The journey to school of two poor boys

Arriving at the barber shop as directed, I stopped to ask for Ha “met’s” house. There were about five people in the shop, one of them said: “Just go straight and look to the right for the smallest shack, just go in without asking anymore, this whole district only has one house like that left”. The customer who was getting his hair cut (probably a local) stopped and added: “It’s hard to find a house like that in our province”. The house was also roofed with fibro cement, but the support poles were made of bamboo, the walls were made of scraps of wood, cardboard, the whole shack was crooked, tattered and looked like it was about to collapse, but it was the place where the two children had lived for the past 4 years when their mother was away from home.

Ha and her three children in front of the dilapidated house. Photo by Dam Phuong

Ly Thanh Dat's mother, Vu Thi Thuy Ha (born in 1973), has also been selling bamboo and bamboo products along the Cua Tien River since her youth and lives in a house made of bamboo, so she has the additional name Ha "meter". In the house, clothes and belongings are piled up haphazardly, blocking the entire walkway. The family only has two chairs to sit on. The mattress, about 1.5 m wide - the sleeping place of the mother and her three children - was soaked by the rain and had to be covered with a plastic sheet to make room to lie down.

Ms. Ha explained: "I just moved my things from the boarding house here so I haven't been able to arrange them yet. I was afraid that the house would collapse, so when I went to Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces to sell bamboo, meters and wash dishes for restaurants, I had to rent a boarding house for 500,000 VND per month for my two children to live in." No matter how much I did business, I couldn't pay the boarding house fee, so I had to take my two children back to stay in the old tent. When the guests came to the house, the two children greeted politely, the younger brother named Ly Thanh Danh (born 2010) raised his head to listen to the conversation.

Listening to his mother and the guest talking, Danh chattered: "If you stay at home, I can eat and sleep with you, but I still want you to go so I can have money for my brother and me to go to school." The mother wiped her tears. Dat looked up at me, then looked at his mother and said cautiously: "There was a time when Danh fell asleep on my back while we were walking along the road, so I was afraid that he would fall while cycling. There were also days when I fell asleep while cycling, and luckily I hit a pothole and woke up, but I still went to school because I was sad because I couldn't see my friends and teachers."

Dat finished speaking and turned to the pile of clothes, blankets and pillows. His eyes were closed, he looked tired, his skin was pale, he tried to keep his eyes open to chase away the sleepiness, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't resist, and after a while he fell asleep. It turned out that he had just returned to school a few days ago after having to take a week off because he was exhausted from hunger and cold, so he collapsed on the side of Cua Tien bridge. The homeroom teacher had to call his mother in Quang Tri to immediately catch a bus home.

Previously, Ms. Ha rented a room on the bank of Cua Tien River in Hong Son Ward to sell bamboo and bamboo products, but after paying the land for the project, her grandparents were compensated with a sum of money so they bought a piece of land over 100 square meters wide.²for her and her younger sister (living in Huong Khe district - Ha Tinh), who are quite old but fate is difficult so Ms. Ha has to raise two children alone. The two children also have their father's surname but never know the face of the man who gave birth to them.

Little Dat helps his mother with housework. Photo: Dam Phuong

As a child, Ms. Ha often had epileptic seizures, was not as smart and agile as other people, so wherever she did business, she was left empty-handed. She was 45 years old but did not even have an old motorbike to ride, and even borrowed her bicycle. Her parents bought her a piece of land, but when her father passed away in 2004, and then her mother died of cancer in 2009, before she could complete the paperwork, the seller also passed away, so Ms. Ha was not legally recognized. Because of that, even though she lived on her own land, she had to apply for temporary residence, and was recognized as a poor household, but she did not have any assets to mortgage to borrow money from the bank.

For the past two years, when Ly Thanh Danh went to school, he had the additional task of taking his younger brother to Vinh Tan Primary School (Vinh City) and then returning to his own school. After finishing school at 12 o'clock, he would come to pick his younger brother up. When he got home, he would cook, wash dishes, do laundry for the two brothers to eat. When the night fell, the two brothers would hug each other on the bed, not daring to turn off the lights because they were afraid of the dark. The main food was eggs and chili sauce. He ate boiled eggs, and she had fried eggs. In the morning, he went hungry. If he woke up early, he would eat cold rice. Otherwise, he would have to rush on his bike to make it to school on time.

It was winter, at 5:30 in the morning it was still dark, riding a bike without lights, there were many dangers lurking somewhere. However, both brothers did not skip school because their mother was away. Every month, their mother was away for at least 15 days, as long as 23 days like last month, there were months when their mother was away for a long time, the house ran out of rice and the two brothers had to go to school hungry, so the older brother was exhausted and had to take a week off. The younger brother studied at Vinh Tan Primary School, because he did not have money to pay for lunch, so at noon when his friends ate and slept, he stood at the school gate waiting for his brother to pick him up. At nearly 12 noon, when Danh was still standing at the school gate waiting for his brother, his classmates had finished eating and gone to sleep, while Danh was starving. After eating, his brother took him to school in the afternoon.

Shelter of Ms. Ha and her two children. Photo by Dam Phuong

Luckily, from one of those times waiting for him, Danh met Ms. Dang Thi Bich Son in Quang Trung block, whose house was opposite Vinh Tan Primary School, who came to pick up her child who was in the same class as Danh and asked him about his situation. Knowing his situation, she brought him home for lunch, let him sleep over, and continued studying in the afternoon, so Dat didn't have to take him there and pick him up in the afternoon.

Not only Ms. Bich Son, in her story, Ms. Ha also constantly mentioned the teachers at Hong Son Primary School (where Dat studied) such as Ms. Mai - Principal, Ms. Dao Huong, Ms. Phuong Anh. Ms. Hoa told Dat to take the box to get her lunch so the two of them could eat at night. At the secondary school, there was Mr. Hai - Principal, Ms. Loan, the homeroom teacher, who helped Dat with books, uniforms, gave him warm clothes, gave him money, when Dat was sick, the Parents' Association and the school came to visit, or the Party cell, the neighborhood, and the government where Dat and his brothers lived to ask about and support.

Looking at her son sleeping soundly, Ms. Ha added: In 2014, Danh was taken out by his aunt in Huong Khe but had an accident, her aunt broke her leg and had to have a nail inserted, and Dat suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with lasting effects. Every time the weather changes, Dat complains of headaches, and recently, if he eats a lot, he vomits, and his health has declined a lot. Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan - the homeroom teacher of the 7th grade class - said that with a well-behaved, hard-working, and agile student like Dat, if his mother takes care of him and creates favorable conditions, his learning ability will be much better. And Secretary of the Yen Phong Party Cell, Hung Thinh Commune (Hung Nguyen) Nguyen Thi Tung said: "Everyone loves the two children, especially Dat, who has to take care of his younger brother even though he is still young. The house is dilapidated, leaking everywhere, and we are afraid that it will collapse at any time while his mother is away. The Party Cell has proposed that the commune and district support Ha to build a house, but Ha has no money and cannot borrow, so it is very difficult."

On the journey to school tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, there are still some hungry days, some full days, still so sleepy that they nod off on the bike or on each other's backs, the two poor boys are still very afraid of having to skip school, to be away from their friends and teachers, a place where there is cold, hunger but still a lot of human warmth.