Four days after the terrible flood, the face of Ms. Lo Thi Trang (born in 1988) - a teacher at Huoi Tu Kindergarten still shows a look of bewilderment and fatigue. Standing on the empty land next to the stream, where more than four days ago was still the home of a family of four, Ms. Trang recounted that fateful night: “At 3 a.m., the villagers heard unusual rumbling sounds from upstream, so they all woke up and ran out of their houses to higher places. Then the flood rushed in, my house was swept away, nothing was left behind…”.
Teacher Trang’s family is one of the most disadvantaged families in Hoa Son village. Her husband used to be a long-distance driver. Two years ago, he had an accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He is currently awaiting a skull bone graft surgery and is unable to work. Trang is the sole breadwinner with a salary of just over 6 million VND.
The couple has two children, the second son, now 4 years old, was diagnosed with thalassemia when he was 7 months old. Every month, she has to take her son to the Provincial Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center for treatment, the cost of transportation and food is up to 4 million VND. Although it is very difficult, she still tries to take care of her husband and children, stay at school and take care of the children, with the hope that when her husband has a skull bone transplant, he will return to work and the difficulties will gradually pass. But then the unexpected flood swept away all their property and hope, causing her family of 4 to be scattered in 2 places. "Without a place to live, now I don't know what the coming days will be like," Ms. Trang said, her eyes filled with tears.
Also among the teachers’ families whose houses were swept away by the flood were Mr. Mua Ba Tua and his wife – teachers at Huoi Tu Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities and Ms. Denh Y Do – teachers at Huoi Tu Kindergarten. Luckily, they were evacuated in time during the flood, but the house next to the stream of the teachers’ couple “disappeared” with the floodwaters, replaced by a pile of mud more than half a meter high.
Currently, the teacher and her four children are staying at Mr. Tua's parents' house. "Fortunately, thanks to the border guards who came to help clear the mud and dirt, we can build a temporary house on the old land in the next few days. But many of my colleagues' houses are still piled high with dirt and rocks, and we don't know when they will be cleared," Mr. Tua shared.
Mr. Phan Van Thiet - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ky Son district said: According to statistics, in the recent flood, 42 families of teachers had their houses damaged, including 41 teachers of kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools and 1 teacher of Ky Son High School. Of which, 24 houses were swept away or completely collapsed by floodwaters, accounting for nearly half of the entire district (55 houses); 17 houses had water and mud overflowing into their houses or part of their property was swept away.
Among the 42 teachers whose houses and properties were damaged, many were from the lowlands who came to Ky Son to work, and had built solid houses to settle down in the highlands, and were committed to the career of educating people on this land with many difficulties, such as Ms. Hoang Thi Hang (Ta Ca Kindergarten), Ms. Ho Thi Phuong (Ta Ca Primary School), Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh (Muong Xen Town Primary School), Mr. Cao Xuan Hop (Muong Tip 1 Primary School), Mr. Dinh Nho Thanh (Ky Son High School)... However, the flood came suddenly, and the lives of the teachers suddenly became precarious.
For example, the case of Mr. Dinh Nho Thanh (Ky Son High School), from Hung Tay commune (Hung Nguyen), came to Ky Son to work since 2004. In 2009, Mr. Thanh married teacher Nguyen Thi Hoai - a teacher at Nam Can 1 Primary School, who is from the same hometown and came to work since 2007. During 12 years of living together, this teacher couple diligently saved up to build a solid house in Hoa Son village since 2016, but it was not completed until the end of 2021.
During the recent flood, although the teacher's house was not directly affected by the flood water, the ground around the house has subsided. The most serious is a large crack appearing on the mountain range in front of the house, extending down to the middle of the house, causing many parts of the wall to collapse, and the entire house could collapse at any time.
