The Ede girl's first battle to become a doctor

H'Linh H'Mok (born in 1987) has just received a full postgraduate scholarship from the National Science Council of Mexico. H'Linh's journey to the university was a tireless fight against poverty.

Just one choice

H'Linh was born into a large family in EaDrăng town, EaH'leo district, Dak Lak province. Although living in the town, H'Linh's family was among the poorest in Dak Lak province. Her parents were farmers, so they struggled to provide food and clothing for their four children. Her childhood was filled with memories of the bitter cold of winter, the dampness of the house during storms, and hunger. H'Linh recalls: "Our family was poor, there were not enough planks to cover the four walls, not enough corrugated iron to cover the roof, so every time it rained, the house leaked. Water flowed everywhere, wetting the bed. Many nights, the six family members huddled together with a raincoat hanging over their heads. When the house ran out of rice, H'Linh and her siblings had to go to bed hungry."

From grade 5, H'Linh had to go to school and help her family with farm work. From grade 1 to grade 9, H'Linh often asked for scrap paper from her older siblings in the neighborhood, brought it home, and used thread to sew it into notebooks to copy lessons. Some books were empty and she had to ask for them from her older siblings.

During her nine years of schooling, H'Linh H'Mok never once wore new clothes on the first day of school, but only old clothes that her mother begged for. When she was young, H'Linh was often ashamed of her friends because of her poor life. But when she realized everything, H'Linh thought that her biggest mistake was not having the will to improve.

Despite poverty, her family always fully supported her education. Her life turned a new page when H'Linh passed the entrance exam to N'Trang Long Boarding High School in Dak Lak province. Linh said: "Three years of studying here, books were never lacking. Teachers cared for and looked after students like their own children. The spiritual warmth made H'Linh stronger to nurture her big dream over the years."

The dream will come

In 2005, H'Linh took the entrance exam for Physics Education at Tay Nguyen University. On the day of admission, she was as excited as a fish in a flood. But the difficulties in the lecture hall sometimes discouraged her: "The learning method is so different from high school, economic difficulties made me feel like I was about to collapse. One time, on the way from the lecture hall to the dormitory, I cried a lot. Sitting on the roadside, I cried like a child and thought, my dream is still within my reach. Just study well at university and then apply for a scholarship for graduate school."

At the end of her first year, H'Linh achieved the highest results in her class. At that time, the University of Havana (Cuba) offered Tay Nguyen University a full scholarship in Physics and H'Linh applied. With tireless efforts and extraordinary determination, H'Linh H'Mok was selected by the University of Havana and granted a full scholarship for one year of foreign language study and five years of specialized study in Cuba. A month before receiving the scholarship, H'Linh's father passed away due to a serious illness. She set off to study halfway around the world from her home country but her heart was filled with regret.

Arriving in Cuba, H'Linh surprised teachers at the University of Havana because she was an Ede ethnic girl and chose the very boring major of Physics.

In 2012, H'Linh graduated from the University of Havana with a degree of Distinction. She continued to receive a full scholarship from the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico to pursue a master's degree at the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada, Mexico.

Will come back to help the village

Although she has been studying far away for 6 years, H'Linh still tries to come home every summer. Buying a plane ticket from Cuba or Mexico to Vietnam is a problem. During her years studying abroad, H'Linh spoke Spanish like a native. Meanwhile, very few Vietnamese tour guides know this language. Therefore, exploiting the tourism market from Spanish-speaking countries in Vietnam is an advantage and H'Linh has become an involuntary tour guide but is sought after by many travel companies in Vietnam. Every summer, H'Linh flies back to Vietnam, both to visit her family and to work as a tour guide.

She said: “Visitors to Vietnam not only visit famous landscapes and landscapes but also want to understand more about Vietnamese history, culture, and cuisine... Therefore, I always enthusiastically explain and help guests so that they can have a memorable trip and keep good images of my country.” Her salary as a tour guide can be up to 100 million VND during the summer months. H'Linh H'Mok spends half of this money on plane tickets. She gives the rest to her mother to pay for her two younger siblings' school fees.

H'Linh H'Mok said that after finishing her postgraduate studies and getting her doctorate, she will return to her homeland to help her village and her country. This is also H'Linh's promise to her deceased father. She confided: "I always hope that one day in the near future I will return to Vietnam to contribute and help ethnic minority children with difficult family circumstances who are good at studying. I will always look for opportunities to help my fellow countrymen."

According to Vietnam.net