VietNamNet Bridge – Living in the damp guest houses in the suburbs of the cities are the poor people, doing everything they can to earn their living. Like many other people, they also have children who are going to school.

Nhung’s ’learning corner’

Ngo Thi Vien and Nguyen Van Hung, the parents of Nhung, come from An Binh commune in Thuan Thanh district in Bac Ninh province. They do not have jobs, but decided to go to Hanoi to earn their living right after their wedding.

Vien and Hung experienced a lot of jobs and a lot of difficulties before they began making soya curds in a dark alley of Luong The Vinh Street.

The second daughter of Vien and Hung, now four years old, is going to Bong Hong Vang Kindergarten.

They have to pay VND 1 million a month for meals and the education of the two children.

Vien, Hung and their two daughters are sharing the 20 square metre room which smells of sour soybean residue.

In the evening, Nhung and Ngoc go to bed at 8:30 pm. They have to go to bed early because their parents need to get up early the next morning.

Nhung’s mother gets up at 2:00am in the morning and works hard until between 7-8 pm. Right after the dinner, she goes to bed, and she has no time to care for the children’s lessons. However, luckily Nhung is very good at her learning. She is the 11^th best students in the class.

Nhung’s ‘learning corner’ is her bed because it can serve as the desk. Meanwhile, the real desk has broken legs. Nhung does not need the place to put textbooks as she puts all the textbooks in her schoolbags.

Nhung wishes she had a new desk and a separated learning corner of her own. However, her wish does not seem to come true. Even if her parents buy a new desk, Nhung will have nowhere to put it.

Vien said that she and the family will live in Hanoi and work their jobs until the children finish high school. If the learning is too costly, Vien will send the children to home villages.

The first letters on the bed

Vinh is writting on the bed

Their second child, Nguyen Van VInh, is now going to Trung Van Kindergarten, while their first child, a 4^th student, is living with grandparents in home villages.

Every month, the couple has to pay VND 400,000 for Vinh’s tuition and VND 500,000 more for room rent, electricity, and water bills.

Vinh began going to school in September 2008, and he now can recognize all the letters of the alphabet and count from 1 to 10.

The place where Vinh wrote the first letters in his life was his bed. Vinh said that he likes learning, but he does not have fairy tale stories or colouring books. Ruyen plans to bring the child to the home village the next year.

Going out on weekend?

Thanh, the daughter of Dang Van Van who sells maize and sweet potato, and Ta Thi Loan, who sells vegetables near their hired house on Tran Binh Street, dreams of going to the park on weekends. Thanh’s sister is two years old, and is going to kindergarten.

“The tuitions of the two children cost me VND 800,000 a month. Besides, we have to pay for meals, hired rooms, health care, and we can save only VND 1 million a month,” Van said.

Thanh can do everything for their parents, looking out for her sister, and preparing meals. She related that the only dream of hers is to be able to go out on weekends. However, her parents do not have time to bring her to the park because they need to earn money and they can’t sit idle.

Cam Quyen