Brilliant summer from the highlands

Like all students across the country, in recent days, members of the Highland Sunshine project have also eagerly attended the opening ceremony, welcoming the new school year. And on this occasion, the young people of the project have summarized the activities of the past summer, a brilliant summer with a lot of love given and received.

Members of the "Highland Sunshine" project with elementary school students from Ea Tu commune, Dak Lak province. Photo: BICH THOM

"Hello" village

"Highland Sunshine" is a project by high school students from Ho Chi Minh City, primarily from the High School for the Gifted (Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City). Last summer, 52 students took turns teaching English to students at three schools in Ea Tu commune, Buon Ma Thuot city (now Tan An ward, Dak Lak province): Ly Thuong Kiet Primary School, Ngo May Primary School, and Mac Thi Buoi Primary School.

According to Pham Gia An, a member of the project's steering committee, "Highland Sunshine" was born from a chance encounter. During a break at the end of the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year, Gia An (then in 10th grade English) and a few friends overheard Chau Anh, a girl from Dak Lak, talking to a friend. The conversation mentioned the difficulties faced by children in her hometown in learning English. "From Chau Anh's story, we wanted to do something to help the children in the highlands," Gia An shared.

Starting at the beginning of the second semester of the 10th grade, the project began brainstorming and recruiting members. Initially, the project aimed for 12 participants, but after a month of announcement, it received 60 applications. Besides students from the High School for the Gifted, the project also received support from students of other schools in the city, such as Le Hong Phong Specialized High School, Tran Dai Nghia Specialized High School, Bui Thi Xuan High School, and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School. After consideration, 52 eligible students were selected to go to Dak Lak to teach English for free to children there during the summer.

From June 15th to July 12th, the "Highland Sunshine" project officially reached out to children in Dak Lak, with its members living together at the Agricultural Extension Center in Ea Tu commune. Each week, 12-16 members from Ho Chi Minh City came to teach. "We focused on teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at three primary schools in the villages of Ea Tu commune. Our main goal was to help them review old lessons and inspire them to develop a passion for learning English," Gia An recounted.

Go to grow

Most members of the "Highland Sunshine" group were away from home for such a long time for the first time, so this trip to the Central Highlands was both a challenge and an opportunity for them to grow. At home, Le Ba Nhat Minh (11th grade English class, Gifted High School) only knew how to fry eggs; yet when he arrived in Ea Tu, in addition to teaching English to the children, Nhat Minh was also assigned the task of being a "caretaker," taking care of the meals for the group members. Thanks to this, Minh "improved his cooking skills," learning how to chop chicken and cook food. "This is the most memorable summer of my life. At first, I thought I was bringing something to the children, but in the end, I realized that I was the one who received the most. Before, when I was in school, I didn't pay much attention to the teachers, only when I came here to teach the children did I understand how hard they worked," Nhat Minh confided. As the youngest member of the project, Pham Hoang Ha Chi (Class 8A12, Tran Dai Nghia Specialized Secondary and High School) shared useful information on skills to prevent child abuse with students at Ngo May Primary School. “This is a very necessary skill in today’s life. Due to limited resources, I could only share this at one school, but I hope to be able to share it in more places in the future,” Ha Chi shared.

Just one summer month in Dak Lak brought so many emotions to the members of the "Highland Sunshine" project. From the initial feelings of bewilderment and struggle, to the joy of seeing the children progress and develop a passion for English. Along with that came feelings of sadness and longing as they had to say goodbye to the children and return to Ho Chi Minh City, closing a summer full of highland sunshine and wind, and returning to being carefree, innocent students.

During a summer month in Ea Tu commune (Dak Lak province), the "Highland Sunshine" project organized 2,160 English lessons for over 200 students at 3 schools. The project also donated 45 gifts, including cash, textbooks, and school supplies (contributed by parents), totaling 22.5 million VND, to disadvantaged students. In addition, "Highland Sunshine" donated a bookshelf named after the project, worth over 10 million VND, to Ly Thuong Kiet Primary School.

QUYNH YEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/mua-he-ruc-ro-tu-cao-nguyen-post812802.html