The heart of a poor mother in Thai village

(Baonghean) -Coming to the Thai ethnic village in Dong Sang, Nghia Binh commune - a particularly difficult village in Nghia Dan district, everyone admires Mrs. Lo Thi Hoi for single-handedly raising 9 successful children.

At that time, Mrs. Hoi's family was peaceful and happy, her children were studying at university one by one, the eldest son, Mr. Luong Ba Vien, was studying at Hanoi University of Culture, the second son, Mr. Luong Hong Vinh, was studying at Hanoi Pedagogical University 1, and Mr. Luong Dai Loi was studying at Vinh University when her husband became seriously ill and bedridden. While the family was in dire straits, Mr. Luong Hong Vinh caused a motorbike accident. Mrs. Hoi ran around and collected 30 million VND to go to Hanoi to compensate the victims. It was too difficult, the youngest sister, Luong Thi Kim Huong, who had graduated from high school, had to put aside her dream of going to university to stay home and take care of her sick father. After a period of serious illness, in 2008, her father passed away. On the day of her husband's farewell, Mrs. Hoi was extremely sad.

Mrs. Hoi struggled to overcome the pain of losing her husband and worry about her children's education and jobs. After her husband passed away, Mrs. Hoi held a family meeting and told her children: "Our family is a farmer. If we want to escape poverty, we only hope that you can get an education and a job. I hope that you will study well so that our family's life will be less miserable." During those days, she raised her children alone. She worked hard from morning until night. In addition to taking care of the family's sugarcane fields, she also took on jobs like stripping sugarcane leaves, hoeing grass, etc. as long as she had money to buy rice and send money to send her children to school in big cities.

Talking about his mother, Mr. Luong Ba Vien, the eldest son, currently the Director of the Cultural Center of Nghia Dan district, shared: “Although we grew up in hardship and lacked our father's love, we were still steadfast and happy because we always had our mother by our side. Our mother made a miracle by raising 9 children on her own. We received immense love from our mother. Seeing our mother's hard work and family difficulties, sometimes we brothers and sisters thought about giving up and dropping out of school to find a job to help our mother. But seeing our mother's determination, love, and hope for her children, we united, advised, and encouraged each other to study hard so as not to let our mother down.” Currently, Mrs. Hoi's 9 children (4 graduated from high school, 5 graduated from university) all have stable jobs and a happy family.

Mrs. Lo Thi Hoi and her children and grandchildren reunited on Tet holiday.
(Photo provided by family)

Looking back on the arduous journey she has gone through, now happily enjoying her children and grandchildren, Mrs. Hoi proudly said: “My children are now grown up and have families, and have stable jobs. Raising children alone is much more difficult. Not only worrying about their education, but the important thing is raising them to be good people. Luckily, my children are all well-behaved…”.

Mr. Ha Van Uoc, village chief and Party Secretary of Dong Sang village, said: “The example of sacrifice for children and the will to study of the children of Mrs. Lo Thi Hoi's family has made the people in the commune respect and follow their example. Thanks to that, from 2004 to now, Dong Sang village has had 34 children pass the university and college entrance exams. Many poor families are still determined to raise their children to study to the end.”

Pham Ngan