Wings of Dreams Scholarship: Growing up amidst adversity

The bicycle that accompanies Nguyen Khanh Ngan to school every day is a gift from a kind benefactor - Photo: VAN DU

Some friends lost their mother early, their father remarried and did not raise them. Some friends still had both parents but grew up alone like a young tree, self-sufficient in life.

I want to continue to university but honestly the cost of that journey is beyond my means. However, I still dream and believe that life still has miracles. As long as I try hard, I can change my life.

NGUYEN NGOC KHANH HUNG

Lost mother, child lives with grandmother

Unfortunately, her mother suffered from a serious illness and died early. Nguyen Khanh Ngan was still young at that time, and her younger sister Ngan was even younger. After a while, her father remarried and left the two children to be raised by her maternal grandparents. The two sisters currently live with their maternal grandparents in Cau Ke town, Cau Ke district (Tra Vinh province).

But both he and his grandmother are over 80 years old and no longer able to work, so it is even harder for them to earn money to support their two grandchildren's education. Because the house is too far from school, the grandmother was forced to rent another house closer so that Ngan could walk to school. Khanh Ngan uses a bicycle given to her by a kind benefactor.

Aware of her poor family background, Ngan tried very hard to study. As a result of the 8th grade school year that just ended, Ngan achieved the title of excellent student. She was loved by her friends not only because she was a good student but also because she was always sociable, willing to re-explain lessons in class or guide other students to do homework when they could not solve them.

Khanh Ngan is also a familiar face in competitions for excellent students as well as Team activities and Team etiquette competitions at all levels of Cau Ke Town Secondary School. Understanding her family situation, the school always cares and helps Ngan in both her studies and her life, so sometimes they give her scholarships or find sources to donate bicycles, but because the school is in the countryside, it is not easy to mobilize.

Ngan said that despite the difficulties, she was determined to study and not give up. “I really hope to receive this scholarship because my biggest dream is to become a teacher. That was also my mother’s wish when she was alive,” Ngan said.

The Lonely Child

Although he did not lose his parents, Nguyen Ngoc Khanh Hung, a student at Sa Dec High School (Dong Thap), is no different from an orphan! When Hung was only 3 years old, his father got involved in drugs, could not work because of his addiction, caused trouble in the neighborhood and broke the law, forcing him to go to jail. Hung's mother was so depressed that she left her young child behind and went to work far away.

Hung said that he only heard that his mother seemed to have married someone else in Nha Trang because they had not been in contact for a long time. His grandmother had to take on the role of father and mother to her poor grandchild alone. With no home, fortunately, Mrs. Chin, who worked as a maid with Hung's unmarried grandmother, took pity on her and let them stay in a part of her house for a long time.

Grandma sometimes worked as a housekeeper, sometimes as a hired nurse in the hospital, doing whatever job anyone hired her to do as long as she had money to take care of her grandchild. When Hung was in 7th grade, Grandma had an accident while cycling home from the hospital after work. From then on, her health gradually deteriorated and she could no longer work. So from that moment, Khanh Hung started working part-time to support himself, take care of his grandmother, and go to school.

Grandfather is 85 years old, his health is getting worse every day, and he has to take medicine for old age diseases, so the burden of making a living seems to be too much for the thin shoulders of a growing student.

Every day, after the school bell rings to mark the end of the 5th period, Hung rushes to work. He works there until 10:30 p.m., and is paid 13,000 VND for each hour of overtime. Usually, it is 11 p.m. when Hung sits down at his desk to prepare for the next day.

When he was first released from prison, Father Hung would occasionally ask his grandmother and granddaughter for money. No one knew where he was, but people said he was a vagrant, causing trouble, and had recently been back in prison for the fourth time.

Teachers and friends always see Hung as optimistic, participating in most movements even though his time is quite limited. Hung said he is always grateful for even the smallest support from anyone. Despite his tragic life, Hung still tries to go to school because "only by studying can he hope to change his life so that he can take care of his aging grandparents" as he wishes.

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* For sensitive reasons, the editorial board does not publish Khanh Hung's photo.

The Dream Wings Scholarship is implemented by Tuoi Tre Newspaper and Van Hien University with a budget of 19 billion VND over three years. In the first year, the program will award 100 scholarships (4 million VND/scholarship) to middle and high school students from 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta. The following years will be for the Southeast, Central and Central Highlands regions.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hoc-bong-chap-canh-uoc-mo-lon-len-giua-nghich-canh-20240626100635605.htm