These are the "flowers" that bloom in hardship.

(Baonghean) - These two underprivileged students, facing misfortune, have long stories behind them about the fates of their loved ones and their struggles to overcome adversity. They are truly flowers blooming in hardship, prompting us to reflect on resilience and sharing…

The girl who herds buffalo for hire.

We visited the home of Dau Thi Kim Oanh in Hamlet 5, Quynh Hoa Commune, Quynh Luu District, one afternoon in late September, just as Oanh was preparing to go herd buffalo for a neighbor. Oanh's grandmother, Tran Thi Lieu, knowing we had visitors, struggled to sit up and leaned against the headboard of the bed. As soon as her daughter's story was mentioned, the mother's grief seemed to erupt again...

Oanh's daily routine.

After the initial shock subsided, Mrs. Lieu calmly recounted what happened to her daughter, Mai Thi Ha, more than a year ago. Around 7 a.m. on September 21st, 2013, after the rain had stopped, Ms. Ha ran to the buffalo shed to shelter it and get her bicycle out so her granddaughter, Oanh, could go to school. Just as she wheeled the bicycle out of the shed, a sudden strong gust of wind accompanied by heavy rain caused the shed to collapse. Hearing the loud noise, Mrs. Lieu ran out of the house and found Ms. Ha lying unconscious in a pool of blood, struck in the back of the head by a concrete slab. Oanh was also unconscious, pinned under roof tiles. Witnessing this tragic scene, Mrs. Lieu was distraught, crying and calling for her daughter and granddaughter, then fainting again. Although neighbors rushed her to the hospital, Ms. Ha died from a severe head injury. Oanh was taken to the Quynh Hoa Health Station for emergency treatment; having just recovered from a critical condition, she was now grieving the loss of her mother!

Back then, Mai Thi Ha, being unmarried, ignored all the gossip and rumors of others to have a child, hoping to rely on her in her old age. In 2000, baby Dau Thi Kim Oanh was born, bringing joy and sorrow to both mothers. But then, the burden of raising a young child weighed heavily on her shoulders. With only a small plot of leased land, the rice harvest wasn't enough to last the whole season. She had to rent additional land from villagers, diligently plowing and cultivating. During the off-season, she would go to the forest to cut firewood and do odd jobs to earn extra money, helping her and her child survive. Then, in 2008, Mrs. Lieu, Ha's mother, suffered a stroke, leaving her paralyzed on one side and bedridden. The lives of the three under the dilapidated roof became even more difficult and desperate. But the poverty, hardship, and misfortune didn't end there...

Since her mother's death, her grandmother has been constantly ill, leaving Oanh to fend for herself alone. Besides attending school each day, the orphaned girl busies herself helping her grandmother with the rice in the garden. After the harvest, she goes to the forest to chop firewood, then herds buffalo for hire, and sometimes catches crabs and snails to sell for money to buy books and school supplies. "Only occasionally do her aunts in the South send her a hundred or fifty thousand dong, and I'm sick all year round and confined to bed... Luckily, she's studious, but with our family circumstances like this, I don't know what will happen to her..." Oanh's grandmother said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Despite facing numerous hardships, Oanh has consistently achieved the title of outstanding student for many years. Oanh says she excels most in Biology and dreams of becoming a doctor to treat her grandmother's illness. Last school year, she was awarded first prize in the girls' junior high school football competition by the Quỳnh Lưu District Department of Education and Training.

Currently, Oanh and her grandmother are living in a low, dilapidated house with rotten rafters that could collapse at any moment. There's nothing of value in the house except for a rickety wooden bed. Besides one acre of rice paddy land, Oanh and her grandmother have nothing else to rely on. Mr. Mai Van Tam, head of Hamlet 5, Quynh Hoa Commune, said: “Oanh and her grandmother's situation is very pitiful. Since Ms. Ha's tragic death, the local government and community organizations have regularly visited and offered support, but they haven't been able to provide much material assistance to the two of them.”

The brilliant student has no…home!

Visiting Chi Thanh hamlet, Quynh Bang commune, Quynh Luu district, we couldn't help but feel saddened by the family circumstances of a student who achieved top academic results in the 7th grade during the 2013-2014 school year at Quynh Bang Secondary School.

My mother is Ms. Nguyen Thi Loc, born in 1970, residing in Chi Thanh hamlet, Quynh Bang commune. In 1997, Ms. Loc married a man from Kien Giang province. In 2001, her first son was born and named Ho Si Sam. After many years of unhappy family life, Ms. Loc decided to divorce in 2004.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Loc and her son, Ho Sy Sam, in their makeshift house.

The woman, having been divorced once, took her child and sought refuge at her maternal grandparents' house. With the help of her parents, she worked day and night, doing odd jobs and selling goods at the market to make ends meet. However, after a short time, her elderly father passed away, and her mother, nearing 90, with gray hair and a hunched back, could no longer support her children. Her younger brother had also grown up and was of marriageable age. Her maternal grandparents' house was no longer in a position to support her and her child. While the two of them were left homeless, fortunately, a relative offered them shelter in a house they had abandoned for many years!

Ms. Loc poured all her savings into renovating her house. Looking at the simple but clean and tidy one-story house, no one would guess that four years ago, before she and her children moved here, it was just a dilapidated building. “Almost all the roof tiles were broken, and the floor was so low that every time it rained, it flooded, and we had to wade through water… It was no different inside than outside. There were countless rats, snakes, and other reptiles…,” Ms. Loc recalled.

After calculating for a moment, Ms. Loc let out a sigh: "Two house renovations like that cost 25 million dong... I had to take a risk and borrow money from the bank just to have a place to live after the repairs..."

For over three years, the mother and daughter worked tirelessly, renting over 300 square meters of land to grow crops and raise pigs and chickens. She thought, "The rich are rich for three generations, the poor are poor for three generations," and that with hard work and diligence, their lives would change. But unexpectedly, just as they were about to harvest the crops, the chickens and ducks died, the sow that had only given birth once died, and the cow – their last remaining asset – also perished. "All my capital and hard work have gone to waste," Ms. Loc said, her tired, sunken eyes welling up with tears.

The difficulties piled up even more when, every now and then, Ms. Loc's relatives would come to demand the house back. A series of devastating waves of problems engulfed the unfortunate woman and her children. "I know living as tenants is miserable, but now my children and I don't know where else to go or what to do..." Ms. Loc choked out.

Despite facing numerous hardships, for the past seven years, Ho Si Sam, the son of Ms. Loc (currently in class 8A at Quynh Bang Secondary School), has consistently been a good and excellent student. This poor, small, and dark-skinned boy doesn't even have a study corner of his own. Whenever he studies, Sam has to squat on his bed. When he gets too tired, he lies down, hunched over, and studies intently, as if the recent difficult times never happened.

Watching her child study, the mother's bitter tears rolled down her cheeks. She sighed, "I'm happy to see that my child is bright and intelligent, but I only planned to let her finish 9th grade..."

To help these children continue their dream of going to school, I believe it requires not only the determination of the children themselves and their families, but also the support of the community.

Nguyen Hoe