Living in a poor family with her mother and elder sister after her father passed away, Le Nguyen Ngoc Ha, who lives at Quy Nhon city’s Ngo May ward, passed the Le Quy Don gifted high school’s entrance exam thanks to her industriousness.
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Ha often has to eat cold rice before going to the school. Photo D.P
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Her mother, Nguyen Thi Hong Hy, 49, has no permanent job. Often, she goes around the city to collect household waste and is sometimes hired to tidy up houses.
“I earn about VND20,000-30,000 per day,” she said. “Once, I was hired to take care of a baby with higher income but I refused as my health doesn’t allow me to spend frequent sleepless nights.”
Ha is now living with her mother as her elder sister got married and lives far from home. She is also poor.
All her neighbors admired Ha’s strong will. After returning from school, Ha cooks by herself and learns all day. She always won the “excellent student” title during four years of studying at Ngo May junior high school. Ha is good at all subjects, particularly English and she can speak English quite fluently.
Knowing she passed the school’s entrance exam, Ha was very excited, but her fugitive happiness ended immediately as her mother couldn’t afford her studying at Le Quy Don gifted high school.
She wanted to move to study at Quoc Hoc high school which is near her house, but Le Quy Don high school’s teachers didn’t want her to move.
Her family was recognized as one of poor households in the ward last year; however, this doesn’t happen this year as the head of the resident area said that her family couldn’t be listed as a poor household because her mother could earn over VND300,000 each month by collecting household waste.
The new school year is to start but Ha now has only several books and notebooks. “I don’t have enough books to go to school but I don’t have enough money to buy more,” Ha said. “Perhaps I have to borrow other books from my friends.”
Her thirsty for knowledge may be interrupted as Ha and her mother are burdened with many worries.
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