The hard-working mother

(Baonghean) - When I heard that Hoang Nghia Binh, son of Tran Thi Thao, my aunt's younger brother, in Phong Quang hamlet, Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city, was the valedictorian of the Army Officer School I with a total score of 26, my heart was filled with joy and emotion.

Ms. Thao with her daily work.

How can one not be happy and moved when among one's relatives and one's hard-working hometown there is a "Top Scholar". And I was born into a poor farming family, in difficult circumstances: Father has a heart valve disease, hydrocephalus; mother is weak and works hard day and night in the fields, doing all kinds of jobs to earn money to take care of her children's education.

I remember a summer afternoon more than 10 years ago, I had just returned from Vinh, and before I could even get my bike up the steps, my mother came out of the house and said: “Thao told me to come get the rice. He has dried it and fanned it clean”. I understood that Thao “sold the young rice” to my mother. My mother was past her prime but was still healthy and clear-headed. Her father had passed away, she refused to follow her children, living alone in the countryside, diligently hoeing the garden, growing vegetables and beans. Although she did not eat much, she could not bear to see the ironwood bed, jars and pots that were always full of rice, now empty. She could not bear it, and with all the money her children gave her, she lent it to the neighbors to get the rice when the season came. Many families came to ask to borrow, but they did not have much money, so she “prioritized” Thao. For almost all of the past few years, Thao had received that “priority”. My mother said: “Even though he lives far away, he often comes back to help me, sometimes giving me a kilo of sticky rice and a bunch of peanuts. How precious!”

In the afternoon, I drove down to Thao's house. The house my father left me had an old mossy roof, the pillars, doors, and planks were all infested with termites. The large chicken coop next to the house was also dilapidated and empty. Inside the house and in the yard, there was a lot of rice. The rice had been dried and cleaned, some piled up, some dried in the yard, some in the house. Thao said that this year's harvest was good, more than 3 tons were harvested, but she had to pay off 2 tons of debt, leaving more than 1 ton to eat and worry about other things. The debt for fertilizer and seeds alone had cost her 1 ton, then medicine for her brother Nham, money for the death anniversary, and school fees for her grandchildren. The mat-making business was not worth much because there were few people, and jute was expensive. The chickens and ducks she raised were all infected with H5N1 and destroyed. Everything depended on rice grains. I was embarrassed and said: Thao calculated the price based on the current price, but not only did she not reduce it, Thao also added a bunch more to the bag, and on the next trip she even brought a small bag of sticky rice and tied it herself on the car, I couldn't refuse...

Life in the countryside is extremely hard. It is better if there are many workers in the family, but Thao's family is short of people, her husband is always sick, and her children are still young, Thao has to shoulder the burden and take care of everything. Binh (Thao's son) had to herd buffaloes and work in the fields to help his mother when he was young. He loves to study, and when he goes to herd buffaloes, he also takes books with him.

Not only taking care of her own family, Thao also had to take care of her parents in the upper village. The families of her two older brothers lived far away, both were old, one had bone and joint diseases, the other became blind when Thao was just out of her teens. Thao had to go back and forth to take care of and help her grandparents. When Binh was in 5th grade, Thao let him live with his grandparents, which was close to school, convenient for studying, and also to help them relax. A few years later, his grandmother passed away, his illness became more and more serious, he had to be helped to walk, then had to use a wheelchair, Binh was like a ray of sunshine warming his heart on cold winter days. He smiled and showed off that Binh was a good student, he was able to compete in the city's excellent student competition, the province's excellent student competition, I was also happy.

Even though he is smart and bright, if he is not enriched with knowledge, learns more, and practices more, he cannot go far. This is really difficult for Binh. Where do his parents get the money to meet those requirements? His father's illness is getting worse, Binh has to take advantage of his time to help his mother and grandfather. Loving his son, seeing that he is obedient, hard-working, and determined to reach his goals, Thao decided to work hard to earn money, not hesitating to borrow from the Policy Bank for Binh to buy reference books, computers, and go to extra classes. Thao works very hard, buying mats to sell in Vinh, planting rice for hire, working as a coolie, working as a construction worker... as long as she has money to support her son's education.

Not letting his mother down, Binh studied better and better. In elementary school, he was an excellent student of the school, in middle school he was an excellent student of the city, an excellent student of the province, in high school he was able to take the Chemistry exam, and in the university entrance exam he got the highest score in the school. And in the recent university entrance exam, Binh was the valedictorian of the Army Officer School I... I called Thao to share my joy and make an appointment to visit.

Looking at the leaky room, the moldy, old wooden planks, it seemed to light up thanks to the certificates of merit pasted together; Binh's study corner was neat with bookshelves and a computer desk, and my heart was filled with tears. Thao recounted the story of taking the risk to go all the way to the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs to ask for a subsidy for her husband, going to the bank to borrow money to buy things to create conditions for her children to study; the story of Binh loving his mother, hiding from her to go work as a rice harvester; going to extra classes to take the provincial excellent student exam, his bicycle broke down and he had no money to fix it, so he had to walk several kilometers... Listening to the story, I felt pity and admiration for Thao's perseverance, hard work, and sacrifice for her husband and children; admiration for Binh, a poor student who overcame difficulties, had the heart and determination to live up to the tradition of loving learning and loving talent...

Binh confided: “I feel sorry for my parents, my father is getting sicker and sicker, my mother is weak but tries to work to support the whole family and me. I chose to take the exam to enter the military school to help my parents because I know that when I go to this school, I don’t have to worry about food and accommodation, I don’t have to pay tuition. I try to study hard, work extra to have the conditions to treat my father, renovate the house, that’s what I always think about, always wish for. And now I hope there’s a program like “Overcoming Yourself”, “Golden Bell” for my family to register to participate, maybe my mother can pay off the debt...”.

I think, Thao and her whole family have been trying to "Overcome ourselves" for many years to achieve the results we have today with love, sacrifice and determination...

Dinh Thanh Quang