Teacher with 7 years of teaching in Tri An lake area

The hardship of sowing letters

Every weekend, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Lan (teacher at Hoa Mi 3 Kindergarten, Tam Binh Ward) is busy preparing supplies and necessities to dedicate the entire Saturday and Sunday to the charity class for the past 7 years.

On an old motorbike, she prepared some necessities such as vegetables, tubers, fruits, fresh milk, etc. to bring to the charity class for the children of the floating village. On the way to the class, Ms. Lan only had a few sets of clothes, a few teaching materials and a bag of food, but she carried with her immense love for the children of the floating village in the Tri An lake.

Starting from her home in Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Lan rode her motorbike more than 80km to rest at Lien Son Pagoda (Hamlet 5, Thanh Son Commune). After that, she continued to ride her motorbike about 12km to the classroom in the Tri An Lake area. This is considered the most difficult route to get to class.

Because of the continuous rains in the past few days, the road where Ms. Lan goes to school has become muddy and slippery, making the journey to class difficult and arduous.

Many times she and her bike were lying on the muddy surface. But, thinking of the image of her students waiting, she struggled to stand up and continue her journey to class.

“Every time I fall and my legs swell, I have to apply oil to reduce the pain and then continue my journey, because if I give up, the children will miss class,” said Ms. Lan.

Ms. Lan crossed the muddy road to get to the charity class. Photo: Phuc Uyen.

Tri An Lake is 32,000 hectares wide, but in the dry season, the classroom is nestled in the middle of the vast lake, covered in green vegetation. The class was established by monk Thich Chon Nguyen, abbot of Lien Son Pagoda, to eradicate illiteracy for children of Cambodians returning to live in the lake area.

The charity classroom is just a room of more than 10 square meters, surrounded by rickety corrugated iron, which makes a creaking sound when the wind is strong. However, on weekends, the classroom is filled with the sounds of children reading and spelling, making a noisy corner of the lake area.

Spreading knowledge

The class has 25 students, most of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds and cannot afford to go to school. Therefore, Ms. Lan volunteered to teach the class to help them read, write and do basic math.

According to Ms. Lan, most of the children are illiterate but come to class with different ages. Depending on the ability and receptiveness of each child, Ms. Lan will have appropriate teaching methods to help them absorb knowledge best.

Besides teaching, Ms. Lan is also the one who directly takes care of her students' every meal and sleep, helping them feel that coming to class brings joy, which will create better motivation to study.

With the influence of Ms. Lan's heart, recently, many philanthropists and donors have joined hands to contribute necessities to maintain stable classroom activities, helping children have more resources on their journey to find knowledge and nurture their dreams of changing their lives.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lai (a parent whose children attended the class) shared that before, her two children were illiterate and only followed their parents on the boat to earn a living. However, when she heard about the charity class teaching literacy, she enthusiastically supported it and sent her children to school.

“The difficult living conditions made us miss out on our education. Luckily, there was a charity class that helped my child learn to read and write. Ms. Lan also took care of every meal for the students, so everyone here loved her,” Mrs. Lai said emotionally.

According to monk Thich Chon Nguyen, abbot of Lien Son pagoda, in the past 7 years, Ms. Lan has sacrificed a lot for the charity class. She has applied the knowledge she has gained to teach children from grade 1 to grade 5, helping them have the first provisions on the path of education.

Ms. Lan distributes rice to students in the charity class. Photo: Phuc Uyen.

Talking about her memories of coming to the class, Ms. Lan shared that in the first days of opening the class, a 14-year-old student wanted to join the class to learn to read and write. Because of her age complex, the student only dared to stand outside the door and look in with a shy look.

However, after much persuasion and lobbying, Ms. Lan brought the student to join the class. To thank the teacher, the student brought along a fish that was given to Ms. Lan. Although the gift was not worth much, it was the heart of the students in the lake area. Ms. Lan considered it the most precious gift in her teaching journey.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/co-giao-7-nam-gioi-chu-vung-long-ho-tri-an-post757254.html