The girl sitting sadly by the classroom door and the most terrifying essay topic

Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga lost her father while still in her mother's womb and has lived apart from her mother since before she was weaned - Photo: VU TUAN

Waiting for her at the classroom door and the anxiety-inducing essay topics

“When I was a child, my classroom had only one door,” Nga said. “After school, the teacher often sat by that door. If any of the students had their parents come to pick them up, the teacher would let them go home with their parents. As for me, I sat by the door until the end every day. I also wished I could be like the students whose parents picked me up. My grandmother still had to work for hire and could only pick me up late in the afternoon.”

Nga said, two lines of tears rolling down.

Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga, 12 years of excellent student, passed Hanoi University entrance exam - Photo: VU TUAN

Whenever the words “father – mother” are mentioned, Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga’s glasses blur with tears. Nga has been an excellent student for 12 years. She is also a member of the literature team of Quoc Oai High School.

Nga clearly remembers the most difficult essay topic during her school days was describing her parents.

It was difficult because Nga had never seen her father. The only image she could picture was a small palm-sized photo, blurred by the years, taken with her family. At that time, her father was still a teenager.

Nga's dream of going to school one day with a warm and safe hand-holding like her friends' parents never happened. Nga also wished to be scolded by her father, taught and instructed by her mother, but even that one sentence only existed in her imagination.

“Because of my duty as a student, I still completed my homework – Nga sobbed – But every time I submitted my work, I felt self-conscious about my writing. I didn’t know what the teachers would think when they read it. I don’t have a father but I have to describe him. I didn’t know if the teachers would think I was lying. I just imagined it and described it.”

She became the mother of a child who no longer had parents.

Nga lost her father when her mother was just over a week pregnant. When she was 1 year old and not yet weaned, her mother gave her to her grandmother to raise. From that day on, her grandmother became her mother, raising her grandchild alone. The grandmother, over 60 years old, lived off three acres of rice fields and hired labor as a weeder.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xa had to sell her family's rice field to raise her grandchildren - Photo: VU TUAN

Mrs. Xa's house is a ground-level house located deep in an alley at the end of Yen Noi village, Dong Quang commune (Quoc Oai, Hanoi). The house was built under a program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses for families with meritorious services. Mrs. Xa's husband's grandmother is a Heroic Mother of Vietnam. Her father-in-law is a martyr, and both she and her husband are frontline laborers.

Mrs. Xa lost her husband at the age of 24, leaving her with two children. Her eldest daughter married far away, and her son died suddenly a month after their wedding. Mrs. Xa's daughter-in-law gave birth to a child, raised it for a year, then left the baby with her and left.

The unweaned granddaughter cried in the middle of the night, snuggling into her grandmother's armpit for milk. Grandma Xa mixed a box of milk and put a string on her chest to feed her. The baby grew up day by day. When she was just 18 months old, Grandma sent Nga to kindergarten to go to work.

Selling a piece of land that has been used for 5 generations

18 years have passed in a flash, the granddaughter has been an excellent student every year. This year, Nga passed the university entrance exam, majoring in German. The tuition fee for admission is more than 18 million VND, an amount that Mrs. Xa has never dreamed of. The property in the house is not more valuable than an electric fan, Mrs. Xa sold the rice field to have money for her granddaughter's education.

Freshman Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga (German Department - Hanoi University) was heartbroken when her grandmother had to sell the family land. Up to Nga's generation, that land had supported 5 generations. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xa, Nga's grandmother, had no other choice.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xa lost her husband and children, and is left alone to farm and work for hire to raise her grandchildren – Photo: VU TUAN

Mrs. Xa's family has three fields, each one is one sao ( ^360m2 ). If the crops are well tended and have a good harvest, Mrs. Xa's family can harvest more than three quintals of rice. After deducting the cost of plowing, harvesting, pesticides, and catching rats, the amount of rice she harvests is enough for the two of them and more than a dozen chickens to eat all year round.

The flood came just when the rice was in the ear, and when the rice was harvested, all that came out were flat husks. The two of them packed two small pineapple baskets of three sao of rice fields, which weighed about a dozen kilos. “This year, we don’t have enough rice,” Mrs. Xa sighed. “One of my eyes has keratitis and has become scarred. The doctor said I need surgery, but I haven’t had it done yet. I’m saving money for my grandchild to go to school.”

The most difficult essay topic for Nga is describing her father, mother, and family meals - Photo: VU TUAN

Getting into Hanoi University: Studying so as not to be a burden to others

When she was little, Nga once asked her grandmother: “Where is my mother?”. Mrs. Xa hesitated and almost burst into tears in front of her grandchild. She did not blame her daughter-in-law, life in her small house was already too hard. She did not want another woman to suffer like her.

Nga is Mrs. Xa's only consolation, and she is the motivation for Nga to study hard - Photo: VU TUAN

Nga rarely sees her mother, usually around Tet. Her mother has a new family in Hai Duong, has four children and is still poor. “I don’t want to be a burden to my mother,” Nga confided. “I love her and I have to study hard so that I can support her in the future.”

Nga also hesitated between choosing to work as a factory worker to support her mother, learn a trade or continue to go to university. Every time she saw her mother's hunched back in the yard, Nga was determined to go to university.

“With my exam results, I see that there are many better options. If I go to work or go to vocational school, it will only solve the immediate difficulties. In the long term, I have to continue studying to open up a brighter future. Only then can I take care of my life and hers,” Nga affirmed.

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With the motto "No young person can go to school because of poverty", "New students encounter difficulties, there is Tuoi Tre " - as a commitment to support new students in the past 20 years of Tuoi Tre .

The program received contributions and support from the “Accompanying Farmers” Fund – Binh Dien Fertilizer Joint Stock Company, Vinacam Education Promotion Fund – Vinacam Group Joint Stock Company and the “Nghia Tinh Quang Tri” and Phu Yen Clubs; “Giving Support to School” Clubs of Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam – Da Nang, Tien Giang – Ben Tre and Tien Giang and Ben Tre Entrepreneurs Clubs in Ho Chi Minh City, Dai-ichi Life Vietnam Company, Mr. Duong Thai Son and friends with businesses and a large number of readers of Tuoi Tre newspaper…

In addition, Vinacam Group Joint Stock Company also sponsored 50 laptops for new students with special difficulties and lack of learning equipment worth about 600 million VND, Nestlé Vietnam Company Limited sponsored 1,500 backpacks worth about 250 million VND.

The Vietnam-USA Society English Language System sponsored 50 free foreign language scholarships worth 625 million VND. Through the State Bank, Bac A Commercial Joint Stock Bank sponsored 1,500 books on financial education, instructing financial management skills for new students...

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/co-be-ngoi-buon-ben-cua-lop-va-de-van-dang-so-nhat-20241031202439591.htm