Ca Dong children carry agricultural products to sell along the Tak Po road (Nam Tra My commune). Photo: THU TRAN
A basket of vegetables on her shoulder and a smile in the sunshine.
That's a moment of the Ca Dong children that my friend captured and shared on social media a few days ago. She encountered them during a weekend trip to the mountains.
A group of children, the oldest of whom is in 8th grade at the local school, take advantage of the weekend to help their parents harvest crops in the fields, then travel all the way down to the center of Tak Pỏ to sell them to travelers before they head to the city.
The children hurried along the mountain paths, stopping to inquire at every shop along the way. Even when faced with a negative response, the children's smiles remained carefree and playful…
Behind the stories of those "involved," we see that despite the many hardships faced by children in mountainous regions, their spirit of learning and overcoming difficulties remains strong. They never give up, even when the road ahead is as bumpy as crossing a suspension bridge over a mountainside.
Dr. Tran Van Thu, Director of the Nam Tra My Regional Health Center, said that children carrying wild vegetables to sell along the Tak Po town center has become quite common in recent years. They go in groups of about 4-5 people, mainly on weekends.
The children's work of selling agricultural products across the mountains involves many arduous stages. From Hamlet 1, Tra Tap Commune (formerly), they carry vegetables through Tra Mai, then stop at various shops to sell. Sometimes they stop at the Medical Center and continue their journey along the road to sell to pedestrians.
“Sometimes, even in the midday sun, their backs are drenched in sweat, but they always smile and chat happily. Everyone hopes to sell all the goods on their baskets as soon as possible so they can return home and continue harvesting vegetables and roots for the next day's trip.”
"Once, I witnessed a young child, after selling a basket of vegetables, stop by a Quang-style noodle shop and happily order a bowl. Upon inquiring, I learned that the money from selling the vegetables was only enough for two bowls of noodles with meat, so they were very touched when a stranger offered to pay for it. Because I felt sorry for them, I often encouraged my colleagues to buy vegetables to support them, and even created opportunities for the children to sell vegetables to medical staff and patients' families within the unit's premises," Dr. Thu shared.
The children passing through the flood season.
Dr. Thu's story is not unique. The other day, I witnessed a group of children in Hung Son commune trudging through the mountains to get to school. Their backpacks were heavy, and they walked diligently through the cold, rainy afternoon.
The smiles of mountain children captured by a passerby's camera. Photo: THU TRAN
My companion said that in the mountains, there's nothing to fear except... floods. Just one heavy rain, and the stream cuts across the road, sending floodwaters rushing down. That situation is even more dangerous for children trying to get home on their own. There have been many drowning incidents involving children in mountainous areas.
Last year, I rushed to the Tơ Pơ residential area (formerly Tà Pơơ commune), now Bến Giằng commune, to hand over more than 36 million VND that had been raised on social media to a Cơ Tu family whose two young children had drowned.
According to family members, earlier that day, while both parents were working in the fields, the two sisters, aged 8 and 6, went fishing together in the pond behind their house. When they returned in the evening and couldn't find their children, the parents panicked and searched for them, eventually discovering the bodies of the two children at the bottom of the cold, deep pond.
Many villages in the highlands lack playgrounds for children. Therefore, if they're not at school, children often play by the river or streams at home. I heard this from an acquaintance in a mountainous area.
In short, the issue of investing in essential infrastructure has not received adequate attention for a long time. Even in schools, in some remote mountainous and border areas, children are not yet familiar with modern teaching equipment, so the quality of education cannot compare to that in the lowlands.
To put children at the center
Quang Nam and Da Nang have been merged. This merger is expected not only to expand administrative boundaries, but more importantly, to open up development opportunities for children in the new urban area of Da Nang, including opportunities for both urban and mountainous children.
The city government needs more policies to develop green spaces during the period of urban consolidation. Photo: ALĂNG NGƯỚC
To achieve this, in addition to establishing a mechanism for equitable resource allocation, the government needs to flexibly prioritize mountainous areas, especially children – the future generation of Quang Nam province.
As a stepping stone for this humane policy, many people in the mountainous regions expressed their excitement at witnessing the recent groundbreaking ceremony for the multi-level boarding school model. One of my former teachers said that when urban areas merge the lowlands and the highlands, investment in educational infrastructure must put children at the center. Therefore, each multi-level boarding school serves as a "humanistic bridge" between regions, opening up opportunities for equitable development and aiming for holistic development within a shared educational environment...
Source: https://baodanang.vn/nang-buoc-chan-tre-em-mien-nui-3306071.html
Comment (0)