Classroom in the heart of the mountain
Teacher Lu Van Thuy is small, unassuming, and quiet. If you judge a book by its cover, you will see that he is a hard-working, honest man. Teacher Thuy is 42 years old this year.
Mr. Thuy is currently a teacher at Sin Suoi Ho Primary Boarding School (Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province). The school is located in San Bay Village. San Bay Village is not as flat as the name airport, but the road is winding and winding. However, this is the central village of the commune, so the road to get there is less difficult than the two schools where Mr. Thuy taught before.
Mr. Thuy was born and raised in Khong Lao commune, Phong Tho district, Lai Chau province. In 2003, after graduating, he was assigned to teach at the Sang Ma Pho village school belonging to Sin Suoi Ho Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities.
Sang Ma Pho village is about 20 kilometers away from the commune center on dirt roads, mountains, and passes. Every time he runs out of food, Mr. Thuy has to walk for half a day. “I am a local but I find that journey too arduous. If I didn’t love the children in that extremely difficult area, I would have gone home. And I also regret my parents’ efforts to raise me and educate me. Thinking about that, I motivate myself to stay with this profession,” Mr. Thuy confided.
Fresh out of school, Mr. Thuy “stayed in the village” to teach Hmong children. At that time, the villagers gave him rice and vegetables, salt, noodles, and dried fish, and he had to carry them all week to eat. In 2003-2004, the village had no electricity. The teacher’s classroom and house were connected, made from crushed bamboo and thatched roofs. All the desks and blackboards were made from leftover wood when people sawed wood to build houses.
The whole village has about 35 houses, with 3 classrooms. Mr. Thuy's class is a mixed class of 2 age groups. In that class, one group learns the 2nd grade program facing up; one group learns the 4th grade program facing down, the two classes have their backs to each other. Every day, Mr. Thuy moves from the front of the class to the back of the class to teach these 2 groups, as well as walking a few kilometers. His poor students' knowledge also increases with each meal, hungry or full.
In 2005, the Board of Directors transferred Mr. Thuy to another village named Chang Phang, 12 kilometers away from the commune center, 1 hour walk closer than the old village. Chang Phang village is also a Mong ethnic village. Every week, Mr. Thuy walks from the commune center for more than 2 hours to the place where he teaches. If calculated from the center of Lai Chau city to the center of Sin Suoi Ho commune is about 30km, to the village where Mr. Thuy teaches is nearly 50km.
“At that time, I had just graduated from school, I was a young and healthy man, and a local, so the remote villages of the school needed me to go there. In my life and my teaching career here, perhaps the cold in Sin Suoi Ho is the most unforgettable. Especially on winter nights, the cold was so cold that it penetrated to the bone, lying under the blanket, wearing socks several times, my feet were still cold,” said Mr. Thuy.
Sin Suoi Ho is over 1,000 meters above sea level. The cold here seems to be drawn from the depths of the mountain. At night, you can sleep in a blanket and wear socks several times but still feel cold. Of the four seasons, winter is probably the season when people feel the poverty of the highlands most clearly. The warmth in the house is so little, it feels so empty and vast. The Mong students wear only a thin layer of clothing to cope with the winter, and go to class barefoot every day. "I feel so sorry for you, my friend!"
The teacher clasped his hands together and looked out at the sky, where the wind was howling, the clouds were filling the valley, and his voice was lost in the thick fog, hoarse. “Winter is coming, the students up here are very cold, if you can get some warm blankets, please send me some…”
One life, one career...
Since Lai Chau had a policy of bringing all students from grade 3 in the village to the main school and providing boarding meals, nearly 200 students from the remote schools were brought to the commune center. In the village, only grades 1 and 2 remained.
Also from this policy, Mr. Lu Van Thuy and many other teachers "staying in the village" had the opportunity to return to the school center in San Bay village to teach. In 2007, Mr. Thuy married teacher Lo Thuy Luong (born in 1981), a secondary school teacher who is also an ethnic minority, currently the Vice Principal of Sin Suoi Ho Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (abbreviated as Sin Suoi Ho Secondary School), in the same commune as Mr. Thuy's school.
Here, the primary school and the secondary school are separated by only one wall. Opposite the two schools is the headquarters of the People's Committee of Sin Suoi Ho commune. According to Ly Van Xien, Deputy Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, the entire population of Sin Suoi Ho commune is ethnic minorities, of which the Mong ethnic group accounts for 70%, mainly working in agriculture. The poverty rate of the commune is 64%. Therefore, in addition to investments in infrastructure, education is expected to bring a brighter future to this difficult highland area. Teachers like Mr. Thuy and Ms. Luong who have been in the village for many years are extremely appreciated.
Mr. Dong Tat Thang, Principal of Sin Suoi Ho Secondary School, shared: Ms. Luong and Mr. Thuy are the teachers with the longest working experience at the primary school and Sin Suoi Ho Secondary School here. Many commune officials are now students of Mr. Thuy and Ms. Luong. We appreciate their dedication and sacrifice for the education of the local people.
The educational career of Mr. Thuy and Ms. Luong may be quite stable, but when it comes to family, the teachers still have concerns.
Ms. Luong said: “My husband and I have two children. The older child is in 7th grade this year, the younger child is only 5 years old. Previously, the commune lent our family land near the school to build a house. It was convenient to travel and live. However, since 2020, the commune has reclaimed the land, and the whole family has moved to Lai Chau city. Every day, my husband and I travel about 60km from Lai Chau city to Sin Suoi Ho to teach. Both children stay at home with their grandmother, the older child goes to school, and the younger child is taken care of by his grandmother, who is over 70 years old. My husband and I also want to move back to teach near home to take care of the family, but it is too difficult. The whole day, my husband and I travel 60km back and forth. On warm sunny days, it is fine, but on cold and rainy days, it is extremely difficult. The road is bumpy with dirt and rocks, and if you do not have a steady hand on the wheel, it is very dangerous.”
Many teachers in Sin Suoi Ho also have similar concerns and worries.
That day, in the communal kitchen. The teachers of both primary and secondary schools welcomed us warmly and happily, as if they had not seen relatives for a long time. Everyone’s faces were radiant with a small joy… But deep in their eyes, there were still thoughts. Just asking about their families would make a teacher burst into tears. The teachers’ children were mostly sent to their elderly parents in the countryside or outside the city. They loved their children so much, they poured all of it into their poor students.
The 8pm news program had just ended, San Bay village was quiet and still… there was only the sound of the wind whistling from the valley and the teachers’ voices, sometimes deep, sometimes high, welcoming guests with a cup of strong wine. In that space, I could feel the sacrifice and dedication of the teachers in the highlands. The day to honor Teachers on November 20 is approaching, I wish the teachers in Sin Suoi Ho good health, to continue to sow letters in the highlands.
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