The poor girl and the duck suddenly became famous throughout Asia.

VINH LONG - Thuy Trang never imagined that Bim Bim, the duckling born from a spoiled egg, would one day become a "savior" for her family's economy and help her become famous throughout Asia.

In a remote, small hamlet in Tra On district in 2018, Nguyen Thuy Trang's family fell into debt due to the relentless attacks of swine fever and African swine fever, forcing them to cull their entire pig herd. Trang's parents toiled to pay off the debts, while her older brother had to leave home to find work elsewhere.

Thùy Trang, an 11th-grade student at the time, felt both sorry for her parents and worried about her future, as her family certainly couldn't afford to send her to university. She decided to try YouTube because she saw that many people could make money from this platform. The Sâu Tivi channel, featuring videos about the simple life of people in the Mekong Delta, was born.

"However, to succeed, you also need an element of luck," said Trang, 22.

Thuy Trang and her duck Bim Bim in Tra On district, Vinh Long province, in the summer of 2019, when Trang was preparing to enter 12th grade. Photo: Sau Tivi

In the summer of 2019, among the spoiled duck eggs her mother bought for food, Thuy Trang discovered one showing signs of hatching, so she took it to the nest for the mother duck to incubate. Bim Bim became the only white duckling in a flock of all black ones, and was therefore discriminated against. The high school student took it aside to raise it separately, and before she knew it, Bim Bim had become a constant companion to her.

Afraid of stepping on the duckling, Trang often placed Bim Bim on a plastic chair whenever she filmed a video. Suddenly, the duckling became her co-star and delighted viewers. In a video about the season of harvesting wild plums, Trang carried a basket ahead, with the yellow-feathered duckling following closely behind. In another video, when Trang had to leave home to study in the city, Bim Bim, now grown up, rested its long beak on its owner's shoulder, wanting to be hugged for a long time.

"For the first six months, without Bim, my channel only gained a few followers each month, but thanks to it, by the end of the year, I had over 36,000 followers. I was also allowed to enable monetization," the girl shared.

Trang's mother, Pham Thi Lanh, 56, said that at first, she was worried that her daughter "had a problem" from talking to herself on the phone, so she objected. Despite this, Trang still independently filmed and edited all the videos for her channel using an old phone her brother left her.

Setting herself a daily goal of publishing one video of herself returning from school, Trang takes advantage of lunchtime and afternoons to film, then finishes her homework in the evening to publish it that same night.

"She slept very little. Later, when she went to university, every weekend she would come home and shoot five videos at once to have enough to post for the whole week, so she never got any rest," Mrs. Lanh recounted.

Seeing their daughter's determination, the couple began to support her. At home, Mrs. Lanh would go to the market to prepare the ingredients so her daughter only had to cook. Trang's father, Mr. Nguyen Cong Huyen, 58 years old, built a thatched kitchen area so his daughter would have a beautiful space for filming. Later, the parents also participated in creating content with their daughter.

A clip from the documentary and animated series She Creates Change, in which Trang is one of six inspiring figures. Photo: Room to Read

After more than 5 years, Trang's channel has nearly 670,000 followers, over 1,300 videos uploaded, and 180 million views. The income from this has helped her parents pay off debts, buy things, and renovate the family home. Viewers can easily see that the muddy dirt road from 5 years ago, which was impassable during the rainy season, is now a spacious, clean concrete road lined with coconut trees.

The story of a poor schoolgirl determined to change her life and her duck Bim Bim has been chosen by Room to Read (a US non-profit organization that provides equal educational opportunities for girls worldwide) to be adapted into the animated and documentary film She Creates Change .

The film features six inspiring stories of female students in Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. Nguyen Thuy Trang, a female student, appears in the first episode, which premiered on International Women's Day, March 8, 2024, on Discovery Asia.

A representative from Room to Read stated that Thuy Trang is a participant in the program, having attended from grades 6 to 12. From being a shy girl, Trang gradually became more confident and a leader in many activities.

"At the age of 16, while in 11th grade, Trang had the idea to open the YouTube channel Sâu Tivi and achieved the 'Silver Button' (from 100,000 subscribers) after one year. This has greatly inspired female students around the world about being proactive, creative, and having the strength to overcome poverty," said a representative from Room to Read Vietnam .

When the film was released, it received widespread public attention. She Creates Change was also officially nominated for a number of animation and documentary film festivals such as the Tribeca Festival, Manchester Animation Festival, London Short Film Festival, and the British Animation Awards.

This was a huge surprise for Thùy Trang. She said that although it was a short film, the film crew had contacted her and followed the Sâu Tivi channel for two years to gather material. In November 2022, the film crew came to Vietnam and directly filmed Trang and Bim Bim.

"I never expected it to be released across Asia and for me to suddenly become known to so many people," she said. Thuy Trang is about to graduate from university and plans to continue developing her YouTube channels and spend more time with her duck.

Sharing about this special companion, Trang said that Bim Bim is a male duck, but she often dresses him up to look like a female. He doesn't eat raw food like a duck usually does, but instead eats cooked dishes like sausages, crab, and boiled snails.

Bim Bim is intelligent and very cooperative during filming. Despite being ostracized by its peers since childhood, it refuses to eat chicken, duck, or eggs when Trang offers them, even knocking the food over once. Now over 5 years old, Bim Bim is getting old and starting to become reluctant to move. At bedtime, it only stays still when the fan is on.

Thuy Trang and her parents celebrate Bim Bim's 5th birthday in May 2023. Photo: Provided by the subject.

Bim Bim also needs to be loved like a human. Every time Trang comes home from a trip, it usually stands by the lemon tree, waiting, quacking incessantly when it sees its owner, then jumps onto her lap, resting its neck on her shoulder to be petted.

"The first time I came home from university far away, she was angry with me for a while. The more I called her, the more she ran away. Then, when I hugged her and told her I missed her, she snuggled up to me for a long time," Trang recounted.

Over the years, Thuy Trang has taken in two other ducks, but they weren't as close or cooperative as Bim Bim. "For me and my family, Bim Bim isn't a tool for making money. It's like the youngest sibling in the family," the YouTuber shared.

Phan Duong - Vnexpress.net

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