The journey to win a good degree of a female student who works as a maid to make a living

Missing father's arms

Hoai is not like her peers in that she does not have a complete family. Her mother is a single woman. Since she was born, her mother, Mrs. Van Thi Thi (born in 1961), had to work hard to earn a living to raise her children.

Ms. Thi was born in Trung Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) into a farming family. Due to difficult family circumstances, she only finished grade 7/10. At the age of 19, she left her hometown for Nghia Dan and worked as a worker at Farm 1/5.

In 1996, she became pregnant and gave birth to Truong Thi Hoai. However, the day her mother gave birth to her was also the day her father left her and her mother forever. The mother and child had to survive on the meager salary from Mrs. Thi's job as a rubber tapper.

Looking at her mother’s swollen, calloused hands after each workday, little Truong Thi Hoai soon understood the hardships and worries her mother had to endure. Therefore, from a young age, Hoai matured earlier than her peers when she knew how to help her mother with housework, from herding buffaloes and cutting grass, to raising pigs and chickens.

Ms. Van Thi Thi is working as a maid for a family in Tan Binh District (Ho Chi Minh City). Photo: NVCC

At school, throughout all three levels of education, I have always been an exemplary student, among the top students of the school. In particular, in grade 12, I won second prize in the provincial excellent student category in History.

Looking at her achievements, few people know that after school, she also worked with her mother cutting grass on the farm to earn extra money to pay for her studies. After graduating from high school, she passed the entrance exam to Vinh University with a score of 21.5.

Upon receiving Hoai's admission notice, Mrs. Thi was so happy that she cried. She spent all the money she had saved for her child to pay for the first semester's tuition, books, rent, and food. Seeing her mother scrape together the last coins for her, Hoai did not dare to dream of continuing her studies. At that time, she only thought that her mother had lost her youth because of her, and had worked hard for many years. Now she was grown up, and wanted to go to the South to work to earn money to support her mother.

Despite her busy part-time job, Truong Thi Hoai always completes her studies well and achieves many high achievements. Photo: Quynh Thanh

Understanding her daughter's feelings, Mrs. Thi encouraged her day and night to go to school. Listening to her mother, Hoai left Nghia Dan for Vinh with only a few worn-out clothes, a sack of rice and several kilos of dried fish.

As for her, after her daughter entered school, Ms. Thi worked at the farm and also applied to be a housemaid for a well-off family in the commune. Later, because there was less and less work at the farm, she quit and moved to Ho Chi Minh City to work as a housemaid.

The arduous journey of the "maid" to achieve a degree with honors

In the first days of becoming a student of the Faculty of Geography - Resource Management (Vinh University), Hoai was quite bewildered. Looking at the young, dynamic students, far from the environment he used to live in, made him quite self-conscious and closed. But then, when approaching specialized subjects, the scores of 9 and 10 made him love studying more and be confident with his knowledge.

After 2 months of stabilizing my life, I decided to apply for a job as a waiter and dishwasher at a restaurant near the school. The money my mother sent me was used to pay for tuition and rent. I tried to cover all the remaining living expenses myself.

During her four years of study, Hoai worked as a waitress and an hourly housemaid to pay for her studies. Photo: Quynh Thanh

At that time, each shift lasted 6 hours but the salary was only 1.2-1.5 million VND. Many days, after washing dishes for the store, it was already 10 or 11 pm. I only had time to eat a pack of noodles and then sit down to study so that I could be on time for class the next morning. During the summer, when my friends were busy running between extra classes, I stopped working as a waiter at the restaurant and distributed flyers to save up for tuition next year.

Later, when studying became more stressful, I switched to working as an hourly maid for 2 families. Each family worked 3 times a week. In fact, my week was packed with classes and part-time work.

Since 2016, her mother has become seriously ill. Because of chronic arthritis, her legs have difficulty walking and she has to be hospitalized for treatment. Since then, her life has become even more difficult. To cover the rent, electricity, water and tuition, the total daily expenses of this poor student are only allowed to be around 30,000 VND.

Truong Thi Hoai on graduation day. Photo: Quynh Thanh

Despite having to work part-time and not having much time to study, Hoai, a poor student, still made many of her classmates admire her when she received 6 scholarships from Vinh University.

In many subjects such as Fieldwork, Natural Geography, Specialized Theory, Specialized Scientific Research Methods or Teaching, I got above 9. Some subjects even got 9.8 points. I also received a Certificate of Merit for Excellent Student in the 2016-2017 school year, Excellent Student in the 2017-2018 school year, and a Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in the "Light of the Path 2017" competition. In 2018, I graduated from university with a good degree.

Now, looking back at the 4 years of studying full of experiences, Hoai still silently thanks the hardships she has gone through. Working for difficult people has trained her to be careful and thorough. Each person she has passed has given her a lesson to help her improve herself. All those qualities of perseverance and patience are the results of learning "from working as a maid" as she said.

Truong Thi Hoai's diploma. Photo: Quynh Thanh

Talking about her strong-willed student, Ms. Nguyen Thi Viet Ha - Head of the Department of Geography Methods, Institute of Social Pedagogy, Vinh University, who was also Truong Thi Hoai's homeroom teacher for 4 years, shared: "The precious thing about Hoai is her will to rise up in life. Although her learning path is more difficult than her peers when she has to work extra to make ends meet, she is always optimistic and cheerful to complete her studies well. After 4 years of studying, she is an outstanding student of the Faculty of Geography - Resource Management when she graduated with honors. That is a solid stepping stone for her to realize her dream of becoming a teacher."