8 day swimming course
Sau Thia said she lives alone and is not married, so she regularly participates in social work and activities in the Women's Union of Hung Thanh Commune. When the locality needed a swimming instructor to prevent child drowning, she was "chosen" by the Union.
"After listening to the ladies, I thought about this job that no one had done before and wondered if I could do it. Seeing that drowning often happens to children, mainly because they don't know how to swim, I decided to teach swimming because of my love for the children in my hometown," said Ms. Sau Thia.
Mrs. Sau Thia's swimming class
At first, when organizing swimming lessons, Mrs. Sau Thia and the departments of Hung Thanh commune planted trees in suitable sections of the river, where the water was not too little, not too much, and not too fast, to create a frame for children to practice swimming safely. Then she went to persuade families to let their children learn to swim. Many people were initially skeptical about the swimming teaching ability of the "teacher" from the countryside, but when they came to see her using her arms to hold and lift each child to push forward in the water and carefully instructing them on how to dive safely, all parents felt reassured.
Many children, guided by her for only 3-4 days, were able to confidently swim on their own. The first batch of 14 students, aged 6-15, from poor working families in hamlets of Hung Thanh commune, "graduated" from the free 8-day swimming course.
"My students who were tested by the district all knew how to swim and met the requirements. So the number of students increased, from 14 students per class, gradually increasing to 18 - 20 students per class, then more than 20 students per class. Students are not only in Hung Thanh commune but also in neighboring communes. Up to now, I have taught more than 5,000 students to swim. I am very proud that thanks to knowing how to swim, none of them drowned. When they grew up, they joined the army, worked for a company, and got married. Many of them worked far away, and when they saw me struggling and living alone, they stopped by my house to give me some savings during the holidays," said Ms. Sau Thia.
Enthusiastically guide children to learn to swim
"Mrs. Sau also teaches swimming to father and son"
After a period of teaching swimming in the river, in 2016, a benefactor sponsored Mrs. Sau Thia a plastic swimming pool at the Hung Thanh Commune Community Cultural Learning Center, helping to make her teaching swimming safer and less difficult.
Attending the swimming class that opened at the end of May 2023, we really admired Ms. Sau Thia's skills and heart. Her teaching style is practical and very close, each mistake of the children is pointed out by her so that they can overcome it themselves. In particular, she clearly remembers the circumstances of each child, any child who misses a class session is called up by the "U.70 teacher" to remind and criticize so that the children attend class regularly and learn to swim quickly.
Little Cao Nguyen (11 years old) said: "I really like to learn to swim but my parents don't have time to teach me so I asked to go to Mrs. Sau's to learn. Mrs. Sau's teaching is very easy to understand, I learned to swim after only 1 day of studying. Before, Mrs. Sau also taught my father and my second brother to swim."
I am looking for someone who can continue my teaching of swimming to the children. For women, they have families and cannot devote all their time to their children, and for men, they require payment to teach. Currently, I am asking the government to find someone to succeed me in teaching swimming for free. While the locality has not found anyone, I will continue to teach the children until I can no longer teach them.
Mrs. Tran Thi Kim Thia (Sau Thia)
Living in an area with a network of canals, not feeling secure when his two children do not know how to swim, Mr. Le Hong Duc (in Hamlet 6 Kinh Hoi, Truong Xuan Commune) takes advantage of two sessions a day to take his two children, Le Hong Hoa (13 years old) and Le Hong Tien (11 years old), to Mrs. Sau Thia's swimming class. "I really trust Ms. Sau Thia to entrust my two children to her. Living in a river area, I am very worried that the children do not know how to swim. In the countryside, it is very difficult to find a place to teach children to swim, luckily there is Ms. Sau Thia's swimming class. I thank her for her kindness because after only a few days of classes, my two children know how to swim," said Mr. Duc.
Ms. Sau Thia said that what makes her happy is that after a period of time teaching swimming to thousands of local children, parents trust her a lot. Many parents with children aged 2-3 years old "order" that in a few years when their children grow up, they will send her to practice swimming. "Seeing the children who learned to swim after being taught by me, I feel secure because the children have been prevented from drowning. I feel happy because I am contributing to the social security work of the locality," she added.
Sell lottery tickets to buy swimsuits for children
When she is not teaching swimming, Ms. Sau Thia sells lottery tickets every day to make a living. On average, she sells 200 lottery tickets a day, earning 200,000 VND in profit. She does not keep this money for herself but saves it to buy swimsuits to give to her students as encouragement. To date, she has bought more than 100 swimsuits for children.
"Every day, two simple meals are enough for me, so I save money to buy swimming costumes for the children for fun. When I heard that I was ordering swimming costumes for my students, the place selling the costumes also sold them cheaply, and the place printing the logo also discounted the price. I am very happy that the community is joining hands with me to teach the children to swim," said Ms. Sau Thia.
She said that the burden of age does not allow her to teach swimming as well as before, especially because her eyes are no longer bright. She does not know what the future of the swimming class will be like because she has not found anyone who can have the same heart as her for teaching children to swim.
"I am looking for someone who can continue my teaching of swimming to the children. For women, they have families and cannot devote all their time to their children. If they choose men, they will ask for money to teach them. Currently, I am asking the government to find someone to succeed me in teaching swimming for free. While the locality has not found anyone yet, I will continue to teach the children until I can no longer teach them," Ms. Sau Thia shared.
According to Mr. Doan Van Tuan, Chairman of Hung Thanh Commune People's Committee: "Hung Thanh Commune is a flood-prone area, so the risk of drowning for children is very high. Since Ms. Sau Thia started teaching free swimming lessons, there has been no drowning in the commune. The rate of children of the age group who are taught swimming in the commune every year is always over 95%. Ms. Sau Thia's work has contributed to ensuring local social security. We really appreciate her swimming teaching activities."
Ms. Tran Thi Kim Thia (Sau Thia) has received many awards. In 2020, she was honored to receive the Third Class Labor Medal from the President; Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister for her outstanding achievements in teaching free swimming to children and many local certificates of merit. Forbes Vietnam magazine voted her into the top 20 inspirational women of 2021.
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