The house of Mr. Thanh and Ms. Hoai is one of 36 houses in Ky Son district and one of 30 houses in Ta Ca commune that must be urgently evacuated. Currently, 4 members of the teacher's family have to be scattered in 2 places, staying at the house of Ms. Ha Thi Trang - a teacher at Muong Xen town Kindergarten and the house of Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang - a secretary at Huu Lap Primary School. Suddenly losing their place to live, in the past few days they had to take care of 2 children (1 child is 12 years old, 1 child is 7 years old) who both have colds and high fevers. The worries have made Ms. Hoai visibly emaciated. "My husband and I just hope to find a small piece of land to rebuild the house, so that we can work with peace of mind and our children can study with peace of mind," Ms. Hoai confided.
Not only families with solid houses, many teachers' families who are renting are also living in fear. In Hoa Son village, there is a building with 2 rows of 6 rooms each, called "teacher's boarding house", which is home to 12 families with 20 people. The recent flood caused many rooms to crack, water and mud to flow in, forcing many teachers to evacuate, some of them had to evacuate twice, such as Ms. Phan Thi Nhung (Huoi Tu Secondary School), Ms. Trinh Ngoc Anh (Ta Ca Primary School)...
Only the family of Mr. Dam Viet Hung (Huu Kiem Primary School) and Ms. Phan Thi Hien (Muong Xen Town Primary School) are still staying in their rented room after the flood because they do not want to "disturbe" their friends and colleagues. But the anxiety and worry are always present. "The first 3 days the water was still up to their ankles, but my wife and I only put some furniture like the refrigerator, washing machine, etc. up high, then my wife and I and our daughter still tried to stay even though all our activities were disrupted quite a bit. But in the next few days, we will probably have to find another place to stay, because the hill next to the rented room has gradually subsided, cracking the wall, and the risk of the house collapsing is very high," Mr. Hung shared.
Like many families that suffered heavy losses in the recent flood, the lives of 41 families of teachers who lost or damaged their homes in Ky Son district are in turmoil with hardship and anxiety. But in the midst of hardship, the hearts of sharing in the teaching community shine. Many families of teachers who did not suffer losses or suffered minor losses in the recent flood quickly organized to help their colleagues clear mud, move belongings or take them to stay.
Many teachers, despite suffering considerable damage due to the flood, still showed their valuable service to the community, such as the couple Mr. Vi Van Hung and Ms. Vi Thi Hien in Hoa Son village, who, despite having their entire garden, fish pond, livestock and poultry swept away by the flood, still cooked free sticky rice every day to support the villagers. Teachers in Son Ha village such as Ngu Thi Bich Ngoc (Ta Ca Kindergarten), Ha Ba Va (Na Ngoi 1 Primary School) in Son Ha village, despite having their houses partially collapsed, still walked about 4km to Muong Xen town nearly ten times a day with a number of other teachers in the village to transport support gifts to the village to help the villagers...
Mr. Phan Van Thiet - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ky Son district said: "In the face of the heavy losses of the people and teachers' families, the Department of Education and Training of the district has launched a campaign for the entire district's education sector to join hands to help and overcome the damage. In addition, the department also directed the school to assign people to arrange extra teaching hours for teachers whose houses were swept away, collapsed, or damaged so that they can feel secure in cleaning up, restoring their houses, or finding a place to live."
In addition, in the past few days, representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Radio (VOH) also went to Ky Son district to support 10 teachers who suffered the most damage, each gift worth 10 million VND; and support for 16 other teachers, each worth 5 million VND. The Department of Education and Training supported 14 teachers whose houses were washed away or completely collapsed, each teacher with 5 million VND; and awarded 10 gifts to support teachers whose houses were partially damaged or lost property, each worth 3 million VND. The working delegation of the District Party Committee - People's Council - People's Committee - Fatherland Front Committee of Tuong Duong and Con Cuong districts also presented gifts to the Department of Education and Training of Ky Son district to support teachers and students who suffered damage in the recent flood, of which Tuong Duong district received 30 million VND, Con Cuong district received 51 million VND...
In the coming time, we really need more cooperation and support from the education sector and kind-hearted organizations and individuals across the country to help teachers affected by floods, overcome difficulties and losses to stabilize their lives, and confidently continue their career of teaching in the difficult highlands.