'Border Guard Adopted Children' - A Model to Help Orphans Fulfill Their Dreams

Warm home

Time flies, more than 5 years have passed since the two Thai ethnic boys Ngan Tran Khang (born in 2011), residing in Muong Phu village and Quang Nhat Linh (born in 2009, residing in Muong Piet village, Thong Thu commune, Que Phong district) were brought to the Thong Thu Border Guard Station by their "fathers" in green uniforms to be raised and cared for.

Both of them had very pitiful circumstances. The boy Ngan Tran Khang lost his father to a serious illness when he was only 4 years old, when his younger brother Khang was still in his mother's womb. Khang's father was from Tien Phong commune (Que Phong), got married and settled in Thong Thu commune, his wife's hometown. Life had not been stable for long when cancer struck.

After her husband passed away, Khang's mother had to pay off debt and raise two small children, so she was forced to send Khang and his siblings to their maternal grandparents, Lo Van Phu and Lo Thi Hoa, to go to the South to find work. After a while, Khang's mother remarried, and Khang and his siblings lived with their maternal grandparents, who were in poor health, so life was extremely difficult. Also because of the difficult circumstances, Khang was quite small compared to his peers, with sad eyes and a shy, timid appearance.

Similar to Khang, Quang Nhat Linh also lost his father early due to a work accident. While clearing rice fields, due to carelessness, Linh's father was crushed to death by a rock. His family is also poor, so life is still precarious and difficult.

Knowing the difficult circumstances of the two children, at the end of 2019, Thong Thu Border Guard Station adopted and cared for Khang and Linh, providing both material and spiritual support so that they could have the opportunity to continue going to school and not have to abandon their studies due to their personal circumstances.

During the first time away from their relatives and living with their uncles at the border station, the two boys were like two bewildered young birds, both excited and bewildered when getting used to military discipline. At first, they were assigned to officers and soldiers who were youth union members of the station to take care of, supervise, and guide them from personal activities, meals, sleep to studying.

Major Pham Duc Tinh - former Secretary of the Thong Thu Border Guard Station's Youth Union (currently transferred to Keng Du Border Guard Station (Ky Son) is one of the first people assigned to raise the two children. He said: At first, taking care of the children was quite difficult because they were used to living freely at home, but now they have to follow a routine, a framework, and a schedule, so they are not used to it. Tutoring the children in their studies is also a difficult process that requires patience and perseverance because the children have lost their foundation and lack basic knowledge, so they have to be tutored from the beginning.

Moreover, the children are quiet and do not interact much, so the uncles have to spend a lot of time getting close to them, confiding and sharing so that they can gradually change, become more open, agile, and active, and also improve their studies, know how to take care of their personal hygiene, fold their clothes and blankets neatly...

In addition to living on time, Khang and Linh also get used to increasing production with their uncles, playing more physical activities and sports to practice health and strengthen their physique.

The children were also bought clothes, shoes, books, notebooks by the border guards and taken to school in turns. Although they were taken care of by the border guards, Khang and Linh could not avoid feeling sad and homesick, and sometimes even ran away to go home.

Lieutenant Colonel Ho Dang Thao - Deputy Political Commissar of Thong Thu Border Guard Station said: "Understanding the children's psychology, we often talk and encourage them. On holidays, we take the opportunity to take the children back to their villages to visit their families to ease their homesickness. Now the station has become Khang and Linh's second home. Every weekend or holiday, the children can go home by themselves, but after a while, they come back to their uncles and aunts..."

Nurturing dreams

Currently, Ngan Tran Khang and Quang Nhat Linh are in secondary school and study at Thong Thu Ethnic Boarding Secondary School, about 9 km from the station. The distance is quite far so the two children stay at the school, and on weekends they return to their "foster fathers" at the Border Guard Working Group in Loc village (Thong Thu commune), about 1 km from the school, for convenience.

However, that does not lessen the concern that the "foster fathers" in green uniforms have for their two children.

