Back to the roots

Bang Linh and Thuy Linh with simple, honest and poetic verses about a summer that has just passed, full of meaning: "I love the summer of my Fatherland/ The infinite beauty of my beloved Vietnam/ Every step I take, every joy is immeasurable.../ Happiness swings, my heart is sweet...

A short essay: “Last week, my parents and I went to Phan Thiet and Phan Rang, down to Nha Trang, the land of Agarwood. The beloved places are incredibly beautiful. In Phan Thiet, I participated in an event of my father's company by Mui Ne beach, the golden sand dunes rustling with the sun and wind, the waves murmuring. I have been to many places but no place is as beautiful as my homeland Vietnam. In the middle of August, I returned to Ha Tinh, where the Ngan River flows into Tam Soa wharf, down to Hoi estuary. Phuc Trach has delicious grapefruit and agarwood, and beautiful agarwood gardens like paintings. I visited the children in the remote areas of the poor homeland of Huong Khe and Ky Anh - the land of the poem: Stepping to Deo Ngang in the late afternoon... (Ba Huyen Thanh Quan); dancing and singing with the children, blending into the beat of their hearts like a flock of sparrows spreading their wings to fly...”.

Bang Linh and Thuy Linh are a pair of close friends - Vietnamese students studying abroad in North America. Bang Linh studied abroad at the age of 16, in grades 11-12 and in college abroad. Thuy Linh was 14 years old - in grade 8, she and her family went abroad, from grade 8 until her final year of college living and working in a foreign country. Living in two different cities, due to family ties and similar personalities, they came together, became friends in studying and many social activities.

In the summer of the previous school year and the 2022-2023 school year, encouraged by their families, Bang Linh and Thuy Linh returned home to participate in volunteer programs. From August 8 to 12, 2023, Bang Linh and Thuy Linh, along with their younger sister Hoai An, a student at a specialized middle school, visited 4 primary and middle schools in Ha Tinh province: Huong Giang, Phuc Dong (Huong Khe mountainous district); Giang Dong, Ky Phu (Ky Anh poor coastal district).

With the financial support of benefactors, writer Bich Lam selected 1,000 valuable books from home and abroad (translated - bilingual), the authors of the books are all famous writers for school-age children. With the encouragement and support of teachers from Huong Khe and Ky Anh districts, program advisor Ms. Tuyet Anh, two friends Bang Linh, Thuy Linh, and Hoai An's younger sister, planned and organized events to give books and exchange English with students from schools in a systematic, open, bustling, and warm manner. The student exchanges were lively, attractive, inspiring reading culture; the children accumulated more experience, gentle yet practical and effective ways to learn English.

It was truly a summer of volunteering in their own way, Bang Linh, Thuy Linh, Hoai An have closely bonded with the children in remote areas. At noon in the harsh Central region sun, or at 5 pm, the children of Huong Giang, Phuc Dong, Giang Dong, and Ky Phu schools still danced and sang together, not wanting to leave each other, lingering to ask for the email addresses, Zalo, Messenger, and Telegram phone numbers of Bang Linh, Thuy Linh, and Hoai An; asking for their signatures in the guestbook. With that warm and friendly atmosphere, a female reporter from a local radio and television station felt: “So it was very successful! Bang Linh, Thuy Linh, and Hoai An are wonderful. The primary and secondary school children of Ha Tinh, the land of studiousness, are extremely lovely”…

Ut Mui Ne observed and concluded:

- The families of overseas students are very conscious of nurturing in them a love for the Vietnamese Fatherland, a yearning for their homeland and roots. No matter where they go or what they do, their cultural knowledge is noble, but their roots are the fundamental thing that nurtures the children's souls.

- Bang Linh, Thuy Linh, Hoai An (and many other students) voluntarily and enthusiastically participated in events about returning to the roots during the green summer, which is extremely encouraging.

- Ha Tinh is a land of studiousness; teachers and children from schools in Huong Khe and Ky Anh have seized the precious opportunity to organize meetings and exchanges, inspiring reading culture, accessing new knowledge "learning goes hand in hand with practice", fostering confidence towards the open sky of knowledge.

Binh Thuan Youth - favorable time, favorable location, and favorable people - welcome the new school year 2023 - 2024, in the belief and love of the whole country, for the whole country - to raise the level of learning, access new comprehensive knowledge, and closely connect from school to social life.

Source