The dream of lighting up the village of two orphaned students

Creativity from hardship

We met La Phu Cuong and Moong Thi Nhung (both 16 years old), when they were busy checking their products before taking them to the Tuong Duong district science and technology innovation contest. Cuong and Nhung are students of class 9B - Luong Minh Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities. "We have tested it many times. At the boarding school, when there is a power outage, we take it out to generate electricity to light up the classroom, and then let everyone charge their phones," Cuong excitedly boasted.

The two students' generator is quite simple. Photo: Tien Hung

Luong Minh commune is one of the communes with the most difficult economic life in Nghe An province today, partly due to electricity. According to Mr. Vi Dinh Phuc - Chairman of Luong Minh Commune People's Committee, this is an injustice to the people here. "The whole commune has 10 villages, but up to now, 5 villages still do not have electricity. Although it is located between 2 hydroelectric plants, Ban Ve and Nam Non. In many places, the power lines run through the village to go to other areas, but the people still do not enjoy it. What a loss," Mr. Phuc shook his head in disappointment.

Minh Tien village of Moong Thi Nhung is one of the villages without electricity. “Because there is no electricity at home, it affects our studies a lot. Because life is so difficult, right from the beginning of the school year, when the school suggested a technical innovation contest, we thought of this topic. Then we both searched online and asked teachers. Finally, we succeeded,” Nhung said about the reason why she came up with the idea of ​​making a generator.

The idea of ​​making a generator came after witnessing the difficult life due to lack of electricity. Photo: Tien Hung

According to these two students, the weather in Tuong Duong district is often changing. But in general, when there is little sunshine, there will be wind and vice versa. Therefore, combining the two sources of wind and solar power together is a solution to increase the stability of the power source as well as save investment costs. Therefore, this generator overcomes the disadvantage that when there is no wind, there is solar energy, when there is no solar energy, there is wind to generate electricity. This is the novelty and creativity of the product.

The generator of the two children is quite simple, with a cost of less than 1 million VND. The main cost is to buy iron pipes to make wind turbine blades and solar panels. Its operating principle is that when the wind rotates the blades, the turbine will generate AC power, through the rectifier and filter, it will give DC voltage to the comparison module. At this time, the module compares this DC voltage with the DC voltage provided by the solar panel, the side with the higher voltage will close the relay to that side to prioritize the voltage supply for the power source used... "However, the disadvantage of the generator is that the capacity is still small, only enough to light up and charge the phone", Nhung said.

difficult family situation

Nhung and Cuong are both orphans. More than 3 years ago, Nhung's father - a Khmu ethnic man - committed suicide with a gun, leaving behind 3 young children of school age. Until now, Nhung said that she still does not know the reason why her father was like that. It could also be because life was too difficult and miserable. Not long after her husband's funeral, Nhung's mother decided to "remarry". She took her youngest child and followed her new husband to Ky Son district to live. The rickety house built with planks of Nhung's family has since been abandoned. Her father died, her mother went to find a living, her grandparents were no longer around, Nhung and her older sister had to take shelter at a cousin's house.

Her father passed away and her mother "remarried". Nhung and her sisters had to take shelter with their uncle, but for many years she has maintained excellent academic results. Photo: Tien Hung

But compared to her close friend La Phu Cuong, Nhung is still quite lucky. Cuong doesn't even know his father and has no memories of his mother. Cuong was born in Xop Mat village, right at the time when the drug tornado was sweeping through this land. Cuong's Xop Mat village is also known by the not-so-nice name"unmarried version". Because at many times, in the village, besides the elderly and children, the majority are women. The men in the village, if not caught for drug-related crimes, die of HIV. Cuong's parents are also not immune to that temptation.

La Phu Cuong did not even get to see his father once. Photo: Tien Hung

Cuong said that when he was still in his mother’s womb, his father was arrested and imprisoned for drug-related crimes. Not long after, he also died in prison. A few months after giving birth, his mother left Cuong to be cared for by his grandmother and disappeared. Since then, the two of them had to live on vegetables and porridge to support each other…!

Despite their difficult family circumstances, according to their homeroom teacher, Ms. Nong Thi Chung, both students have a high sense of learning. “Both students are very good and obedient, and their academic performance is often at the top of the class. Nhung is the class monitor and has been an excellent student since grade 6. Cuong is the “red flag” of the class,” Ms. Chung said.