunch and dinner meals for students. Although it does not organize boarding, Thanh Chuong 3 High School is one of the few schools that organizes meals for students from far away, and most of them are free.

Previously, the idea of ​​building a charity cafeteria was implemented by teacher Le Van Quyen - the school's principal with the desire to have a place to organize lunches for disadvantaged students and some teachers who live far from their families. Talking about this, teacher Le Van Quyen added: The peculiarity of our school is that there are many students who live far away and many of them will stay at school at noon if they have a full-day schedule. When I first came to school, I felt sorry for the students because most of them had to bring their lunch from home. Some of them brought instant noodles, used water from the school's water filter to make instant noodles to eat temporarily. This scene happens regularly during the week and if it continues, it will affect the health and learning of the students.

To prepare for the kitchen to operate, the school board called on donors and some former students of the school to repair the old cafeteria and purchase some additional equipment. The kitchen officially went into operation at the end of April 2021 and has so far served thousands of meals to disadvantaged students.

Decent meals prepared by teachers for students. Photo: NTCC

Teacher Nguyen Thanh Duc - Chairman of the school's Trade Union also said: In order for the kitchen to operate regularly, we have called on organizations and individuals to support rice and funds to buy food.

The school also uses vacant land to grow more vegetables, and around Tet, grows chrysanthemums to sell to fund operations. Currently, in addition to emergency meals to support students during natural disasters and floods, about 30 students register for regular meals every day and are supported by the school.

During the rainy and flood days, hundreds of meals are served to students every day. Photo: CSCC

These charity meals not only help students overcome difficulties in time, giving them more strength to go to school, but also strengthen the relationship between teachers and students, friends... This year's flood season has also helped reduce some of the hardships and difficulties for the students...