Sung A Hong crossed the Muong Lat mountain pass to enter university and major in English.

Sung A Hong and his youngest sister at their family home in Kham 1 village, Trung Ly commune, Muong Lat district ( Thanh Hoa province) – Photo: Ha Dong

We walked with Hong for more than 15 minutes to reach the house. The small house, with its corrugated iron roof and wooden plank walls, nestled in a misty valley surrounded by the green of cassava and corn fields.

Sung A Hong (21 years old) is a Hmong ethnic minority, the sixth child in a family of eleven siblings, residing in Kham 1 village, Trung Ly commune, Muong Lat district, a mountainous border area of ​​Thanh Hoa province.

I took three years off from school so my younger siblings could continue their education.

When I asked why he only graduated from high school at the age of 21, Hong explained that in 2018, he passed the entrance exam to the 10th grade at Ngoc Lac Ethnic Boarding High School in Ngoc Lac district (Thanh Hoa province), more than 100km from his home. Studying far from home, Hong has five younger siblings who are also of school age.

Seeing her parents growing weaker and weaker from hard work, and the amount of corn and cassava they carried home in their baskets during harvest season dwindling as their backs grew tired, Hong wanted to stay home to help the family and give her education to her younger siblings.

On the days he returns home to visit his family, Sung A Hong spends time tutoring his youngest sister, who is in elementary school – Photo: HA DONG

Studying far from home, Hong would cry whenever she thought of her parents toiling in the fields. After finishing 10th grade, Hong decided to drop out of school to help her parents with farming, allowing her younger siblings to continue their education.

In 2019, when the new school year started and his son Hong didn't show up for school, Sung A Lo (59 years old, Hong's father) encouraged him to go to school. But Hong decided to stay home and work in agriculture with his parents.

Later, Hong's younger siblings went to study at the Thanh Hoa Mountain Vocational College. One of them, who was the same age as Hong, studied animal husbandry and veterinary medicine and has since graduated and is now working on a pig farm in Hoa Binh province.

Returning to school, the top student in the province scored high marks in the university entrance exams.

After three years of helping his parents with farming and raising buffalo, pigs, and chickens to sell for money so his younger siblings could go to school, Sung A Hong began to think more maturely.

Seeing his cousin go to preschool teacher training college, graduate, and become a teacher right in their village, earning a stable monthly salary and having a less difficult life, Sung A Hong greatly admired her.

So Hong asked her parents for permission to go back to school. In the 2022-2023 school year, Hong decided to enroll in the 11th grade at Muong Lat High School, which is nearly 50km from her home.

Sung A Hong and his homeroom teacher in grades 11 and 12, Quach Hong Ngoc, at Muong Lat High School – Photo: HA DONG

“Every week, my parents save 50,000 dong for me to buy savory food, while the rice and vegetables are brought from home to my rented room to cook. Some weeks, if my parents haven't sold their chickens or rice, I go catch fish in the stream or pick vegetables along the banks of the Ma River to eat for a quick meal,” Sung A Hong confided.

For difficult exercises, Hong always asks her teachers for help and discusses them with her friends. Hong dedicates a lot of time to reviewing and doing exercises in textbooks and reference books borrowed from her teachers.

Despite taking a three-year break from school, Hong returned and worked hard to achieve impressive results in her university entrance exams. In the D66 group, she scored 8 points in Literature, 9.25 points in Civic Education , and 7 points in English; in the C20 group, she scored 8 points in Literature, 8.75 points in Geography, and 9.25 points in Civic Education. Hong was admitted and has just enrolled in the English Language program at Hong Duc University (Thanh Hoa).

Sung A Hong successfully crossed the Muong Lat mountain pass to reach the lecture halls of Hong Duc University – Photo: HA DONG

Speaking to Tuổi Trẻ newspaper , teacher Nguyen Nam Son – vice principal in charge of Muong Lat High School – said: “Sung A Hong is a role model of perseverance, always overcoming difficulties and being studious. In 11th grade, at the provincial-level excellent student competition, Hong won third prize in Civic Education. In 12th grade, Hong won a consolation prize in the same subject.”

In the 2024 high school graduation exam, which serves as the basis for university admissions, Sung A Hong was among the top-scoring students at the school. This is a well-deserved result for this studious Mong ethnic student who overcame the challenges of Muong Lat to reach the university lecture halls.”

