Teacher on crutches teaches in oasis for more than 30 years

The special ferryman in that story is Mr. Dang Van Buu, a History teacher at Hung Phong Secondary School (Hung Phong Commune, Giong Trom District, Ben Tre Province). Over the past 30 years, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles with a burning love for his profession, Mr. Buu has written a simple yet beautiful story in his career of educating people.

Mr. Dang Van Buu. (Photo: NVCC)

More than a year of quiet dedication

Mr. Dang Van Buu was born and raised in Hung Phong commune - a small, extremely difficult island commune in Giong Trom district, Ben Tre province. The harsh nature forced the people here to work hard to have food and clothes. Feeling sorry for the drops of sweat on his father's shirt, the sighs of his mother when counting the remaining coins after a hard day of worrying about food, clothes, rice and money, Mr. Buu turned the difficulties into motivation, determined to study and reach for his dream.

In 1993, after graduating from Ben Tre Pedagogical College, Mr. Buu wrote an application to return to his hometown Hung Phong to teach. At that time, this rural area was lacking teachers. Many teachers from far away came to teach for only 1-2 years and then transferred away, or even quit their jobs halfway because of inconvenient road conditions.

However, Mr. Buu always reminds himself that no matter how difficult or hard it is, he must be determined to stick with the profession and try to contribute a small part to the education sector of his hometown.

Recalling his early days in the profession, in order for students to attend school regularly, the teacher had to go to the families to persuade them: “Students in the river region go to school in a strange way, sometimes they go, sometimes they take a day off to stay home and help their parents with the garden. Especially during the days close to Tet, they often take a day off from school,” said Mr. Buu.

There were days when he hurriedly took the ferry across the river to encourage students to go to school and then hurriedly returned to teach in class. It was so hard, but he never thought of stopping.

After more than 30 years on the podium, the island teacher still has a passionate heart. (Photo: NVCC)

While diligently nurturing knowledge for generations of students in Hung Phong island commune, Mr. Buu forgot about his own happiness. In 2012, he unfortunately had an accident that left his right leg permanently disabled. At that time, doctors advised him to amputate his leg to save his life. Hearing the bad news, Mr. Buu almost collapsed because of the worry of not being able to teach.

“I felt sorry for my mother, who had to hide under the hospital bed and cry because she was afraid that I would be sadder. Hearing her cry under the bed, my heart ached like a knife,” Mr. Buu recalled with a choked voice. Then he decided to refuse surgery when he was already on the operating table, accepting his fate to continue with his unfinished plans.

During his days in the hospital, Mr. Buu said he missed his school and his students terribly. Just hearing the music celebrating November 20th, or the loud sound of the school drum playing through the loudspeaker, his desire to return to the podium became stronger than ever.

Taking that as motivation to try to recover, with limping steps and the support of crutches, Mr. Buu gradually returned to school with his beloved colleagues and students.

How many students, how many children

On the first days back at school, the image of the teacher with crutches made Mr. Buu feel self-conscious. The school planned to transfer him to work as a librarian to reduce the difficulty of moving around. However, his passion for the job made Mr. Buu quickly put aside all his complexes and convinced the school leadership to let him continue teaching.

"At first, the school arranged the classroom on the first floor, and students would move down to study during History class. At that time, I felt it was a hassle to make students change classes, wasting their time, so I tried to practice climbing the stairs," Mr. Buu recalled.

Mr. Buu goes to school with an old bicycle and crutches. (Photo: NVCC)

That much teaching time is also the same amount of time that Mr. Buu is absorbed in researching and accumulating knowledge to pass on to many generations of students. According to him, knowledge contained only in textbooks is really dry, so he has always constantly innovated teaching methods.

Understanding the hardships of Mr. Buu, many generations of students of Hung Phong Secondary School are always grateful and remember the image of the teacher limping on the podium, inspiring his students. A typical example is the story of Pham Ngoc Thao, a student of class 8A.

The image of a teacher with a crutch once made Mr. Buu feel self-conscious, but now it is the motivation for many generations of students to strive to improve.

One day before the 2019 excellent student exam, her old illness relapsed, causing Thao's head to ache like a hammer, forcing her to take a leave of absence from school. On the day of the exam, the pain flared up again, and Thao put her head down on the table and sobbed. In that difficult moment, the female student suddenly remembered her teacher. As if by magic, Thao woke up, focused her thoughts, determined to do the test and then won first prize in the provincial excellent student exam in History.

"When in the most difficult situation, the image of the teacher with crutches turned into motivation, giving me extraordinary strength to rise up and achieve miracles," Thao confided.

After 31 years on the podium, the island teacher still has a passionate heart. Although his personal life is full of difficulties and worries, Mr. Buu still wishes to fulfill his unfinished dreams about his career of sowing seeds of knowledge at Hung Phong Secondary School.

To him, that is his second home, the place that opened its arms to welcome him in his most desperate moments, the place where colleagues are willing to share and help, the place filled with student affection.

"Although I am not married, I am lucky to have as many students as I have children. All of them have given me the strength to get up and continue to contribute," Mr. Buu said, choking up.

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/thay-giao-chong-nang-day-chu-o-oc-dao-hon-30-nam-ar908375.html