The blind boy in Hoi Poc
(Baonghean) -That day, as soon as he met his teacher, Ly knelt down and begged: "Teacher, I am blind, can I go to school? Please let me go to school too!". Teacher Hung said that in more than 30 years of being a teacher, he had never witnessed such a touching scene!
That is Gia Ba Ly, a Mong ethnic in Huoi Poc village (Nam Can commune, Ky Son district, Nghe An). From National Highway 7, to get to Huoi Poc village, you have to walk for half a day, following precarious trails halfway up the mountain, wading through many streams with steep slopes, and sharp rocks like shark teeth. Yet, in that green forest, the boy Ly wrote a touching fairy tale about studiousness.
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Ly said: "The family has many siblings, even the parents don't remember the date of birth of each child. When I was two years old, I had a high fever, corneal degeneration made my eyes gradually dim and I was completely blind when I was three years old. Ly asked her mother, she said that when I grew up my eyes would be clear again, I waited and hoped to see the light, but it's been more than 10 years..." The desire to see the light, to see everyone in the family made the boy Ly always imagine many things. Sometimes when he heard his friends tell fairy tales about fairies appearing to grant wishes, Ly waited for that fairy to come knocking on his door...
Sometimes, lying by the window, Ly listened to the footsteps of her friends calling each other to class, making her feel sad. And, one day, Ly insisted that her parents go to class. The story of the "blind boy demanding to go to class" surprised and amazed the villagers. That's right, because for a long time, the story of students in the highlands of Ky Son was only about dropping out of school, but a "blind" person like Ly going to class was also very strange! It was as strange as a fairy tale.
Mr. Gia Chu Po, Ly's father, was heartbroken: "When he asked to go to school, no one in his family agreed. It's hard for a person with eyesight to go to school, let alone a blind person. The family felt sorry for him so they nodded and encouraged him, thinking he was just going to class for fun, but after a few days he got bored and quit. Who would have thought he was determined to go to school for real?"
Until now, Mr. Po and Mrs. Xong Y So still vividly remember the image of Ly, who had just turned 8 years old, walking to school. On the first day of school, Ly asked his younger sister Gia Y Xe to take him to class. Seeing the two brothers, who were almost 8 years old, supporting each other on the way made the teachers in the village unable to hold back their tears.
Every time the teacher's voice was heard, Ly tried to perk up her ears to "catch" the knowledge. Ly knew that she could only listen, so she had to remember everything the teacher said. If she didn't understand something, she would ask the friends sitting next to her to spell out each letter so that she could visualize the word and remember it. The same goes for simple math calculations, Ly could only imagine and calculate in her head, if she could answer, she would enthusiastically volunteer to answer.
Teacher, let me go to school with you!
Ly's studies seemed to have ended halfway. In 7th grade, a teacher advised: "You shouldn't even walk, let alone go to school. Don't go to school anymore. You won't learn anything." Ly returned home, one day, then two days without going to class. She sat absentmindedly in front of the door, tears welling up in her eyes. When she was alone, she remembered the lectures of her teachers, the reading of her friends, and the sound of the school bell... ringing in her ears, fueling her desire to continue studying.
Then, at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, hearing that Mr. Tran Dang Hung (Principal of Nam Can I Boarding Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities) was going to a meeting in Huoi Poc village, Ly boldly asked her sister to take her to meet him. Mr. Hung said that in his more than 30 years of teaching, he had never witnessed such a touching scene.
That day, as soon as he met the teacher, Ly knelt down in front of him and begged: “Teacher, I am blind, can I go to school? Please let me go to school!”. Touched by Ly’s studiousness, teacher Hung persuaded the school and her family to send her to the central village of Nam Can commune to study. However, Ly’s path to school was as bumpy as her fate and life.
In the morning, before the rooster crowed, Ly woke up with her younger sister and packed lunch to go to school. From Huoi Poc village, Ly had to follow the forest path, walk across streams, fight against mosquitoes and leeches for more than 5 hours, and overcome more than 15 km with dozens of high mountain slopes to continue to nurture her dream of studying. "You know, on days when it suddenly rains in the forest, my clothes are soaked, my feet are scratched and clinging to the mountain, it's cold to the bone, but I still grit my teeth and walk. If the teachers love me, I have to try hard. I don't want to be a burden to my family" - Ly confided.
Teacher Vo Thi Thuy, Head of Class 8C proudly said: "When Ly entered school, everyone was hesitant, but her determination and learning ability made everyone touched, admired, and loved her." Principal Hung added that Ly's dream was to have a tape recorder to record her lectures, but so far it has not been fulfilled. Teachers in remote areas with many difficulties cannot easily take care of her.
Recently, seeing Ly's hardship, the school mobilized support and created conditions for her to stay in the dormitory and exempted her from all contributions. All of Ly's daily activities, the teachers took turns helping. Mr. Tran Van Khanh - Head of the Education Department of Ky Son district shared: "We take that as an example to educate the students on the spirit of overcoming difficulties and studying hard."
I quietly watched her study, her thin shoulders hidden in her worn shirt, her face pale and weak, her eyes bulging as if trying to look into a vast space.... Suddenly, Ly turned back: "If only I could have eye surgery... If only I could have the miracle like in the fairy tale, right!?".
Ngoc Binh - Hoang Ha
