The girl who says “we can”

In the school, Tien likes the room of Lua Hong (Red Fire) Club the most. There are a lot of books Tien and friends can read. That’s also where the club members meet once a month to discuss what really matters to children.

The last meeting was about food safety. There had been a few villagers suffering from food poison, Tien herself got a bad diarrhea a couple of days earlier.

During the meeting, the children acknowledged that the cause of those incidents were the food bought on the street without any detectable origin. They had a teacher listening and noting.

Today, recalling that meeting, Tien and her girl friends seemed to be as enthusiastic as ever, they immediately picked up the discussion where it was left hanging.

“Now we have known the cause, so what is the solution? There needs to be a cafeteria within the school”, argued the girls.

They threw themselves in thoughts again trying to address many aspects of the suggestion: Where should the cafeteria is? Near the gate? The old warehouse? How to get the establishment funded? What kind of food should it sell? Just breakfast? Dry food? How to pay for power and water supply? Who will run it? A mother? What about poor students who might not be able to afford food? Free meal pass? How to control? etc.

Tien and her club members sound like they are confident enough to solve any problem placed in front of them. They answer “we can” to all the questions.

Tien wants to become an MC

For Tien, an 8-grader and one of the core children of Lua Hong Club supported by World Vision Vietnam in Huu Loi Secondary school, Yen Thuy district, Hoa Binh province, it’s not easy to become such a fine young woman when she grows up from a family with a father who is always drunk.

But getting over all that, Tien believes in herself. “I want to become a Master of Ceremonies”, said Tien.

She knows an MC must be eloquent, remain calm and control the situation. An MC also has to learn a lot to have a broad knowledge and to know how to deal with difficult requirements from the audience.

But Tien is confident and not afraid to speak her mind. We believe she can.