31 years old, not married yet, teacher Trang Seo Thang, Ta Van Chu Kindergarten (Bac Ha district) is very skillful and resourceful. When at school, he is the "father" of his children, when he returns home, he continues to take care of the children who lack their parents. Putting aside his own happiness, teacher Thang spends all his time taking care of his special "children".
Ta Van Chu Kindergarten has 1 main campus and 4 satellite campuses, of which Nhieu Cu Van is the most remote and difficult campus. The winding 7km gravel road from the main campus leads us to Nhieu Cu Van campus with lots of rocks and soil.
Teacher Vang Thi Dong, Vice Principal of Ta Van Chu Kindergarten, said: Luckily today is sunny so the bikes can still go, otherwise it would be very difficult if it rained! Every year during the rainy season, this road has landslides a couple of times, teachers have to leave their bikes in the middle of the road and walk to the school. After doing it so many times, it becomes a habit.
After more than 30 minutes of reining in the "iron horse" to overcome the rugged rocks, we finally arrived at Nhieu Cu Van. The small Mong village appeared so peaceful under the deep blue sky but hunger and poverty were still clearly present. Standing from a high place looking down into the valley, in the middle of the immense space, the hills of trees in the barren land had not yet budded green, leaving only the bare yellow slopes and the cat-ear shaped rocks hugging the ground, rising high. In that peaceful picture, Nhieu Cu Van kindergarten appeared as beautiful as a dream in the golden summer sun.
Hearing that a journalist was coming, Mr. Thang happily went to the gate to welcome him. He said that the school was located in the middle of the clouds, the roads were difficult to travel, and all year round, it was only the wind and the mountains that made friends, and it was rare for visitors to come.
Nhieu Cu Van School currently has 2 classes, with 53 students from 2 to 5 years old, taught by Mr. Thang and 1 teacher. When we arrived, the classroom was filled with the bustling sounds of children's songs. After welcoming the guests, Mr. Thang continued to the classroom, setting the rhythm and making cute movements to make the students happy to learn. After the class, he let the children go to the yard to practice sports, learn to dance, play the flute and listen to stories in the outdoor library.
Teacher Thang smiled happily: You are lucky to come here on a clear, sunny day so you can see the "million dollar view". Just yesterday, it was pouring rain and foggy, the whole week the students just sat quietly in class.
The schoolyard where the children are playing today used to be full of mud, dusty on sunny days and slippery on rainy days. It is not clear whether it was fate that many years ago, when he had just graduated from school, Mr. Thang joined the local youth union and during a volunteer trip, he came to this school with the union members and youth to participate in pouring concrete in the schoolyard. Later, when he started to work with the students in the poor village, Mr. Thang continued to mobilize and connect organizations, individuals and union members of the school to participate in decorating and creating a landscape for the schoolyard and classrooms with many green trees, colorful flower beds and toys made from recycled materials.
Mr. Trang Seo Lenh, a parent of a student at the school, happily said: Seeing my children studying and playing in a spacious school, being cared for and taught by teachers, I feel very secure and try to make sure my children attend school regularly.
After the children had finished their lunch, Mr. Thang signaled the class to go to bed, and then we began our conversation with the young teacher. With the open, sincere, and generous voice of the Mong people, Mr. Thang told us about his destiny in becoming a “child-rearing teacher”.
Thang is the fourth child in a family of five siblings in Tan Chu village, Ta Van Chu commune, Bac Ha district. After finishing 12th grade, he had to put aside his dream of becoming a preschool teacher because his family was too poor and could not afford to continue his professional studies. During the days when he was herding buffalo and cutting grass, Thang secretly brought along review books so as not to forget his knowledge. Seeing that his nephew was eager to study, his uncle convinced his parents to let him pursue his dream, and promised to support him during his years of studying away from home. Not disappointing his relatives, a year later, Thang passed the entrance exam to Hai Duong College of Education, majoring in preschool education.
On the day of admission, his uncle gave him 2 million VND, which was the only amount of money for the student to start his life away from home. To have money to pay for tuition and living expenses, after school, he worked all kinds of jobs such as washing cars, parking, serving in restaurants, etc. In 2016, Thang became the first person in his family to graduate from college and also the first teacher in Mong Tan Chu village. After graduating, holding his degree in hand, he returned to his hometown and joined the youth union, then took on a teaching assignment at Nhieu Cu Van school.
In the local language, “Nhieu Cu Van” means “buffalo horn valley”, perhaps because the terrain here is surrounded by ranges of cat-ear rocks that look like shiny black buffalo horns from afar. For generations, the lives of the Mong people here have been surrounded by poverty and hardship. When Mr. Thang came to take up his duties, the teaching facilities at the temporary school were inadequate. The classrooms had no electricity and had to be lit by kerosene lamps. The sunny season was bearable, but in the freezing winter, with drizzling rain, teachers and students had to light fires to dispel the cold.
Mr. Thang's house is in Tan Chu village, 5 km from the school. His older siblings work far away, so in addition to his work in class, Mr. Thang also takes care of 4 children. Every morning, Mr. Thang wakes up early to prepare food for the children and then takes them to class. After finishing, he rushes to the school to pick up the children.
“The roads in the village are so difficult, on rainy days the roads are slippery, I can’t help but feel sad when I see children going to school covered in mud, shivering in wet and cold clothes. Therefore, on rainy days, I often go to the houses of children who live far away to take them to class. After school, if the rain has not stopped, I take them home,” Mr. Thang confided.
Teacher Thang still remembers the time when a student in his class had a high fever. At that time, the teachers could not contact the family because the student's parents did not have a phone. They had to ask the village chief to call the house and then they found out that the parents were in the fields far away. Seeing the student gradually weaken, teacher Thang left the class with the teacher next door and used a motorbike to take the student to the commune health station. The distance that had been traveled for days suddenly became far away because of the anxiety and worry that the student's condition would worsen. The teacher became a relative and stayed at the commune health station to take care of the child until the family arrived.
In a remote, isolated land, it seems like there won't be much to do because the pace of life has always been the same, but in reality, a day of a preschool teacher is busy from morning to night, revolving around teaching, taking care of meals and sleep of children from 2 to 5 years old. Many times when the young students cry, the teacher has to hold them in his arms to comfort them. As a preschool teacher, Mr. Thang has to face gender-related difficulties when he is both a teacher and a "teacher" and a "mother" of his students. The skills of dancing, singing, storytelling, and taking care of children are also difficult requirements that not everyone can do.
Born and raised in poverty, and being of the Mong ethnic group, Mr. Thang wishes more than anyone else that the children in the poor village can go to school, play and study. The only gift he has received from his students and the people here over the years is love.
As the afternoon drew to a close, we said goodbye to our teachers and students in the Mong village. The car crossed the rocky road to the lowlands, leaving behind a peaceful valley in the sunshine and the chirping of children reading their lessons.
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