"Become a teacher to repay life"

(Baonghean) - Crossing Cay Chanh bridge to hamlet 3, Thanh Son commune (Anh Son), passersby will come across a small newly built house nestled beside the Con river. The owner is teacher Luong Thi Lan, who had to overcome many misfortunes in life to become a teacher.

Teacher Luong Thi Lan is engrossed in her lesson plan.

The small house of the Thai ethnic teacher is only about 24 square meters, nestled in the middle of a vast sugarcane hill. With that area, the owner can only arrange 1 office room which is also a living room, 1 corner for a bed and finally a space for the kitchen. Talking to us, teacher Lan shared: "For many people, this house may be too small. For me, this is a lifelong dream...".

After a moment of contemplation, Lan told about her unfortunate childhood. Her mother gave birth to Lan in early 1982, when life was lacking in every way, everyone was busy making a living but there was never enough food. Two months after Lan cried out at birth, her father was ordered to join the army and fight in the Cambodian battlefield. Then five months later, the family received a death notice, martyr Luong Van Cuong heroically sacrificed while performing his noble international duty.

Faced with the pain of losing her husband, Lan's mother almost collapsed. After regaining her composure, her mother took Lan to her grandmother's house. Her grandmother's house was very poor at that time, but because she loved her children and grandchildren, she still opened her arms to take care of them. A life of poverty and hardship, and the pain of losing her life partner that refused to subside, made Lan's mother's illness worse and worse. When Lan was 2 years old, her mother suddenly passed away, leaving her young child behind after a stroke. At that time, Lan was too young to feel the pain of losing her mother, losing the important support of her life. By the time Lan realized this, her mother's grave was covered with grass, her grandmother's back was bent, her hair was white. Although she loved her orphaned grandchild so much, Ha Thi Xinh (Lan's grandmother) could not feed her grandchild enough, enough clothes. With the strength of her old age, she could only earn two meals a day of cassava and sweet potatoes. There were days when the two of them had to boil green bananas or find banana roots or khâu trees in the forest instead of rice. At 10 years old, Lan was still very skinny, her body looked like that of a 5 year old child.

Grandmother was getting weaker and weaker, no longer able to take care of her. Faced with that situation, her aunt and uncle took Lan home to take care of and raise her. Her uncle's family was also very poor, with no other source of income than rice and corn fields. Her aunt and uncle worked on the fields in the remote forest all year round, while Lan stayed at home to take care of the house and look after her younger siblings. Every day, seeing her friends chattering and calling each other to go to school, Lan felt sorry for herself and wished to have the same joy as them. Every time the desire to go to school flared up in her young soul, Lan could only go to her friends' houses to borrow books to look at pictures, and then sing along with her friends the songs taught by the teacher at school. Seeing this, the neighbors advised her aunt and uncle to let Lan go to school to learn to read and write. With the knowledge, Lan's life would be less miserable in the future. Listening to what everyone said made sense, despite all the difficulties, Lan's aunt and uncle still bought books, pens and ink so that their orphaned nephew could go to school.

At the age of 11, Lan entered first grade. Compared to the required age, Lan was 4-5 years late. Until now, Lan still has not forgotten the memory of that first day... Lan was the tallest in the class, still sitting furtively at the last desk, every time the teacher glanced at her, her heart would beat rapidly. But then, receiving the teacher's encouragement and dedicated teaching, Lan became more and more confident and asserted herself in her studies. One day she went to school, the remaining time she helped her uncle and aunt with housework, and so Lan completed the junior high school program. Up to this point, it could be considered a turning point in her life. Because, if she stopped, Lan would return to the mountains, forests, fields and sugarcane fields along the Con River. If she continued studying, she would have to travel about 10 km, across the Lam River to Anh Son 3 High School to stay at school. This would be a burden for her uncle and aunt's family, because the more she studied, the more expenses she had to pay, not to mention having to rent a house. Once again, Lan's uncle and aunt opened their hearts to be tolerant, determined to let their nephew study well. Three years of high school passed in the love, care and help of his family, teachers and friends.

