"Single" father loves his son immensely, working from construction, digging ditches to... butchering pigs

In October, the humid weather in the West made Mr. Nghien's work unfavorable. Construction projects near his house were also out of work, no one was hiring people to dig ditches or fill mud, and the job of slaughtering pigs came and went at night.

All day, Mr. Nghien drives his old motorbike around the neighborhood to find out who is looking for a job to do for a few days to earn money to pay for his children's school fees.

Having just turned 44, Mr. Nghien looks much older than his real age. "I have never had a day of real rest in my life, and I have never left my village. Every day when I wake up, I have to worry about food for my two daughters and my elderly parents."

In 2006, storm No. 9 (Durian storm) collapsed Mr. Nghien's family house in Tan Thanh commune, Giong Trom district, Ben Tre province. At the same time, another storm also arose in his family's home. His wife quietly left the three of them to find new happiness, leaving behind his two daughters, Le Thi My Tien, only 5 years old, and Le Thi My Hanh, 18 months old.

"Storm No. 9 destroyed the thatched house. The children's mother was already dissatisfied with her husband's poor circumstances, so that day she said she was going to buy milk for the children and then left. Since then, she has not asked or visited her children once," said Nguyen Thi Gioi, the grandmother of Tien and Hanh.

Daughter studies well thanks to YouTube

The two sisters Tien and Hanh grew up in poverty and deprivation. No one in the family was literate, but their grandparents worked hard to send them to school.

Every day, her grandparents went to harvest rice and work as mud cleaners for hire; Nghien worked as a construction worker during the day and helped with pig slaughterhouses at night. The family survived until Tien was in 9th grade, but the economy was so bad that Tien had to drop out of school to work as a factory worker, leaving Hanh to go to school.

"My sister Tien really dropped out of school and went to work as a factory worker. My sister was a very good student, so when she dropped out of school, she was very sad. I felt remorseful and promised that I would try to study hard like her in the future," My Hanh said.

Not having money for extra classes like many of her classmates, Hanh chose to study on social media platforms. "During my studies, I usually systematize all the knowledge right in class. Then I expand my knowledge in textbooks and listen to more lectures from teachers on YouTube. Especially for the weak parts, I focus on studying them thoroughly and deeply and doing a lot of advanced exercises," Hanh shared her study secrets.

"Since entering high school, I have been trying my best, because I know that as a poor kid, I have to work hundreds, even thousands of times harder than other people," Hanh confided.

Although she did not attend extra classes, thanks to her reasonable learning methods, Hanh's results during her high school years were always excellent and she was in the top 4 of her class. Recently, Hanh passed the university entrance exam and became a new student majoring in tourism at Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture.

In her application for the Tuoi Tre Scholarship , Hanh said: "My biggest challenge is the social prejudice that poor children should study pedagogy, or else they should work. I think differently, we all have our own choices, no one can prove that those who choose or go against that viewpoint fail. There are many successful people in life who have very low starting points. They were once poor students who rose up by their own strength. Looking at admirable examples like that, I can overcome the challenges in life."

The day Hanh was announced to have passed the university entrance exam, everyone in the family was overwhelmed with happiness because she was the only one in the family to go to university. But the joy was fleeting, and anxiety and worry overwhelmed her again because of the burden of tuition fees.

Mr. Ho Thanh Phuong, head of Tan Loi hamlet (Tan Thanh commune, Giong Trom district, Ben Tre province), said that Le Thi My Hanh's family is near-poor.

"The main breadwinner of the family is Mr. Le Van Nghien, but he works as a hired hand every day, so his income is unstable. Life is already difficult, but now that he has a child in college, it's even more difficult," said Mr. Phuong.