Sung A Hong and his youngest sister at home in Kham 1 village, Trung Ly commune, Muong Lat district ( Thanh Hoa ) - Photo: HA DONG
We walked with Hong for more than 15 minutes to get home. The small house, with a corrugated iron roof and wooden planks, was nestled in a valley filled with clouds and the green of cassava hills and corn fields.
Sung A Hong (21 years old) is a Mong ethnic, the 6th child in a family of 11 siblings, residing in Kham 1 village, Trung Ly commune, Muong Lat mountainous border district (Thanh Hoa).
Take 3 years off school to let your younger siblings go to school
When I asked why he graduated from high school at the age of 21, Hong said that in 2018, he passed the entrance exam to grade 10 at Ngoc Lac Ethnic Boarding High School, Ngoc Lac District (Thanh Hoa), more than 100km from home. Studying far from home, after Hong, there are 5 younger siblings who are also of school age.
Seeing her parents getting older and weaker due to hard work, the amount of corn and cassava on the baskets they carried home every harvest gradually decreasing because their backs were tired, Hong wanted to stay home to help the family and give up her studies to her younger siblings.
On days when he returns home to visit his family, Sung A Hong spends time teaching his youngest sister who is in elementary school – Photo: HA DONG
At school far from home, whenever Hong remembered the image of her parents “selling their faces to the ground, selling their backs to the sky”, tears kept falling. After finishing 10th grade, Hong decided to quit school to stay home and help her parents with the farm work, leaving her younger siblings to go to school.
In 2019, when his son did not come to school for the new school year, Mr. Sung A Lo (59 years old, Hong's father) encouraged him to go to school. But Hong decided to stay home and farm with his parents.
After that, Hong's younger siblings went to Thanh Hoa Mountainous Vocational College. One of Hong's younger siblings studied veterinary medicine and went to work on a pig farm in Hoa Binh province.
Back to school, excellent provincial student, high score in university entrance exam
After 3 years of staying at home to help his parents with farming, raising buffalo, pigs, and chickens to sell to earn money for his siblings to go to school, Sung A Hong began to think more maturely.
Seeing her older sister in the family go to preschool teacher training school, graduate and become a teacher in her hometown, with a stable monthly salary and a less difficult life, Sung A Hong admired her very much.
So Hong asked her parents to let her go back to school. In the 2022-2023 school year, Hong decided to enroll in grade 11 at Muong Lat High School, nearly 50km from home.
Sung A Hong and his homeroom teacher for grades 11 and 12, Quach Hong Ngoc, at Muong Lat High School – Photo: HA DONG
“Every week, my parents save 50,000 VND for Hong to buy food, and bring rice and vegetables from home to the rented room to cook. There are weeks when my parents haven’t sold any chickens or rice, so I go fishing and picking vegetables along the Ma River to eat to finish the meal,” Sung A Hong confided.
For difficult exercises, Hong took the opportunity to ask her teachers and discuss with her friends. Hong spent a lot of time reviewing and doing exercises in textbooks and reference books borrowed from her teachers.
Despite having dropped out of school for 3 years, Hong returned to school and made an effort to break through, study seriously to get impressive university entrance exam results, in block D66 she got 8 points in literature, 9.25 points incivics , 7 points in English; and in block C20 she got 8 points in literature, 8.75 points in geography, 9.25 points in civics. Hong was admitted and has just enrolled in the English language major at Hong Duc University (Thanh Hoa).
Sung A Hong successfully passed through Muong Lat Heaven Gate to reach the lecture hall of Hong Duc University - Photo: HA DONG
Speaking to Tuoi Tre , teacher Nguyen Nam Son - vice principal in charge of Muong Lat High School - said: "Sung A Hong is an example of determination, always overcoming difficulties, and being studious. In grade 11, at the provincial excellent student competition, Hong won third prize in civic education. In grade 12, Hong won an encouragement prize in this subject.
In the 2024 high school graduation exam results used for university admission, Sung A Hong is also one of the students in the high-scoring group of the school. This is a worthy result for a studious Mong ethnic student who crossed the Muong Lat Heaven Gate to reach the university lecture hall.