After finishing high school, Luong Thi Lan was given priority to study at Hanoi University of Foreign Languages ​​(English Pedagogy) under the selection program. On the day she packed her luggage to leave, Lan cried a lot because she had to leave her aunt and uncle's family, and also because she was worried about living alone in a foreign land. Coming to the capital to study, even though she was nearly 25 years old, Lan was still shy and self-conscious because she was an ethnic minority, born and raised in a remote mountainous district. But then the pedagogical environment helped her live openly, sociably and sincerely, and her complexes and self-consciousness were gradually eliminated.

As the child of a martyr and a family with a policy, Lan was given priority in reducing her contributions, and she also received a monthly allowance to help her study. However, life in Hanoi is expensive, so to ensure daily expenses and to buy books, documents, and learning equipment, Lan had to wash dishes for student restaurants. In her free time, she offered to hand out flyers to earn more income. However, at the end of the month, her savings often ran out, and Lan had to eat instant noodles three times a day. One day, her friends felt sorry for her and invited her to a meal, but she refused, because most of her fellow students shared the same poverty. Then, 5 years of her student life passed quickly. In 2010, the Thai ethnic girl from Thanh Son commune became a Bachelor of Foreign Language Education.

Holding a university degree, Lan went to "knock on the door" of several places but only received head shakes or empty promises. Finally, she went to the Department of Education and Training of Anh Son district. Although there was a large surplus of teachers here, but because of the priority, the leaders of the industry still decided to recruit Luong Thi Lan under contract. She was assigned to teach at Thanh Son Primary School - the school where Lan had first set foot in more than 20 years ago, hesitantly and hesitantly. Returning to her hometown to take up the job, Lan had no place to stay. In that situation, the school gave her a small room in the dormitory.

Knowing that teacher Luong Thi Lan is the child of a martyr, born and raised on this land, the local government decided to grant her a small plot of land. With her current salary of 1.7 million VND/month, she can only barely cover her daily expenses, so building a house is still very far away. Luckily, the District Front supported her with 20 million VND to build a house. The house, tiled, 24 square meters wide, has just been completed, with a total cost of 60 million VND, Lan still owes 40 million VND. The Thanh Son Primary School Union supported her with funds to help her dig a well and build a toilet. Everything is still lacking, but now Lan has a house to stay and worship her parents.

Ms. Lan's small house has just been completed.

In her personal love life, teacher Luong Thi Lan and her husband are also going through many hardships and separations. While studying in Hanoi, Lan met and fell in love with Ha Van Trung, a young man of the Muong ethnic group in Phu Yen district (Son La). At that time, Trung was studying at college, majoring in Accounting. Trung's family was also very poor, and his parents were old and weak, so they could not take care of their children's work and happiness. Lan returned to her hometown to take up a job, and shortly after, the two got married. Currently, Trung is working as a worker in Phu Tho, and Lan is preparing to give birth alone at the end of this year.

While telling the story, there were times when Lan's eyes welled up, and she sobbed with sadness. There were times when she smiled brightly, her eyes suddenly lit up and were filled with hope. Those were the emotions she had experienced in her life. She hugged her grandmother, who had taken care of her throughout her childhood, when her beloved mother took her last breath. Now, she was over 80 years old, no longer strong enough to work in the fields and needed Lan's care and support. Lan's eyes suddenly became sad and filled with anxiety, and she shared: "Now, I just hope for a stable job, a guaranteed salary to raise my children. And I hope one day I will have enough money to go find my father's grave... Many nights I cried alone because I missed my parents, both of whom passed away without leaving a single photo to place on the altar...".

Saying goodbye, we could only say words of encouragement to Ms. Lan to continue trying to overcome the difficulties ahead. Lan replied: "I know I have to try harder to repay those who have taken care of me, helped me and to repay life..." After seeing off the guests, Lan returned to her lesson plans. There, she found joy and meaning in her life...

Cong Kien