Lottery ticket seller teaches free swimming lessons to more than 2,000 children in flooded areas

Woman working for hire, selling lottery tickets…

When we arrived in Hung Thanh commune, everyone knew Mrs. Thia's house. When we arrived, Mrs. Thia had just taught swimming to dozens of children in Hamlet 1.

Ms. Thia said that before, her hometown was in Go Cong Dong district, Tien Giang province, her family had 9 siblings, so when Ms. Thia was 26 years old, she went to Thap Muoi district (Dong Thap) to do all kinds of jobs to make a living such as porter, hired weeder, cajuput tree cutting, hired rice weeder...

Because of her difficult life as a hired woman, Thia did not dare to pay attention to anyone and until now she has never had a love affair.

When she returned to Hung Thanh commune, she still lived as a hired worker. To have a place to live, Ms. Thia asked the locals to borrow land from a local to build a hut to shelter her from the sun and rain. Later, a kind-hearted local gave her land to build a house where she lives to this day.

Before letting the children practice swimming, Mrs. Sau Thia let them warm up.

In 1992, Ms. Thia was recruited by the commune to become a women's cadre in the hamlet and received a monthly allowance of 200,000 VND. That was not enough to make a living, so every day Ms. Thia had to go to the agency to receive 70-100 lottery tickets to sell.

Ms. Thia shared: "Because I have lived independently since I was 14 years old, I have a tough personality and do not speak softly like other girls. However, when I was 19 or 20, one or two guys proposed to me, but because I saw my poor circumstances, I felt inferior and stayed single until now. Thanks to that, I can participate in local social work more easily, especially teaching swimming to local children."

Mrs. Sau Thia's swimming pool is just bamboo poles stuck in the river and surrounded by a net.

According to Ms. Thia, in 2002, the commune implemented a project to popularize swimming for children and she was nominated as a "coach".

Talking about taking on this task and teaching swimming, Ms. Thia shared: “At first, the commune invited me and I was very scared because I didn’t know where to start or how to teach… However, thinking about the scene of children drowning in one province after another, I felt so sorry for them; while I really love the children. After accepting the offer, I was trained for 3 days in the district, and then started teaching swimming until now.”

…became a swimming “coach”

At first, each swimming course was only focused on 1-2 hamlets, with the number of students fluctuating around 70-80. After a while, many parents saw that her teaching was effective, so they brought their children to study more and more. Now, the course has expanded to 5 hamlets, and the number of students participating has increased to nearly 200 students/course.

Swimming lessons are mainly focused on the 3 summer months and prepare children to go to school safely during the flood season. Each swimming session lasts 1.5 hours per day and the course lasts about 10-15 days. The learning locations are canals and rivers in the 5 hamlets.

Before each swimming season, Mrs. Thia plants bamboo poles in the river, then surrounds them with nets to form a “swimming pool” to teach her children. Each “swimming pool” is 4m wide, 8m long, and 2m high. Every day, she rides her motorbike several kilometers from one point to another to teach her students how to swim without charging a penny.

Children who don't know how to swim, just need to go through Mrs. Sau Thia's hands for about a week and they will all be able to swim.

Talking about the increasing number of students, Ms. Thia said: “In my hands, children can swim after 5 days. What I do to teach them quickly is to show them each position: the right arm must be straight, how to kick, and how to keep their chin level with the water so that the lower half of their body does not sink. In addition, I have to support each child and let them swim on their own when they are close to the finish line. For those who swim slowly, I have to practice more, so sometimes I don’t get home until 6 pm.”

After each swimming season, the commune provides her with 1.5 to 2 million VND in support, which helps her pay for gas. Seeing her sincerity, many parents sent her money, but she refused.

“I personally go and persuade them to let their children learn to swim to avoid drowning, but it’s free, so I can’t pay for it. I teach because I love children and am afraid they will drown, not because of fear,” said Ms. Thia.

Because of her dedication and thoughtfulness, Mrs. Sau Thia's class is getting more and more crowded every day. Up to now, Mrs. Sau Thia has taught swimming to more than 2,000 local children.

Recalling an unforgettable memory after more than a decade of training, Ms. Thia recalled: “About 10 years ago, when Gam was only 6 years old, living in Hamlet 3, she slipped and fell into the river while going to the toilet. She was able to swim up by herself thanks to the swimming course I took. At that time, each child who finished the course received 20,000 VND from the project's sponsorship, so when she swam up, she gave me the money and said: Thanks to Ms. Sau, I didn't die after falling into the river.”

Before getting into the “swimming pool”, Ms. Thia lined up the children and taught them each hand and foot movement, along with a skillful warm-up. After 20 minutes of warming up, the children took turns getting into the “swimming pool” to begin their practice session. For those who were just starting to swim, she let them swim in pairs, and for those who did not know how to swim, she assisted them and taught them one by one. Up to now, in the past 15 years, Ms. Thia has taught over 2,000 students how to swim for free.

Mr. Le Van Tai - Vice Chairman of Hung Thanh Commune People's Committee - said that many families work far away so they have little time to teach their children to swim. Therefore, every May, the commune develops a plan to popularize swimming for children aged 6-15 in 5 hamlets in the area. Depending on the actual needs of each hamlet, 1-3 swimming teaching points will be established.

After the children complete the popularization course which lasts from 10 to 15 days, the district Cultural and Sports Center will come to test them. If they meet the requirements, they will be granted a certificate. For those who do not meet the requirements, they will be arranged to study in the second round or the following year. Therefore, from 2005 to now, there have been no cases of children drowning in the commune.

Ms. Thia is a poor family, working many jobs to make a living, but is passionate about teaching children to swim, a shining example for local youth.

It is known that after finishing the swimming courses, Ms. Thia continued to sell lottery tickets, work for hire, peel lotus seeds... to earn money to support herself. In addition, Ms. Thia has also been the President of the Red Cross Society and a population collaborator for nearly 10 years now. Every time she sees a difficult situation, she goes to raise money for them to build a house and have rice to eat...

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/nguoi-phu-nu-ban-ve-so-day-boi-mien-phi-cho-hon-2000-tre-em-vung-lu-20170810163916675.htm