The last boy with bare feet goes to Lung Xa village school

The image of a Chu boy walking to school barefoot alone is familiar to people in Lung Xa village, Long Luong commune, Van Ho district. After four years of walking alone to school, his only wish was to be driven to school by his parents on a motorbike like his friends in the village.

Every day, Chu walked more than 3 km on a forest road to class and then back home, because the school did not arrange day-boarding. Unaccustomed to roads, the first days of school for 1st graders are treks down mountains, over rivers, and then down trails. For days in a hurry, the boy stumbled and fell, his clothes were torn, his limbs were scratched and bleeding. Without crying, I got up and kept walking, hoping to get to class on time.

In previous years, the story of students walking barefoot several kilometers to school, lack of clothes is no longer foreign to teachers in Lung Xa. But now the whole school and Chu himself had to go to the forest to go to school. “There was no other way because his parents left each other and went together, now he lives with his grandparents,” said Mr. Lo Van Ngoan, 29, Chu’s homeroom teacher in Lung Xa – Ta De school location, Long Luong elementary school , say.

Chu is the youngest son in a family of two sisters. Previously, she was a four year old sister, now she has dropped out of school to stay at home to take care of her grandparents. Seven years ago, Chu’s parents divorced, his mother went to do business in Hoa Binh, but never contacted him. Before leaving, the saying “Mother will be back” was engraved in the 3 year old boy’s mind. After a while, Chu’s father also went to Hanoi to work as a wage laborer, hoping to have money to support his children.

In a makeshift log cabin on damp ground, Mr. Giang A Lau, 48, Chu’s grandfather, sighed as he adopted six grandchildren instead of two sons. The family was poor, with 12 mouths to feed on several acres of land rented to grow corn and fruit trees. Work is not enough to eat, so it is not uncommon to break the fast.

Pak Giang A So, head of Lung Xa village, said: “The Pak Lau family is a difficult household, fortunately the family has progressive ideas and still sends their children to school if they want.”

At a young age, Chu took on the responsibility of taking care of his younger brother, cooking water, cooking rice, cleaning the house, feeding chickens to help his grandparents, but did not forget to study. Waiting for the whole family to go to bed, I would grab my books, turn on the flashlight to review, every night. Seeing him study hard, Mr. Lau was overjoyed. He said he should try to send his children to school, borrow money and accept it, only hoping “their life is better than his, his father’s”.

Mr. Ngoan thought Chu was a good boy with average academic abilities, but what I admired was his determination to go to school. In many highland provinces, scenes where parents wanted their children to stay home or take care of younger siblings, and teachers came to advocate for school attendance were common, but the Chu family was an exception. It is rare for teachers to come to the lobby because Mr. Lau sees the importance of studying.

Outside of regular school hours, classroom teachers organize tutoring sessions for students on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. On the days of his stay at school, Pak Ngoan would teach extra nights for the slow learners in class, from 7 am to 9 pm. Knowing that Chu went to a school far away, Mr. Ngoan often kept him at school to feed him and wait for evening classes. But after school, boy H’Mong takes a flashlight from his bag and asks to go home. “He must have been embarrassed, afraid of trouble, so he refused to stay at my school,” said Pak Ngoan.

Came home after more than half an hour of walking, but the next morning I still woke up early to go to class. It was rare for Chu to be late for school, but mostly because of the weather or slippery roads.

In the early days of March, Chu said the way to school was “better” when teachers at the school gave them new shoes, clothes and books. “I’m not afraid of the cold, I’m afraid that rocks will scratch my feet. Now I can wear sandals like your friends,” Giang A Chu laughed, showing off to Pak Ngoan.

Asked about his dream, Chu said he wanted to become a teacher. I want to mobilize more students to go to school, help them become literate, then earn money to repair the house, buy a motorbike for him to take to school. “But being a teacher in the village, I didn’t go to the commune, it was too far,” said the H’Mong boy.

Quynh Nguyen

Hope Foundation School Light Program – newspaper VnExpress wants to replace an unsafe temporary classroom for teachers and students in the Van Ho district of Son La. Readers’ contributions will increase motivation and create conditions for teachers and students in the highlands to have better teaching and learning conditions. Readers can accompany the program here.

at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here