Quang Minh, Huyen Vi and mother - Photo: NVCC
Interestingly, 7 years ago, Minh's sister Nguyen Do Huyen Vi also won first prize in this contest and excellently won the international UPU encouragement prize.
The two sisters' letters have different colors, but share a sensitive vibe towards pressing global issues.
Rare story in UPU competition
The 2024 UPU International Letter Writing Competition has the theme "Tell future generations what kind of world you hope they will inherit". The theme of the competition is also associated with the 150th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (1874 - 2024).
Surpassing 1.5 million entries, the letter by male student Nguyen Do Quang Minh, grade 9 student of Nguyen Khuyen Secondary and High School (Cam Le district, Da Nang city), won the national first prize.
Minh said he transformed into the character Pull Attie - a postal worker in Santa Claus's village, directly reading letters sent by children all over the world. Mr. Pull Attie wrote a letter to the UPU Director General in 2174, sharing his feelings about children lacking love and needing a place to confide.
The letter reads: "... The more the world develops, the more people distance themselves from each other, gradually becoming indifferent to each other. Children gradually lack love, and they need a place to confide their feelings. They long to share with the most sincere handwritten letters, sent to a place where they believe someone will listen to receive love in return. And that can only be Santa Claus!"...
The letter touched many people's hearts with its innocent yet profound vibe.
After the list of national first prize winners was announced, few people knew that Minh was the younger brother of Nguyen Do Huyen Vi, a student in grade 8/9 at Tay Son Secondary School, Da Nang, who also won first prize in this competition in 2017. This is a rare case in an international competition for teenagers nationwide.
Two letters, two colors
With a rather smart and daring way of solving the problem, the letter sent to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres by Nguyen Do Huyen Vi, an 8th grade student at that time, mentioned how to solve the problem of refugees flooding into Europe. Huyen Vi proposed the idea of calling on developed countries, charities and billionaires around the world to buy islands for refugees.
Huyen Vi is now a third-year student majoring in event management at Greenwich University (HCMC). Vi said that when she was little, every evening the whole family gathered together to eat dinner and watch TV.
"The idea came from a news report about Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris wanting to buy an island to give to refugees. This was a humane solution to help solve the refugee problem that the whole world was facing at that time," Vi shared.
Unlike her younger brother's letter, which was dreamy, romantic, and filled with naive feelings, the 8th grade student Huyen Vi that year showed a deep understanding of the refugee situation in the world. The letter was full of sharp, persuasive social commentary. However, both letters had in common a deep emotion towards current issues.
Vi said that since childhood, her mother instilled in her and her sister a love of literature. At home, there was a large bookshelf with many types of literature, stories, memoirs, etc. Vi and her sister grew up with books.
The love of literature is also partly inherited from his father, a poet, and his mother, a literature teacher and doctor of literature.
Mother's secret
Talking about the fact that both of her children won first prize in the UPU letter writing contest, Ms. Do Thi Cam Nhung, a literature teacher at Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted (Da Nang), said that both of her children came up with the ideas and researched information to present their own arguments. She only made some minor corrections for her children.
The two letters also show the true personalities of Vi, sharp and perceptive, and Minh, introverted, romantic and always full of new ideas.
Ms. Nhung said that when Quang Minh told her about the Santa Claus village and the Santa Claus training school in the world, she was very surprised because she did not think those were real things.
Talking about Quang Minh's concern in the letter "children gradually lack love", Ms. Nhung's voice dropped.
"Both children had to live without their father's love since they were very young. I tried to make up for the love for them, but only later did I realize that I could not make up for the love a father has for his children," said Ms. Nhung.
When Minh showed his mother a letter from a child to Santa Claus with the naive words: "... Mom said dad is working in heaven with Santa Claus. I am an excellent student, I am the class monitor. I asked him to let my dad take time off work to take me to see the zoo. Mom also gets time off, doesn't have to sweep the floor to go play with me", Ms. Nhung burst into tears.
"Quang Minh also lacked the love of a father, so he was able to touch the heart of the child who wrote that letter. I understand his feelings. From that lack, Minh spoke up for the feelings of other children in the same situation as him," Ms. Nhung confided.
When asked about Ms. Nhung's secret to "igniting" her children's love of literature, she said that since her children were very young, every night after school, she would sit down and read books with them and let them express their thoughts about the content of each book. Thanks to that, the mother-child relationship became closer and the children also developed the habit of reading books, expressing their ideas and thoughts well.
Wings from the UPU competition
Nguyen Do Huyen Vi said the UPU contest changed her a lot and brought her many opportunities. Previously, Vi was quite introverted and closed off. After winning first prize in the national UPU letter writing contest, many newspapers contacted her for interviews.
"From a rather quiet student, I became more open and confident. A city TV station discovered that I had a good voice and invited me to be an editor for a children's column. After that, I became more and more confident, taking on the role of MC at many events. I also developed a lot," Vi shared.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/7-nam-truoc-chi-doat-giai-nhat-viet-thu-quoc-te-nay-den-luot-em-2024051208431277.htm
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