Teacher Tu's life

(Baonghean.vn)- More than 70 years ago, a boy from Hung Nguyen wandered to Tuong district (Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son) and participated in eliminating illiteracy, contributing to driving out "illiteracy" in the village. For him, those were the best years of his life. Until today, the villagers still call him Teacher Tu.

From a servant boy...

We returned to Don Phuc (Con Cuong) on ​​a day in mid-November, when cold winds were "knocking on the door" of the highland villages. Passing through Phuc village, we saw Mr. Ngo Quang Tu sitting in front of the porch of his stilt house, his crippled legs curled up, his old body bent. "This is not my house, in fact I have no house, no family of my own. This is the house of a friend, a brother, he has passed away, I continue to live here with my grandchildren" - he confided.

Mr. Ngo Quang Tu's face suddenly became pensive when he told about his wandering life.

Mr. Ngo Quang Tu (born in 1938) was born in Do Yen commune, Do Yen canton, Hung Nguyen district (now Hung My commune, Hung Nguyen district). He had 8 siblings, his parents worked as farmers so life was very difficult, the whole family rarely had a full meal. Life became even more difficult when the Japanese forced our people to destroy rice fields to grow jute (1944-1945), there was no more rice left, cassava, corn and potatoes also gradually decreased and then became exhausted.

The whole village and commune fell into poverty, starving, and people in the village began to die of hunger. His parents also rushed back and forth, running everywhere to find food for their children. But in that chaotic and famine situation, wherever they went, they saw people starving. Mr. Tu's younger siblings gradually fainted and passed away before their parents' helplessness. Little Tu could not avoid the torment of hunger, hunger to the point of yellowing eyes, hunger to the point of limping limbs, hunger to the point of delirium...

Later, when he grew up, Mr. Ngo Quang Tu learned that it was a historic famine that had taken more than 2 million lives from Vietnam. As for his family, all his brothers and sisters died of hunger. At that time, someone came to his parents' house to ask to buy the boy Ngo Quang Tu, the last child left in the famine.

The sale was made by a contract, on a day in early 1945, when Ngo Quang Tu was 7 years old. From then on, he left his family and homeland to begin a series of wandering years.

Ngo Quang Tu was put on a boat and then went upstream along the Lam River. That journey took the 7-year-old boy to Tuong Palace, becoming a servant in a rich and powerful family in the area. He was treated with medicine, but after the illness, his limbs gradually atrophied, contracted, and became deformed.

As servants in a rich family, Ngo Quang Tu and others in similar situations had to work hard. From herding buffaloes, cutting grass, clearing fields, working in the fields, and pounding rice at night. 70 years have passed, but Mr. Tu still remembers the poem about the life of servants: "Sitting by the rice mortar every day / Leaning against a pillar shiny with sweat".

Years of participating in "illiteracy eradication"

The years of working as a servant gave Ngo Quang Tu the opportunity to learn to read and write. Because the owner hired a teacher to come home to teach his children the national language, Mr. Tu was able to learn by heart. At home, the teacher taught each word and each sentence, while outside, Ngo Quang Tu worked and paid close attention. Being naturally intelligent and persistent in learning, he learned very quickly, and in just a short time, he knew how to rhyme and make sentences.

Not being allowed to write on the board, without books, he practiced writing on the ground around the rice mortar, writing and erasing, erasing and writing again. The teacher found out and was extremely surprised at the disabled boy's ability to self-study, so he quietly helped him practice reading and writing. After about 2-3 years of "pick-up" learning, Ngo Quang Tu was able to read and write fluently.

Mr. Tu has a habit of sitting in front of the porch of the stilt house, looking out at the road downstream.

Some time later, the people who were supporting the landlords and the wealthy families were liberated. Ngo Quang Tu was then a young man. Most of his friends who were in the same situation as him had families in the Tuong district (including the present-day districts of Tuong Duong, Ky Son and Con Cuong), and everyone was excited about the day of their return.

Mr. Tu sat quietly, pensive. Understanding the thoughts and feelings of a pitiful man, Mr. Lang Vi Nham - a friend, a brother who was also a servant, invited Ngo Quang Tu to live in his house. The two of them packed up and went to Phuc village (Don Phuc commune - Con Cuong) to live together, considering each other as blood brothers. Mr. Nham's children were all polite, behaved properly and called Mr. Tu "uncle".

The government promoted the movement to eradicate illiteracy, encouraging literate people to open classes to teach the surrounding people. At that time, very few people in Don Phuc were literate, because the village was still remote, precarious, and separated by mountains, rivers, and streams. With the knowledge he had gleaned from his time working for a rich family, Mr. Ngo Quang Tu boldly asked to open a class to teach the villagers.

The classroom was opened right on the floor, the teacher's crippled hand carefully wrote each letter, the students were absorbed in each stroke and pronunciation. Like that, year after year, Mr. Tu could not remember how many literacy classes he had organized, how many students had learned to read and write to receive the source of "civilizational light". Mr. Tu's contributions were gratefully recognized by the villagers, and he was awarded the Second Class Resistance Medal by the state.

Mr. Tu was taken care of attentively and wholeheartedly by Mr. Lang The Anh and his wife.

When the education system in Don Phuc was standardized, Mr. Tu was not recruited as a teacher because he had not attended school and had no qualifications. Once again, Mr. Lang Vi Nham's family shared the difficulties and took care of their friend and brother. Mr. Nham passed away, and Mr. Lang The Anh (Mr. Nham's son) and his wife continued to raise their sworn uncle until today.

Pausing the story, Mr. Ngo Quang Tu's eyes stared out at the road. He confided: "Every day I sit in front of my house and look towards my homeland to ease my heart. And every time I remember the years I opened a class to teach, I find joy..."

Cong Kien