Down the mountain to sow dreams

(Baonghean) - Although the hardship and poverty in the Ky Son highlands still exist, although the ethnic people here have not been able to fully prepare clothing and food for their beloved children; but because of that, they have not forgotten their dream of changing the fate of their children.

From the most remote communes of the district such as the "thirsty" areas of Huoi Tu, Keng Du to the heavenly gate of Muong Long... everywhere is bustling with the footsteps of children carrying their books to school. Temporarily leaving behind their fields, temporarily leaving behind their baskets of vegetables, corn, and firewood; they have a greater task to do: go to school. Going to school to eliminate poverty for their homeland, to dispel the hardships and struggles for food and clothing. That is why many steps down the mountain, over the pass are not tired at all. Ahead lies a future...

Grade 6 students of Ky Son Ethnic Minority Secondary School compete in the golden bell contest.

Not long ago, the young teacher Le Thi Ly, who worked at Muong Tip Primary School, told a story that made me laugh and worry: “Back then, when I first came to school, my main assigned task was to go to the village early every morning to call the students to class. Otherwise, they would follow their parents to the fields; or if they did go to school, they would hang around along the road, so class time was often 30 minutes late. One day, I couldn’t find a single child in the village, nor did they come to class, even though their parents had brought their school bags to school that morning. Panicking, I ran to the stream and saw all the school bags and clothes thrown on the rocks, and the students were looking for moss and catching fish in the stream. When they saw the teacher, they smiled and said, “Teacher, fish, teacher”…” But that was a story from the past. The story of not liking to go to school is now “old”.

Xong Re Mi self-study in class.

On this land surrounded by fog, clouds, high mountains, and deep passes, life is gradually changing thanks to education. The people have realized how important education is. “Because simply, when your child goes to school, he or she can come home and cook a better bowl of soup, wash clothes cleaner, and most importantly, hear him or her say, “If you cling to the forest to live forever, you cannot become rich without the knowledge to apply science and technology to farming and raising livestock. Nowadays, everything needs knowledge”. That is the sharing of the father Xong Ba Cha in Na Ngoi commune, whose two daughters, Xong Re Mi and Xong Vi Va, both study outside the district school. The couple has saved, saved, and sacrificed everything for their two children. He analyzed for his children to understand that “Studying is the right and fastest way to be able to do what you dream of”. His eldest daughter, Xong Re Mi, has been away from home since grade 3 at Muong Xen Town Primary School and is now in grade 9. For many years in a row, Re Mi has been an excellent student. She dreams of becoming a businesswoman in the future. I believe in her because simply she has a dream and she is tirelessly building it…

I asked a Hmong mother from Huoi Poc village who sent her child to study at Nam Can Ethnic Boarding Secondary School, “Your daughter is still young, are you worried about sending her far away?” She was confused: “I’m not too sure, but it’s too hard for my daughter to go back and forth, I have to send her to boarding school so she can become a teacher. She said she will never get married early like her mother, and she will never work on the fields all her life like her father.”

If you just want to go up the mountain to clear the fields, you need strong legs and flexible hands, but to reach the peaks of human intelligence, you need a lot of effort and constant striving. Although education in the mountainous areas is still far behind that in the lowlands, I believe that with many tireless steps down the mountain of today's generations of students, they will shine.

Tue Vu

(Ky Son Ethnic Minority Secondary School)