The road from the Mường Lát Sky Gate down to Sùng A Hồng's house in Khằm 1 village, Trung Lý commune, Mường Lát district – Photo: HÀ ĐỒNG

Mr. Ngan Van Lon, chairman of the People's Committee of Trung Ly commune, said: "Mr. Sung A Lo's family in Kham 1 village is classified as a near-poor household in the commune. Mr. Lo's family has many children, so poverty and hardship have always plagued them."

To date, Mr. Lo's first five children have started their own families. From Sung A Hong onwards, they are all of school age.

Besides Sung A Hong, who recently passed the entrance exam to Hong Duc University, Mr. Lo's family also has two daughters studying at the Thanh Hoa Mountain Vocational College.

My parents were poor, but they loved education.

Late in the afternoon, Mr. Sung A Lo and his wife, Giang Thi Hai, returned from working in the fields. Mr. Lo's basket on his back contained a few wild bamboo shoots. He went into the kitchen, took out a rice sack, poured in the rice, and added the bag of bamboo shoots so that Sung A Hong could catch the bus to school early the next morning.

Mr. Sung A Lo measures out rice for his son, Sung A Hong, to take to school – Photo: HA DONG

The next morning, before the sun had risen over the mountains, while mist still covered dozens of low houses of the Hmong people in Kham 1 village, Sung A Hong carried sacks of rice, bamboo shoots, and personal belongings and climbed towards the Muong Lat Sky Gate to catch a bus to the university lecture hall.

“On the day I started school, my parents saved up for a whole year, plus the money my younger brother, who works in Hoa Binh province, managed to gather 10 million VND to give me for tuition and my first month's expenses in Thanh Hoa City. After starting school and finding stable accommodation, I will look for a part-time job to cover my living expenses.”

As for the scholarship money I received from the Tuoi Tre Newspaper's "Supporting Students to School" program, I will ask my parents to keep it for me so that I can spend it sparingly to cover my university tuition for one year, thus reducing the financial burden on my family.

"After graduating and getting a stable job, I will return to express my gratitude to the program and help those in need," Sung A Hong confided.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sung A Lo took his son to the Muong Lat Sky Gate and instructed him: "Son, go back to the city and study hard. As long as your parents can still grow rice and corn in the fields, plant cassava on the hills, and raise buffaloes, chickens, and pigs, we can still provide for you until you finish university."

After saying that, Mr. Sung A Lo smiled happily because, among his 11 children, Sung A Hong was the first to enter university.

We invite you to join us in supporting students to attend school.

The Tuoi Tre newspaper's "Supporting Students to School 2024" program, launched on August 8th, is expected to award 1,100 scholarships with a total budget of over 20 billion VND (15 million VND for disadvantaged new students, 20 special scholarships worth 50 million VND each for the entire 4 years of study, plus learning equipment and gifts...).

With the motto "No young person should be prevented from attending university because of poverty," and "If new students face difficulties, Tuoi Tre is there for them" – this is a commitment to supporting new students throughout Tuoi Tre 's 20-year journey.

The program received contributions and support from the "Farmers' Companion" Fund - Binh Dien Fertilizer Joint Stock Company, the Vinacam Scholarship Fund - Vinacam Group Joint Stock Company, and the "Quang Tri Solidarity" and "Phu Yen Solidarity" clubs; the "Supporting Students to School" clubs in 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 Assistance and Cooperation Association (VSW), Nam Long Company, Nestlé Vietnam Co., Ltd., and other businesses, philanthropists, and numerous readers of Tuoi Tre newspaper.

Businesses and readers who wish to support scholarships for new students are kindly requested to transfer their donations to the Tuoi Tre newspaper's account:

113000006100 VietinBank (Vietnam Industrial and Commercial Bank), Branch 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

Content: Support the "Helping Students Go to School" program for new university students, or specify the province/city you wish to support.

Readers and businesses abroad can transfer funds to Tuoi Tre newspaper:

USD account 007.137.0195.845, Foreign Trade Bank of Ho Chi Minh City;

EUR account 007.114.0373.054 Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh City

with Swift code BFTVVNVX007.

Content: Support the "Helping Students Go to School" program for new university students, or specify the province/city you wish to support.

In addition to providing scholarships, readers can also support new students with learning equipment, accommodation, job opportunities, and more.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sung-a-hong-vuot-cong-troi-muong-lat-vao-dai-hoc-nganh-tieng-anh-20241003180129275.htm