Sowing green seeds of volunteerism at the school 'many or not'

TPO - Stepping on rocks, crossing the bumpy and landslide-ridden roads of Chi Ca commune, Xin Man district, Ha Giang province, the green-shirted volunteers carry on their backs school supplies and books to reach the Hau Cau border school - a place without clean water, not enough teachers, and not enough playgrounds...

Early one morning in late August 2023, Mr. Loc Van Huy, District Party Committee member, District Youth Union Secretary, Chairman of the Youth Union Council of Xin Man district (Ha Giang province) was awakened by the alarm siren from Song Chay 6 Hydropower Plant, passing through Coc Pai town and Then Phang commune, when heavy rain caused the water of Chay River from upstream to suddenly flow down.

Looking at the white curtain of rain and with many years of experience in volunteering at the grassroots level (3 years as the secretary of the border commune's Youth Union), Mr. Huy informed the volunteers of the District Youth Union to prepare to coordinate with volunteers from Chi Ca commune to clean up and repair the roads. Because, not only Mr. Huy, everyone in Xin Man understands that whenever it rains heavily, the roads leading to the communes will collapse, the roads will be covered by rocks and soil, making the journey of "finding letters" for the students even more difficult.

When the rain had just stopped, when the rammed earth houses and stilt houses of the La Chi, Mong, Nung, etc. people were just starting to light up their kitchens, people saw Huy in the green uniform of the Youth Union leading a group of volunteers carrying hoes, shovels, crowbars, etc. along the roads where landslides often occurred.

Then, people saw the image of green shirts of volunteers joining forces to roll large rocks blocking the road, or using hoes and shovels to lift mounds of soil that had collapsed from the mountains while singing: “Up the forest, down the sea. Under the glorious Union flag, we enter a new era. Not afraid of hardship. Volunteer footprints conquering the peaks. Volunteer footprints as beautiful as distant dreams…” Sweating profusely, mud sticking to their bodies, but the laughter and singing of the young men and women volunteers filled the entire road…

And this time, the songs and voices of Xin Man youth are directed towards the road leading to Hau Cau school, Chi Ca commune, giving love to the students entering the new school year 2023 - 2024.

According to Mr. Vuong Xuan Kinh (Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Chi Ca commune), Hau Cau is located on a steep mountain peak with an altitude of more than 1,500m above sea level, one of the four most remote and difficult border villages of Chi Ca commune. The people here are mainly Mong people whose main jobs are growing corn, rice, and raising small-scale livestock, so life is still difficult and deprived.

“There is no main road from the center of Xin Man district to Hau Cau school, so we can only choose a sunny day and ride a motorbike along a shortcut of more than 20km long, which is the agricultural harvest path of the people of Chi Ca commune,” said Mr. Kinh.

Also because of the difficult traffic, in 2014 when the province funded the construction of Hau Cau school, many construction units refused to do so because they could not transport construction materials. Xin Man District Youth Union coordinated with Chi Ca Commune People's Committee to mobilize local people and youth union members to repair the road, so that vehicles carrying materials could enter as many sections as possible. For sections that vehicles could not pass, youth union members and local people would carry materials to the school construction site.

Grasping the road situation to Hau Cau school, at dawn, Mr. Huy gathered more than 10 members along with 10 motorbikes specialized in climbing mountains to carry both people and cargo boxes containing foam mats, boots, warm clothes, books, rice cookers, gas stoves, bowls, etc. to the school.

“Because the road is so difficult and dangerous, almost no cars can reach Hau Cau, so charity groups coming to Hau Cau are very rare, so teachers and students here are very disadvantaged and deprived,” said Mr. Loc Van Huy.

Although the distance was only over 20km, it took nearly 3 hours for the volunteer group to reach the foot of Hau Cau village mountain because the mountain road was dangerous, many sections were concreted but had been completely eroded by heavy rain, and had jagged rocks.

On many uphill sections, female members had to get off their bikes and ask male members to help push them uphill because they could not walk. The charity boxes were also scratched, torn at the corners and covered in mud because many bikes had unfortunately fallen due to the slippery and difficult road. The most difficult part was the more than 1km stretch from the foot of the mountain to Hau Cau school with deep ditches and rough rocks, so many weak motorbikes had to be left behind so that some members could carry their belongings up to the school.

Having been informed in advance, as soon as they saw the green volunteer shirts appear halfway up the mountain, the students of Hau Cau school rushed down to welcome them. Their bare, dirty feet, not afraid to step on sharp rocks and mud, ran straight towards the volunteer group with a greeting in their not-so-fluent Mandarin, “We greet you, ladies and gentlemen!”, making the whole group burst into tears of emotion. All the fatigue and hardships seemed to melt away with the children’s greetings and hearty laughter.

Mr. Hoang Van Tam, a teacher at Hau Cau school, said that the school currently has no clean water, no playground, and not enough teachers. There is only one preschool teacher in charge of teaching and cooking for the 4-5 year old class, while the 1 + 2 combined class is taught by Mr. Tam alone.

“Grade 1 has 13 students and Grade 2 has 5 students, so we arrange to teach two classes at the same time. That means, one class will have 2 boards and 2 teacher desks, Grade 1 sits on the left board, Grade 2 sits on the right board. Because we teach two classes at the same time, a lesson will last from 35 to 40 minutes,” Mr. Tam shared.

Mr. Hang Thanh Tung (Deputy Secretary of Xin Man District Youth Union) said that because Hau Cau school only has a program up to grade 2, after finishing grade 2, children are required to go to the main school 7km away from the village to study. However, because Hau Cau is one of the highest places in our country, in winter the temperature here often drops to -2 to -3 degrees Celsius, causing frost and even snowfall. Therefore, only a few children whose parents have motorbikes can take them to school, the rest have to cross forests and wade through streams to get to school every day.

Due to transportation and family economic difficulties, most students in Hau Cau only finish 9th grade and then drop out. Every new school year, the District Youth Union launches a program to go from house to house to encourage families and children to go to school.

At the same time, the District Youth Union also regularly calls on and coordinates with agencies and units in Ha Giang province as well as organizations, associations, volunteer groups and philanthropists to prepare the most complete schools, classrooms and learning materials to motivate children to go to school.

At the charity gift giving ceremony, not only the teachers of Hau Cau school were happy, but also the parents could not hide their emotions when seeing the green volunteer shirts covered in sweat and mud carrying books and supplies to the school to give to their children. Therefore, whenever they saw someone wearing a green volunteer shirt, the people would come out to hold their hands and say “Ua tsaug” (Thank you - Mong language).

Then when the volunteer group left, the students under the guidance of Mr. Tam, without knowing when, were standing in neat rows under the national flagpole, where they could look up at the 188th boundary marker and the bumpy stone road that the volunteer group was preparing to take, and sang loudly: “Whether going up the mountain or down to the sea. Overcoming storms and hardships. Youth shoulder to shoulder, walking firmly, my friend. Don’t ask what the Fatherland has done for you, but ask what you have done for the Fatherland today” …

Moved with emotion, the youth union members promised themselves that they would be determined to sow more green seeds of volunteering to disadvantaged schools, in accordance with the spirit of "Where there is need, there is youth, where there is difficulty, there is youth"...

PIONEER

Source: https://tienphong.vn/gieo-mam-xanh-tinh-nguyen-noi-diem-truong-nhieu-khong-post1564906.tpo