The road from Muong Lat Heaven Gate to Sung A Hong's house, in Kham 1 village, Trung Ly commune, Muong Lat district - Photo: HA DONG
Mr. Ngan Van Lon - Chairman of Trung Ly Commune People's Committee - said: "Mr. Sung A Lo's family in Kham 1 village is a near-poor household in the commune. Mr. Lo's family has many children, so difficulties and poverty always surround them.
To date, Mr. Lo's first five children have built their own families. From Sung A Hong onwards, they are at school age.
In addition to Sung A Hong who just passed the entrance exam to Hong Duc University, Mr. Lo's family also has two daughters studying at Thanh Hoa Mountainous Vocational College.
Poor parents but love education
Late in the afternoon, Mr. Sung A Lo and his wife Giang Thi Hai just returned from working in the fields. Mr. Lo's backpack had some wild bamboo shoots. He went into the kitchen to get a rice bag, poured rice into it, and added a bag of bamboo shoots so that Sung A Hong could catch the bus to school early in the morning.
Mr. Sung A Lo measures rice for his son Sung A Hong to bring to school – Photo: HA DONG
The next morning, when the sun had not yet risen above the mountain, clouds still covered dozens of low-lying houses of the Mong people in Kham 1 village. Sung A Hong carried a bag of rice, a bag of bamboo shoots and his belongings and climbed up to the Muong Lat Heaven Gate to catch a bus to the university lecture hall in time.
“When I entered school, my parents saved up all year, plus the support from my younger brother who was working in Hoa Binh province, and only had 10 million VND, which they gave me to pay for tuition and expenses for the first month in Thanh Hoa city. After entering school and finding a stable place to live, I will apply for a part-time job to cover my living expenses.
As for the scholarship money I received from the Tuoi Tre Newspaper's Support Program, I will ask my parents to keep it for me, to save up for one year of university, to reduce the burden on my family.
After graduating and having a stable job, I will come back to show my gratitude to the program and help people in need" - Sung A Hong confided.
Mr. Sung A Lo took his son to Muong Lat Heaven Gate and told him: “Go back to the city and study well. Your parents can still grow rice and corn in the fields, grow cassava on the hills, raise buffalo, chickens, and pigs, and then take care of you after you finish college.”
Mr. Sung A Lo finished speaking, smiling happily because among his 11 children, Sung A Hong was the first to enter university.
Invite you to join the School Support Program
Tuoi Tre Newspaper's 2024 School Support Program launched on August 8, expected to award 1,100 scholarships with a total cost of more than 20 billion VND (15 million VND for new students with difficulties, 20 special scholarships worth 50 million VND/scholarship throughout 4 years of study and learning equipment, gifts...).
With the motto "No young person can go to school because of poverty", "New students encounter difficulties, there is Tuoi Tre " - as a commitment to support new students in the past 20 years of Tuoi Tre .
The program received contributions and support from the “Accompanying Farmers” Fund – Binh Dien Fertilizer Joint Stock Company, Vinacam Education Promotion Fund – Vinacam Group Joint Stock Company and the clubs “Nghia Tinh Quang Tri”, “Nghia Tinh Phu Yen”; the clubs “Supporting School” Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam – Da Nang, Tien Giang – Ben Tre, Quang Ngai and the Tien Giang – Ben Tre Business Association in Ho Chi Minh City, the German – Vietnamese Mutual Aid and Cooperation Association (VSW), Nam Long Company, Nestlé Vietnam Co., Ltd. ... along with businesses, philanthropists and a large number of readers of Tuoi Tre newspaper.
Businesses and readers who want to support scholarships for new students, please transfer to Tuoi Tre newspaper account:
113000006100 VietinBank, Branch 3, Ho Chi Minh City.
Content: Support "Support to school" for new students or specify the province/city that you want to support.
Readers and businesses abroad can transfer money to Tuoi Tre newspaper:
USD account 007.137.0195.845 Ho Chi Minh City Foreign Trade Bank;
EUR account 007.114.0373.054 Foreign Trade Bank, Ho Chi Minh City
with Swift code BFTVVNVX007.
Content: Support "Support to school" for new students or specify the province/city that you want to support.
In addition to funding scholarships, readers can support learning equipment, accommodation, jobs, etc. for new students.
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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sung-a-hong-vuot-cong-troi-muong-lat-vao-dai-hoc-nganh-tieng-anh-20241003180129275.htm
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