Go to the capital to stay and study with my child

(Baonghean.vn) -That was the determination of Ms. Le Thi Thu (Hamlet 4, Dien Thang, Dien Chau) when her youngest son was admitted to Hanoi University of Pharmacy. Her husband passed away, she alone struggled to raise two children to study, her son had congenital heart disease, poor health, so she planned to follow her son to the capital to study.

Married in 1989, two children, a boy and a girl, were born and grew up. Happiness is smiling on the hard-working country girl Le Thi Thu (born in 1968). The family's economy was difficult, so in 2003, her husband decided to go to Malaysia to work. To have money to go abroad, they had to borrow money from relatives, neighbors and even from the bank. However, at that time, working in Malaysia was unstable, the company he worked for did not earn much income, so he had to save a few million to send home to help his wife pay off the debt when he left. She stayed home to work hard in the fields, take care of the house and raise two children.

Disaster struck suddenly, in 2007, she received the news that he had suddenly died in Malaysia. She cried her eyes out for her husband, and had to find money to bring his body back to her hometown for burial. The pain was too great, but she knew she could not give up. She had two children of school age, the older one was in high school, the younger one was just starting third grade.

She did everything to earn money for her children's education. In 2008, her first daughter, Dang Thi Xuan, was admitted to Ho Chi Minh City Industrial College in Vinh. A year later, her second son, Dang Dinh Phong, finished junior high school. Phong studied very well, was continuously an excellent student of the school, the district, and the province in grade 9. Phong's dream was to study at Phan Boi Chau High School. However, due to the family's circumstances at that time, she could not afford to take care of both children in the city, so she advised her son to study at a high school near home. Although he loved his mother, Phong did not want to give up his dream. Phong quietly hid from his mother and went to Vinh to take the entrance exams to Phan Boi Chau High School and Vinh University High School. As a result, Phong passed both schools with quite high scores.


“The day I received my child’s admission notice, my legs went weak. No matter how I advised him, it was useless. He insisted on going to Vinh to study. How could I manage the tuition and living expenses for two children in the city when my health was poor and my fields and gardens were failing... And I also couldn’t rest assured leaving Phong alone in Vinh because he had a heart condition and was in very poor health...” So the day Phong entered Phan Boi Chau school, she also hurriedly arranged the house, fields and gardens and packed up with her child to go to Vinh.



Dang Dinh Phong and the will to overcome difficulties.

The mother and her three children rented a 10m2 room on Nguyen Tien Ta Street. During the day, she worked as a janitor at a hotel, and at night, she washed dishes at a restaurant. The 2 million she earned each month had to be saved to pay for housing, food, and tuition for her children. Fortunately, Phong was exempted from tuition fees by the school, the subject teachers exempted him from extra classes, and his friends provided him with books and materials. Not letting down his mother's sacrifice and everyone's help, Phong studied hard and did very well. At the 2012 National Excellent Student Competition, Phong won third prize in Chemistry.

Winning the third prize for national excellent students, Phong was admitted directly to Hanoi University of Pharmacy. As the admission date approached, his mother had a hundred worries. In the capital, everything was expensive, then the tuition was high, the cost of food and accommodation, Phong's health was weak, he often fainted on rainy days... what should she do? After many sleepless nights, thinking, for the sake of her child's future, she decided to move with her child to Hanoi to study.

“When I get there, I don’t know what I can do yet. But I will manage to earn money to support Phong’s education and send my eldest daughter back to finish her university studies in Vinh. I will sell bread for hire, collect scrap, work in restaurants, do odd jobs… I will do anything to earn a decent living,” she said firmly.

As for Phong, he also has his own plans to support his mother: “Mom has worked too hard. Because of me, she traveled from the countryside to Vinh, and now she has followed me to Hanoi. She has not had a single moment of peace. Studying Pharmacy, the tuition is high, everything in Hanoi is expensive, mom has to manage it all by herself, I love her very much. I will try my best to be a tutor when my health allows to earn money to help with the cost of studying...”



Mother's love and sacrifice will nurture Phong's dream.

In the cramped rented room, there was nothing valuable except for the towering piles of books, on the moldy wall were the Certificates of Merit, the Certificates of Merit of Phong and his sister's academic achievements. For a mother like Thu, the result of hard work, hardship, and toil is the joy of her children growing up and maturing...

Duy Nam