Lo Moc Thien's father could only write his own name. When his son passed the university entrance exam, he was so happy that he borrowed money from his entire family.

Lo Moc Thien is determined to study well to get a tuition reduction - Photo: VU TUAN

Thien understood that he was going to school not only for himself but also for his sister's unfinished dream, so he was determined not to let her down on the journey that needed support to go to school.

My sister had to drop out of school right before the exam for gifted students, so if I don't study, I'll be failing both her and my parents. I have to study, otherwise I'll just stay poor like this forever.

MOC THIEN OVEN

A rooster has a hard life raising his chicks.

The day Lo Moc Thien in Huoi Tao A village, Pu Nhi commune, Dien Bien Dong district (Dien Bien province) went to school, his father went to a neighbor's house and didn't return until the afternoon to take him to the bus station on time.

Mr. Lo Van Tuy (Thien's father) shoved a crumpled, sweat-soaked note into his son's hand. "Dad will give you some money for the bus, try your best to go to school, call me when you get there" - he said and quickly left so that his son wouldn't see the tears that were about to fall on his weather-beaten cheeks.

He said he wanted to send his children to school, but he had to borrow 500,000 VND, and if he went, he would not have enough money to buy a ticket back. At 43 years old, his hardships made him look much older than his age. Of his 5 children, the eldest daughter had to drop out of school when she was in 9th grade. The youngest was sent to live with relatives in Tuan Giao (Dien Bien), and the other two were raised by the SOS Children's Village in Dien Bien. Only his son, Lo Moc Thien, was the support and hope of the entire poor family.

Thien's mother died of cancer. The poor family was exhausted from worrying about her treatment. Mr. Tuy had never counted a stack of bills but had to borrow and run around to pay for his wife's treatment, hundreds of millions of dong. He could not save her and had to bear the debt. The eldest sister, Lo Thi Thom, swallowed her tears and gave up her dream of going to school to her younger sister.

"My daughter was already grown up and could work so she quit school. My son was still too young to go to school" - Mr. Tuy said with a bitter voice.

The hard-working man was praised by the whole village for having good children. The eldest sister was good at literature, the younger brother was good at math. The dream stopped, the eldest sister took a bus to Hanoi to find a job. Thom went to work so that the family's rice pot during the lean season would not have to be steamed with grated cassava, the food that people in the village spread out in the yard for the chickens.

After six years of working, Thom absorbed a lot of salty sweat and cement grit at the construction site. His monthly salary was only enough for rent, food, and a little money stuffed carefully in the corner of a metal box.

The day Thien was admitted to Hanoi University of Industry, Mr. Tuy cooked a handful of sticky rice and a young, featherless rooster as a ceremony for his wife. Thien placed the score report on the offering tray. Tears still fell, but he believed that his mother in Muong Troi was at peace.

"Dad is illiterate, but I'm very happy that you passed the university entrance exam."

The most solemn wall of Mr. Lo Van Tuy's stilt house is covered with certificates of merit from his children, and there are still certificates of merit from Thien's sister, Lo Thi Thom.

Counting his family's income on his calloused fingers, Mr. Tuy said the biggest income was more than 10 bags of rice that were not sold but kept for food until the next crop.

In the coop there were seven chickens the size of two handfuls, three geese, two old males, and one female. The most valuable was the sow, a black pig weighing about thirty kilos, and four piglets that had to be raised until Tet to have more money to pay off the debt. The cassava field behind the house sold for three million dong each year, and it would be harvested in a few more months.

He himself has not been able to do heavy work since he suffered a back injury from carrying a heavy house pillar. When the weather changes, his back aches. He cannot follow the villagers to the city to help build or shovel stones to pave the road, but only stays at home. His biggest income is 120,000 VND/day for weeding a macadamia farm, which he is hired to do every few days.

The most money he counted was when the Fatherland Front lent him money to repair his dilapidated house. "I was able to borrow 40 million to re-roof my house, fix broken pillars, and repair leaky walls. I've never counted a few million, let alone that much!" - he said.

Had to borrow again. The eldest sister Thom, who was working in Bac Giang, counted the savings she had made over the years, borrowed some money from a friend in the same boarding house, and reported that she had collected half of her younger sibling's tuition.

The father borrowed from both his parents' and his siblings, some a few hundred, some a million, together they had just enough money of more than 17 million VND to help his son pay his school fees at the beginning of the year.

"Dad didn't get to go to school, he only knows how to write his name, if you pass the university entrance exam, he'll be so happy!" - Mr. Tuy said and then told his son: "Dad has suffered for so long. I also had to quit so that you could go to school. Now that you pass the university entrance exam and have to quit, it would be a waste of my efforts, and a waste of you, so you just go, try to study hard and then the whole family will figure out what to do next."

While still at home, Lo Moc Thien and his son weeded and tended the macadamia garden for a salary of 120,000 VND/day - Photo: VU TUAN

Must study well to get 70% tuition discount

With enough money for tuition, Thien eagerly entered the school. He had reached his dream of studying computer technology at Hanoi University of Industry. Thien understood that he could only help his family by studying well to get a tuition reduction from the school, then working part-time at a coffee shop to save money to buy a computer.

"If the first semester results are excellent, the second semester tuition will be reduced by 70%. That way my family will have less trouble, so I have to be even more determined. I will try to earn money to buy equipment," Thien said.

95 new students in the Northwest region receive scholarships from "Giving strength to go to school"

Today (October 14), Tuoi Tre newspaper in collaboration with Dien Bien Provincial Youth Union awarded scholarships to 95 disadvantaged new students from six provinces in the Northwest region (Dien Bien, Son La, Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Lao Cai, Lai Chau). The total cost of the program is over 1.4 billion VND sponsored by Vinacam Scholarship Fund (Vinacam Group Joint Stock Company).

Each scholarship is worth 15 million VND, including two special scholarships (50 million VND/for four years). Nestlé Vietnam Co., Ltd. sponsored gifts for new students, and Vinacam Scholarship Fund donated six laptops to new students with special difficulties who lack learning equipment.

Vinacam Scholarship Fund has sponsored 2.5 billion VND and 50 laptops (600 million VND) for the 2024 School Support Program. This is the fifth awarding point in the 2024 School Support Scholarship Program for more than 1,100 disadvantaged new students nationwide with a total budget of over 20 billion VND.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-lo-moc-thien-chi-viet-duoc-ten-minh-con-dau-dai-hoc-bo-mung-di-vay-khap-dong-ho-20241013215906614.htm