The poor girl and the duck suddenly became famous throughout Asia

VINH LONG - Thuy Trang never expected that Bim Bim, a duck born from a spoiled egg, would one day become the "savior" of her family's economy and become famous throughout Asia with her.

In a small, deep hamlet in Tra On district in 2018, Nguyen Thuy Trang's family fell into debt due to the continuous attacks of blue ear disease and African swine fever, which forced the family's pigs to be destroyed. Trang's parents were busy working to pay off the debt, and her brother had to go far away to work.

Thuy Trang, an 11th grade student that year, both loved her parents and worried about her future because her family certainly could not afford to send her to college. She decided to try YouTube because she saw that many people could earn money from this platform. The Sau TV channel with videos about the rustic life of people in the West was born.

"However, to be successful, you need luck," said Trang, 22 years old.

Thuy Trang and Bim Bim duck in Tra On district, Vinh Long province in the summer of 2019, when Trang was preparing to enter 12th grade. Photo: Sau Tivi

In the summer of 2019, among the spoiled duck eggs her mother bought for food, Thuy Trang discovered one that showed signs of hatching, so she brought it to the nest for the mother duck to incubate. Bim Bim became the only white duck in a flock of all black ducks, so she was discriminated against. The female student took it out to raise separately, and then, without her knowing, Bim Bim followed her around.

Afraid of stepping on the duckling, Trang often put Bim Bim on a plastic chair every time she filmed a video. Suddenly, from that moment on, the duckling became her co-star and delighted viewers. In a video about the season of picking the Chinese mulberry, Trang carried a basket and walked ahead, the yellow-feathered duck following closely behind. In another video when Trang had to leave home to go to school in the city, Bim Bim, now grown up, rested his long beak on his owner's shoulder, to be held for a long time.

"In the first 6 months without Bim, my channel only gained a few followers each month, but thanks to it, after a year, it had more than 36,000 followers. I was also allowed to turn on monetization mode," the girl shared.

Trang's mother, Pham Thi Lanh, 56, said that at first, whenever she saw her daughter talking to herself on the phone, she was afraid that she had "problems" so she objected. However, Trang still filmed and edited all the videos for her channel herself using the old phone her brother left her.

Set a goal for myself to publish a video about going to school every day. I take advantage of the noon and afternoon to film it, and finish studying at night to publish it that night.

"She slept very little. After she went to college, every weekend when she came home she had to shoot 5 videos to post for the whole week so she never got to rest," said Ms. Lanh.

Seeing their daughter's determination, the couple began to support her. At home, Mrs. Lanh would go to the market to prepare food for her daughter to do. Trang's father, Mr. Nguyen Cong Huyen, 58 years old, built a thatched kitchen so that her daughter would have a beautiful space to take pictures. Later, the couple also participated in creating content with their daughter.

A clip from the documentary and animation series She Creates Change, in which Trang is one of six inspirational characters. Photo: Room to read

After more than 5 years, Trang's channel has nearly 670,000 followers, more than 1,300 videos posted, attracting 180 million views. The income from here helps her parents pay off debts, buy and repair many things for the family. Channel followers can easily see that the muddy dirt road that rained every day 5 years ago is now a spacious, clean concrete road, with coconut trees on both sides.

The story of a poor female student determined to change her life and the duck Bim Bim was chosen by Room to Read (an American non-profit organization that brings equal educational opportunities to girls around the world) to make into an animated film and documentary She Creates Change .

The film features six inspiring stories from female students in Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Nguyen Thuy Trang appears in the first episode, which premiered on International Women's Day, March 8, 2024, on Discovery ASIA.

Room to Read representative said Thuy Trang was a student of the program, participating from grade 6 to grade 12. From being a shy girl, Trang gradually became confident and became a group leader in many activities.

"At the age of 16, when she was in grade 11, Trang had the idea of ​​opening the YouTube channel Sau Tivi and achieved the "Silver Button" (from 100,000 subscribers) after a year. This greatly inspired female students around the world in terms of initiative, creativity as well as the determination to escape poverty," said a representative of Room to Read Vietnam .

When the film was released, it received a lot of attention from the public. She Creates Change was also on the official nomination list of a series of animation and documentary film festivals such as Tribeca Festival, Manchester Animation Festival, London Short Film Festival and British Animation Awards.

This was a huge surprise for Thuy Trang. She said that although the film was short, the film crew had contacted her and watched Sau TV channel for two years to get material. In November 2022, the film crew came to Vietnam and filmed Trang and Bim Bim directly.

"I didn't expect it to be released all over Asia and suddenly I became known to many people," she said. Thuy Trang is about to graduate from university and plans to continue developing her YouTube channels and spend more time with the duck.

Sharing about this special companion, Trang said that Bim Bim is a male duck but she often dresses him up like a female duck. He does not eat raw food like usual but eats cooked food such as sausages, crabs, and boiled snails.

Bim Bim is smart and very cooperative when filming. Although he was discriminated against by his peers since he was a child, when Trang ate chicken, duck or eggs, he would not eat them, and even kicked them over. Bim Bim is now over 5 years old, old and starting to be reluctant to move. When it is time to go to bed, he needs to turn on the fan to stay still.

Thuy Trang and her parents celebrate Bim Bim's 5th birthday, May 2023. Photo: Character provided

Bim Bim also needs to be loved like humans. Every time Trang comes back from a long trip, she often stands at the foot of the lemon tree waiting, quacking repeatedly when she sees her owner, then jumps onto her lap and rests her neck on her shoulder to be petted.

"The first time I came back from college far away from home, it was angry with me for a while. The more I called it, the more it ran. Then I hugged it and said I missed it, and it snuggled into me for a long time," Trang said.

Over the years, Thuy Trang has taken care of two other ducks, but they are not as close and cooperative as Bim Bim. "For me and my family, Bim Bim is not a money-making tool. He is the youngest sibling in the family," the female YouTuber shared.

Phan Duong - Vnexpress.net

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