Wings of Dreams Scholarship: Growing up amidst adversity

The bicycle that accompanies Nguyen Khanh Ngan to school every day is a gift from a kind benefactor - Photo: VAN DU

Some friends lost their mothers early, their fathers remarried and did not raise them. Some friends still had both parents but grew up alone like saplings, self-sufficient in life.

I want to continue my studies at university but the cost of that journey is beyond my means. However, I still dream and believe that life is full of miracles. As long as I try hard, I can change my life.

NGUYEN NGOC KHANH HUNG

Lost mother, child lives with grandmother

Unfortunately, her mother suffered from a serious illness and died early. Nguyen Khanh Ngan was still young at that time, and her younger sister Ngan was even younger. After a while, her father also had a new family, leaving the two children to be raised by her maternal family. The two sisters are currently living with their maternal grandparents in Cau Ke town, Cau Ke district ( Tra Vinh province).

But both her grandfather and grandmother are over 80 years old and no longer able to work, so it is even harder for them to earn money to support their two grandchildren. Because the house is too far from school, her grandmother had to rent another house closer so that Ngan could walk to school. Khanh Ngan uses a bicycle given to her by a kind-hearted benefactor.

Being aware of her poor family background, Ngan tried very hard to study. As a result of the 8th grade school year that just ended, Ngan achieved the title of excellent student. She was loved by her friends not only because she was good and well-behaved but also because she was always sociable, willing to re-examine lessons in class or guide other students with homework when they could not solve it.

Khanh Ngan is also a familiar face in competitions for excellent students as well as Team activities and Team etiquette competitions at all levels of Cau Ke Town Secondary School. Understanding her family situation, the school always cares and helps Ngan in both her studies and her life, sometimes giving her scholarships or finding sources to donate bicycles, but because the school is in the countryside, it is not easy to mobilize.

Ngan said that despite the difficulties, she was determined to study and not give up. “I really hope to receive this scholarship because my biggest dream is to become a teacher. That was also my mother’s wish when she was alive,” Ngan said.

The lonely child

Although he did not lose his parents, Nguyen Ngoc Khanh Hung, a student at Sa Dec High School ( Dong Thap ), was no different from an orphan! When Hung was only 3 years old, his father was addicted to drugs, unable to work because of his addiction, causing trouble in the neighborhood and committing crimes, forcing him to go to jail. Hung's mother was so depressed that she left her young child behind and went to work far away.

Hung said that he only heard that his mother seemed to have married another man in Nha Trang because they had not been in contact for a long time. His grandmother had to take on the role of father and mother to her poor grandchild alone. With no home, luckily the two of them had Mrs. Chin, who worked as a maid with Hung's unmarried grandmother, who took pity on them and let them stay in a part of the house for a long time.

Grandma sometimes worked as a housekeeper, sometimes as a hired nurse in the hospital, doing whatever job anyone hired her to do as long as she had money to take care of her grandchildren. When Hung was in 7th grade, Grandma had an accident while cycling home from the hospital after work. From then on, Grandma's health gradually deteriorated and she could no longer work. So from that moment, Khanh Hung started working part-time to support himself, take care of Grandma and go to school.

Grandpa is 85 years old, his health is getting worse every day, and he has to take medicine for old age diseases, so the burden of making a living seems to be too much for the skinny shoulders of a growing student.

Every day, as soon as the school bell rang to mark the end of the 5th period, Hung would rush to work. He worked there until 10:30 p.m., and was paid 13,000 VND for each hour of overtime. Usually, it was 11 p.m. when Hung sat down at his desk to prepare for the next day.

When he was first released from prison, Father Hung would occasionally ask his grandmother and granddaughter for money. No one knew where he was, but people said he was a vagrant, causing trouble, and had recently been back in prison for the fourth time.

Teachers and friends always saw Hung as optimistic, present in most movements even though his time was quite limited. Hung said he was always grateful for even the smallest support from anyone. Despite his tragic life, Hung still tried to go to school because "only by studying could he hope to change his life so that he could take care of his aging grandparents" as he wished.

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* For sensitive reasons, the editorial board does not publish Khanh Hung's photo.

The Dream Wings Scholarship is implemented by Tuoi Tre Newspaper and Van Hien University with a budget of 19 billion VND over three years. In the first year, the program will award 100 scholarships (4 million VND/scholarship) to middle and high school students from 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta. The following years will be for the Southeast, Central and Central Highlands regions.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hoc-bong-chap-canh-uoc-mo-lon-len-giua-nghich-canh-20240626100635605.htm