Early spring for poor students

Winter is not cold
In the last days of the year, traveling more than 300 kilometers, the delegation of Nghe An Newspaper brought the "Warm Winter Coats" Program to the poor and disadvantaged students of Na Ngoi 2 Primary School, located in Phu Kha 2 village, Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district. This is also one of the communes with the harshest climate, covered in frost all year round and sometimes the temperature drops to 1 - 20 degrees Celsius.

At the time the Nghe An Newspaper shipments arrived, Na Ngoi was also immersed in cold weather. Therefore, the warm coats, although simple, were timely to warm the students, a very practical gift as the new year was approaching.

Officials and reporters of Nghe An Newspaper give warm clothes to students of Na Ngoi Primary School - Ky Son. Photo: Archive

Previously, the “Warm Winter Coats” program was implemented by the Trade Union and the Youth Union of Nghe An Newspaper for about a week. With the desire to share the hardships of students in the highlands, in just a short time, more than 200 coats were donated to bring “Warm Winter Coats” to poor students.

On this occasion, the delegation also presented gifts to 30 other disadvantaged households in the border commune and visited and presented Tet gifts to Luong Thi Hien Nay, a 7th grade student (Xieng My commune, Tuong Duong district) with difficult circumstances, who was assisted by the Nghe An Newspaper Youth Union. In addition, nearly 300 warm coats and 2 water purifiers were also donated by the Newspaper in collaboration with a number of businesses to Xieng My Kindergarten.

To welcome the Lunar New Year of the Pig, Hoi Nga Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Quy Chau) also spent 2 days of the weekend organizing the program "Spring of love, Tet reunion". Participating in this program, students experienced many meaningful activities imbued with the colors of the traditional Tet holiday such as the Chung cake wrapping contest, the cooking contest of traditional national dishes and participating in games imbued with the colors of the highland people such as throwing con, lam vong dance, walking on stilts...

Participating in this program, Tet has come earlier for poor students with difficult circumstances when the school teachers voluntarily deducted part of their salary to give Tet gifts to students. Among them, there are many very difficult cases such as Vi The San whose father passed away, mother left, she lives with her sick grandmother; Lu Thi Tuyen, orphaned of both parents, lives with her uncle and aunt, her circumstances are also very difficult. During the school year, poor students are always cared for by the school and all receive gifts on the occasion of the new school year, Mid-Autumn Festival...

Early Tet with students of Hoi Nga Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Quy Chau). Photo: My Ha

In Tuong Duong, the border commune of Nhon Mai has just successfully organized the first Local Goods Fair. At the fair, there was a special booth of teachers, students and parents of Nhon Mai Kindergarten with many handmade products, utensils and toys made by the teachers in the school. Parents also contributed by bringing rice, vegetables, bamboo shoots, squash or other agricultural products to the school. At the end of the fair, the school earned nearly 15 million VND from sales and support from benefactors. The entire amount was used by the school to buy warm blankets for the children.

Accompany and share

In 2019, the “For Your Effort” Fund of Dien Ky Secondary School (Dien Chau) turned 5 years old. This is a fund raised by former students of the school to support the school’s poor students. After 5 years, the fund has raised nearly 600 million VND. In order for the fund to operate effectively, the school and the Liaison Committee also agreed on the fund’s operating regulations: beneficiaries, benefit levels, and fund transfer time.

Among these, many students have graduated but through the Liaison Committee, they continue to receive monthly support from the fund, such as the case of Ngo Kieu Anh (a 7A student whose parents passed away due to HIV).

The little girl with the letter “Letter to Mom” many years ago touched many readers and the online community. Currently, Kieu Anh is in high school, but every month she still receives support of about 500,000 VND from benefactors to give her more motivation to study. Or the case of the orphaned student Nguyen Le Huy, due to difficult circumstances, Huy lives with his grandmother in a dilapidated house. Pitying the poor student, the school raised nearly 110 million VND to build a decent, cozy house for the grandmother and grandchild.

Most recently, on Christmas 2018, the “For Your Effort” Fund also gave many gifts and bicycles to Catholic students of the school. Receiving the new bicycle, student Dang Van Vuong (grade 9B) happily said: “My family is poor, so it was not easy to buy a bicycle. Since I have a bicycle, I no longer have to walk or rely on a friend's bike, but can go to school by myself and help my parents with many things... In addition to this program, the school has also maintained the “Circle of Friends” Fund for many years. Especially on the occasion of Lunar New Year, all teachers and students of the school will donate to support Tet gifts for poor students of the school.”

Dien Ky Secondary School - Dien Chau donates bicycles to students in difficult circumstances. Photo: My Ha

Across the province, on this occasion, many other schools also gave special gifts to disadvantaged students, students in difficult circumstances and students with serious illnesses.

At Mau Duc Secondary School (Con Cuong), on the first day of 2019, the whole school spent the first flag-raising ceremony of the week to mobilize support for Lang Thi Tuy, who suffers from "Silent Ischemic Heart Disease". Because of this "rare" disease, Tuy has to go to the district hospital for a blood transfusion every month. She has also been referred to the provincial hospital for treatment, but due to difficult circumstances, her wish has not been fulfilled. Despite her illness, Tuy has never missed a day of school and is a good student at the school...

As for the Dan Lai students of Mon Son commune, joy came to them at the beginning of the new year when the school just put into use a spacious and beautiful dormitory. The project with a total value of nearly 3 billion VND is a gift from the Vietnam Children's Fund and sponsors supporting the teachers and students of the school. This gift not only helps Dan Lai students no longer have to worry about studying far from home, but also helps them truly "have their second home" and become more attached to the school and class.

Sharing, accompanying and supporting poor students are also practical and meaningful gifts for them on the occasion of the New Year; it is also the motivation for them to continue to try, excel and achieve many good results in their studies.