From hunger to hope

“The wind blew in every night and when it rained, I was sometimes too scared to sleep,” says Thuy of her former makeshift home with bamboo walls and a thatched palm roof. The girl’s grandparents had bought the aging structure for her destitute parents, who didn’t want to leave their homeland.

Settling into married life, the landless couple – 36-year-old Vinh and 34-year-old Lien – had to share Thuy’s grandparents’ 700-square-metre rice field. But the small plot could never produce enough food, forcing the newlyweds to resort to lowly paid jobs.

“We used to be hungry for three months a year between harvests,” recalls Vinh. “To afford enough rice, my wife and I had to do short-term jobs, like working as farmhands for others or day-labourers clearing grass on acacia-tree plantations.”

Born to the poverty-stricken family in the mountainous district of Tran Yen in Vietnam’s north-west, 12-year-old Thuy has a younger sister, who is seven and in grade one. “I want to carry on studying to be a teacher in my community,” says the sixth grader.

Such ambition was unthinkable for her parents as both were forced to drop out of school when their families could no longer afford their education.

World Vision began working with Thuy’s community when she was six years old and in grade one.  Starting from zero, her parents’ lives changed when they joined World Vision’s local livelihood group.

Since, the organisation has trained the couple in animal husbandry and given them chickens to boost their income. The chickens’ offspring are shared within the group, with the household earning around six million dong (280 US dollars) by selling two broods a year.

The income from one brood is enough for a year’s worth of school fees, notebooks and clothing for the two children, while Lien can sell eggs for extra money to spend on food or household items at the district market.

Using earnings from their chickens, Thuy’s parents have invested in ducks and fish, doubling the once empty-handed farmers’ income to secure their children’s education.

Thuy’s mother has also joined the village’s nutrition club, which allows mothers and other caregivers to learn about nutrition and child care through monthly meetings and home visits. Indeed, Lien’s house is a venue to share experiences of farming, including animal husbandry for better nutrition and income, and cooking nutritious meals with homegrown produce.

The mother says: “My nutrition club also has a savings pool of two million dong [93 US dollars]. Each member deposits 10,000 dong [50 US cents] into the fund every month and the members can then borrow money from it to try to make a living.”

Thuy adds: “My parents hope my sister and I won’t have difficult lives like they did and that we’ll finish our education and become useful citizens.

“If World Vision hadn’t supported them though, they’d still be working on other people’s land and my sister and I wouldn’t be in school today. But thanks to their help, I believe my dreams will soon come true.”

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Thuy rides her bicycle to school. It takes her about 20 minutes riding from home to her new secondary school.

Thuy and her peers of Children’s Club discuss and select their favourite behaviours for keeping sanitation and hygiene. World Vision supports extra-curricular activities on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for schoolchildren. Teachers receive training on WASH then become WASH trainers for their students through weekly extra-curricular activities at school. In return, the students, as change agents, apply learning and raise awareness on WASH for their families and communities.

 Thuy helps her mother to feed their ducks.

Thuy helps her mother to prepare fish for lunch. Fish and vegetables are their favourite dishes.

Thuy has lunch with her parents. Today they have plain rice, the main food, with fried fish, boiled cabbage and some vegetables soup. All are home-grown products.

Thuy’s parents host a nutrition training right at their house. Her mother is a member of the nutrition club at their village. Mothers and caregivers go there, through monthly meetings and home visits, to learn and share knowledge of nutrition and child care. Her house now becomes a practical venue where the nutrition club’s members share experiences of farming, cooking nutritious meals for their children with home-grown products and animal husbandry for better nutrition and income.

 Thuy and her younger sister are at their learning corner at home.