Down towards the slope of the letter

After traveling 10 kilometers along a dirt road towards Nghia Do - Tan Tien, we arrived at the center of Thac Xa village, Tan Tien commune (Bao Yen district) - home to a secondary school that nurtures the dreams of over 100 students who overcome difficulties to come and learn to read and write.

Back-to-school day for students in Tan Tien commune.

Although called a center, the school is actually built right on the bank of a stream, next to a bridge connecting to the village, with mountains in front and forest behind. Principal Thào Seo Dùng and the other teachers led us on a tour of the facilities. Seeing the classrooms, we realized just how difficult the situation is for this school. The makeshift classrooms are made only of bamboo and thatch, with old, worm-eaten wooden desks placed on a rough, uneven ground – the place where these young children study. Because the school is next to the stream, after every rain and every summer, the teachers and villagers have to rebuild the classrooms to provide a place for learning.

Our group continued our visit to the boarding area for the students, which consisted of simple wooden houses with palm leaf roofs built by the commune and the school for over 30 students from distant areas who came to study there. It seemed the children knew of our arrival beforehand, as they lined up in the yard to greet us. We gave them gifts of notebooks, pens, and warm blankets, but we understood that it was difficult to alleviate the poverty and hardship they faced in this region. "My home is very far away, all the way in Can Chai, it takes two days to walk there," replied the oldest student in the boarding area.

The students here travel far to school, enduring the hardships of carrying knowledge on their backs. They are from the Dao, Mong, and Tay ethnic groups, mostly living high in the mountains, dozens of kilometers from the school. Looking at each of them, we could see a hint of the sun and wind, reflecting the harshness of life in the highlands. Their shyness and obedience were evident, yet their eyes shone with a thirst for knowledge and the joy of going to school. When asked about their dreams, they all answered honestly. Some dreamed of attending high school, others of becoming traffic officers to build roads and clear steep slopes. But some wished for something simple yet noble: to become farmers. Perhaps nowhere else would students answer like that!

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Giving gifts to students in Tan Tien.

Hearing that, we laughed, but tears welled up in our eyes. The makeshift beds, patched together with single blankets and worn mats, served as the children's study and sleeping quarters. Below, a thatched roof extended outwards, creating a makeshift kitchen. There were pots, a stove, bowls, and chopsticks, but everything was very basic. The stove was just three bricks, and the small rice pot, with a few slices of cassava, was only enough for three children to share. Their food consisted of nothing more than boiled bitter bamboo shoots, wild greens, and water spinach grown by the stream. Teacher Vinh, the manager of the boarding school, said that when food was scarce, the children knew how to make a dish of grilled chili peppers with salt, and occasionally the teachers would buy peanuts and fish sauce to improve their meals.

Mr. Viet, the school's vice principal, told us: "Despite the hardship and the distance, the students are very eager to learn. They never miss a class, they study diligently, and they are very obedient."

Despite such difficulties, the thirst for knowledge is higher than the towering mountains, and dreams reach further than the long road. And the teachers here are the ones who steer that ship of dreams. On days when they are carrying out universal education programs or going to encourage students to attend, the teachers of the school temporarily set aside their personal work to travel to remote villages on the mountaintops such as Can Chai, Nam Phung, and Nam Chay, more than 20 km from the commune center (bordering Bac Ha). The number of trails marked by the teachers' footsteps, the number of streams they have crossed, is probably countless and cannot be remembered; only their love for their profession speaks volumes about this arduous journey. According to teacher Thao Seo Dung, the commune's secondary school will soon be built in a more spacious and well-equipped manner, and the living and learning conditions for the students here will be better than they are now. This is good news for the teachers and students of the school in the coming days.

Goodbye to the teachers and students of Tan Tien Secondary School. Our hearts are filled with joy because, through occasions like this, we understand even more the hardships and efforts of the teachers and students here, and we understand more about those who are venturing into the forest to guide the boats of dreams across the misty peaks, towards the path of knowledge...

Nguyen The Luong

Source: http://laocai.edu.vn/tin-noi-bo/xuoi-ve-noi-doc-chu-142714