Officers of Trung Ly Border Guard Station presented gifts to support students in difficult circumstances at the beginning of the school year.
One rainy afternoon, we followed the red dirt road, over the steep pass to Suoi Hoc village, one of the most remote villages of Trung Ly commune. The village has more than 50 households, with more than 300 people, most of whom are poor and near-poor households. Nearly ten kilometers from the commune center, Suoi Hoc is a village that is almost isolated during the flood season.
It was in this harsh place that we encountered a touching story about the border guards who silently sheltered and helped orphaned and disadvantaged children to go to school. Giang A Phang is one of them. Phang lives in a dilapidated house at the foot of the hill, next to Suoi Hoc school, Trung Ly 1 Primary School. He is the youngest of three children. His father died when he was four years old, and his mother remarried and disappeared. All three children depended on their uncle Giang A Thin, a poor family who grew cassava and corn all year round.
Due to their poor family circumstances, their meals are often just white rice balls with salt. But Phang's life has taken a different turn since August 2023, when he was adopted by the Trung Ly Border Guard Station. Since then, Phang has been living with and being taken care of by officers and soldiers, from meals to sleep, from studying to daily activities such as folding blankets, washing dishes, going to bed on time... Phang affectionately calls the soldiers in the border guard station "father". The soldiers are close to Phang every day, from teaching him in the morning, practicing daily habits to listening and encouraging him to overcome homesickness and childhood sadness.
Not only Phanh's case, Trung Ly Border Guard Station is sponsoring 5 more children under the program "Helping children go to school", including 1 Laotian child and 4 ethnic minority children with especially difficult circumstances. Each child has a different fate, such as Gia Ngoc Tuan, a Mong child in Loc Ha village, Nhi Son commune. His father died early, his mother remarried, Tuan lives with his elderly grandparents. In 2020, Trung Ly Border Guard Station brought him to the station to raise and care for him. Tuan once planned to quit school because he had no money to buy books. Thanks to the soldiers' sponsorship, he was able to go to school and live with his foster fathers... Thanks to that, Tuan studies better every day, he cherishes the dream of becoming a teacher to teach children in the village, just like the soldiers taught Tuan and the villagers.
Major Nguyen Van Thien, Political Commissar of Trung Ly Border Guard Station, shared: “The children here are in great need. Without the help of the community and the border guards, they would easily be left behind. We do this with the heart and responsibility of soldiers.” In Trung Ly commune alone, 18 children have been supported in the program “Helping children go to school”. Not with great material things, but with close affection and daily companionship, the border guards are like foster fathers who give the children the strength to go to school, nurturing their dreams of escaping poverty.
In the middle of the misty mountains and forests, the mumbling sound of Phánh studying in a small room at Trung Ly Border Post made me feel the most beautiful things in the border mountains and forests, not only the peace of the border villages, but also the bright future of the children who are given wings by the loving arms of a tolerant and responsible community.
Article and photos: Dinh Giang
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nuoi-duong-uoc-mo-o-vung-bien-253662.htm
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