A Cu Chi female student who studied and comforted her mentally ill mother was admitted to Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology.

For many years, her study time was interrupted by her mother's screams, and she had to leave her homework to "coax" her mentally ill mother. Hong Nhung never gave up her desire to go to university. In 2024, she became a freshman at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology.

Vừa học bài vừa ‘dỗ’ mẹ tâm thần, cô gái đậu vào trường Bách khoa - Ảnh 1. — Family is the motivation for Hong Nhung to remind herself to strive and change her fate - Photo: DIEU QUI

In the recent high school graduation exam, with the integrated capacity assessment test score and the results of the academic transcript, Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung (19 years old) passed the logistics major of the University of Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University).

9 years old had to comfort sick mother

We met Nhung on a rainy afternoon, when she was preparing to ride her motorbike from her house in Tan An Hoi commune (Cu Chi district, Ho Chi Minh City) to the university dormitory in Thu Duc city the next day, to start her new student life.

Our conversation was interrupted several times by loud, incoherent voices coming from behind Nhung's mother's house.

Nhung grew up in a poor family in the commune. Before her, she had an older brother who was a third-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education. Two years ago, the older brother received the Tuoi Tre Scholarship to help him get to school as a preparation for university, and now he has introduced it to his younger sister.

For nearly 10 years, Nhung and her siblings have been raised and sent to school thanks to their father’s salary as a worker, because during that time their mother suffered from schizophrenia and stayed at home. That was also a shock to little Hong Nhung, who was only 9 years old at the time, for many years to come…

Nhung confided that her father was a long-time worker at a mattress factory in the Cu Chi Northwest Industrial Park. Every few months, he had to take time off work, and the whole family called a car from the Ho Chi Minh City Mental Hospital to take Nhung's mother to the clinic, where she was hospitalized for a few days. The cost of the car, hospital fees, and medicine was not a small amount for his family.

In the four-room house full of traces of time, Nhung's study area and books are only in a small corner. She said that many times when she was doing math, she needed to concentrate hard but had to interrupt because her mother got sick.

"At times like that, I have to comfort her by singing and doing things to make her happy, like coaxing her, waiting for her to calm down before continuing her studies," she said. Nhung said that sometimes she felt tired and sad to the point of crying, but then she felt more sympathetic and loved her mother. "When she was still healthy, my mother loved us both very much."

Her mother fell ill, and Nhung had to figure things out on her own while growing up. She had no chance to confide in her mother or ask for advice. However, she still had the comfort and encouragement of her father and brother.

Vừa học bài vừa ‘dỗ’ mẹ tâm thần, cô gái đậu vào trường Bách khoa - Ảnh 2. — Her mother suddenly fell ill, and for nearly 10 years, Nhung had to learn everything herself while growing up - Photo: DIEU QUI

Used to be pressure, now it's motivation

The day she heard that Nhung had passed the university entrance exam after so much hard work, while the whole family was happy and joyful, the mother was silent and showed no expression, even when her daughter said goodbye to go to school far away.

Nhung never stopped studying. Seeing her father working hard to support four mouths, her mother often falling ill and having to be taken to the hospital, she was even more determined to study so that she could have a stable job in the future, take care of her father and have money for her mother's long-term treatment.

For the past two years, Nhung's brother has been working part-time, and after finishing her university entrance exam, she herself traveled four hours a day from home to District 1 to sell goods for relatives during the two summer months, using an old motorbike given to her by an acquaintance. "Here, we mainly sell to foreign tourists. In addition to communicating in English, thanks to selling, I have learned a little Korean," she said.

Although he has some savings, Mr. Chau still mainly takes care of the tuition and accommodation for his two children. When he heard that his daughter passed the university entrance exam, Mr. Chau was very happy. But he doesn't know how to handle the tuition of 15 million VND/year for his daughter. That is also Nhung's concern.

She confided: "The burden of studying and my mother's illness has made my father's back increasingly bent. If I receive this scholarship, I will get through the difficult time at the beginning of the school year and have time to work part-time to pay for my tuition for the next semester. During my time studying, I will also try to win a scholarship from the school."

Mr. Chau said that for now, he can only give his daughter a small amount of money to pay for the dormitory and living expenses. Nhung will wait a few days until her studies are stable and she is familiar with the roads, then she will find a part-time job to help support her family. Besides, she will also refer to the low-interest student program from the place where she studies.

Nữ sinh Củ Chi vừa học bài vừa dỗ mẹ bệnh tâm thần đã đậu Đại học Bách khoa TP.HCM - Ảnh 4. — Nhung has been an excellent student for many years. In addition, she also won first prize in district-level chess for 4 consecutive years - Photo: DIEU QUI

Nhung said she chose to study logistics because she is interested in math and physics, even though she currently has no clear vision of her future job.

"Logistics is supply chain and transportation, so there are many areas to work on. I plan to work on algorithms to make shipping goods save time and cost the least," Nhung said.

Invite you to join the School Support Program

Tuoi Tre Newspaper's 2024 School Support Program launched on August 8, expected to award 1,100 scholarships with a total cost of more than 20 billion VND (15 million VND for new students with difficulties, 20 special scholarships worth 50 million VND/scholarship throughout 4 years of study and learning equipment, gifts...).

With the motto "No young person can go to school because of poverty", "If new students encounter difficulties, there is Tuoi Tre" - as a commitment to support new students in the past 20 years of Tuoi Tre .

The program received contributions and support from the "Accompanying Farmers" Fund - Binh Dien Fertilizer Joint Stock Company, Vinacam Education Promotion Fund - Vinacam Group Joint Stock Company and the clubs "Nghia Tinh Quang Tri", "Nghia Tinh Phu Yen"; the clubs "Supporting School" Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam - Da Nang, Tien Giang - Ben Tre, Quang Ngai and the Tien Giang - Ben Tre Business Association in Ho Chi Minh City, the German - Vietnamese Mutual Aid and Cooperation Association (VSW), Nam Long Company, Nestlé Vietnam Co., Ltd. ... along with businesses, philanthropists and a large number of readers of Tuoi Tre newspaper.