According to Major Dinh Xuan Thao - Head of the Border Guard Working Group of Loc village (Thong Thu Border Guard Station), we regularly contact teachers at school to inquire about the study and living situation of the two children. On weekends, we guide the children to do homework and review the knowledge of the week. Having lived with the uncles for quite a long time, the two brothers are very obedient and self-disciplined, often encouraging each other to try hard.

At the Working Group, Khang and Linh were both provided with a cozy place to eat, rest, and a study corner with all the necessary equipment. Having their children with them also made the border guards busier. On hot sunny or rainy days, they assigned someone to take their children to school. At night, they still had to turn on the lights to guide and instruct the children to complete their homework. Those warm moments also helped them ease their longing for their families and children back home.

Captain Tang Van Cong (from Dien Chau) has been assigned to the Border Guard Task Force of Loc village for more than a year. That was also the time when he was attached to Khang and Linh. For him, taking care of them is like taking care of his own children, making up for the love of a father for the orphans.

In recent times, implementing the program "Adopted children of Border Guard Station - Stepping up to school", the Border Guard Station has had many programs and activities to promptly support orphans with no place to rely on or those with difficult family circumstances in the border area. Through that, many students have had the opportunity to change their lives, go to school and live in the love, care and sharing from the soldiers in green uniforms.

Ngan Tran Khang and Quang Nhat Linh are the first two students to be adopted by the border station. In addition, Thong Thu Border Station also sponsored three students under the "Helping Children Go to School" program, including Vu Kia Dua, a third-grade student living in Nam Tay village (Vieng Phan village cluster, Sam To district, Hua Phan province, Laos).

It is the love and special care from the soldiers in green uniforms that have helped nurture dreams and motivate unfortunate lives like Khang and Linh to overcome difficulties and rise up on the path to adulthood. The more than 5 years of living with their foster fathers, who are Border Guards, also helped them understand more about family, friendship, and comradeship, thereby creating a bond, love, and mutual support in studying and daily life. Thanks to being carefully raised, both children have improved academic results and good conduct.

Sitting close together in new clothes that their foster fathers had just bought for them, Khang and Linh's faces lit up with joy and emotion. When asked about their future career dreams, the two boys answered boldly: "We will try to study to become border guards to protect the border, protect our villages and homeland like you guys!"

Talking about the role of green-uniformed soldiers in the education of children in the area, Ms. Luong Thi Hong - Secretary of the Party Committee of Thong Thu commune said: As a highland border commune, located in the Northwest of Que Phong district, with a border adjacent to the Lao People's Democratic Republic, 33.737 km long, population of 1,152 households/5,104 people, distributed in 8 villages with 7 main ethnic groups: Kinh, Thai, Tho, Muong, Kho Mu, Dao, Kor living together. Of which, the Thai ethnic group accounts for 99%. The terrain is mainly mountainous, the infrastructure is not synchronous; the educational level is not uniform; the rate of poor and near-poor households in Thong Thu commune is still high (poor households 374, accounting for 33.01%; near-poor households 313, accounting for 27.63%).

Over the years, thanks to the support and companionship of the border guard station in the area, the lives of the people have improved and their children's education has been taken care of. "Especially with the Border Guard Adopted Children - Stepping Up to School model, we believe that under the upbringing and support of their Border Guard fathers, the children will become useful citizens to society in the future...", said Ms. Luong Thi Hong.

Not only at Thong Thu Border Post,Programme"Helping you go to school - Adopted child of the border guard station"deployed throughout the force. Up to now, Nghe An Border Guardsupport 96 students in difficult circumstances,500,000 VND/month per child(including 16 students from Laos) and raising and caring for 18 adopted children at the centers.border noise

In addition, units under the Provincial Border Guard alsotDeploy and implement well the project "Army officers and soldiers help children go to school", thereby receiving support150 children in the areaborder area;Successfully implemented the model "Accompanying dormitories in border areas" for 65 Dan Lai students at the boarding area of ​​Mon Son Secondary School (Con Cuong).