An-Duyen Scholarship

Introduction

An-Duyen is a tiny village on the outskirt of Nam-Dinh City, Vietnam. This was where Mr. Jimmy Nhat Nguyen was born and where his ancestors had settled for several generations before. To honor this root and celebrate the family history, the Foundation has established the An-Duyen Scholarship to help children of the poorest families of this still poor and under-developed village. On a co-sponsored charity trip to Vietnam in July 2017, the Foundation identified two families with hardship and offered financial assistance for their children to attend schools.

The Phams Family (since 2017)

The two children that the Foundation is helping are Duong Pham, 15 years old, and Chau Pham, 12 years old (in 2017). Duong is a nine grader at Ly Thuong Kiet Middle School and his sister, Chau, just started the 6th grade at the same school in the Fall of 2017. Their father died of a heart attack more than 6 years ago, leaving behind an elderly mother, wife, and two young kids. The mother works at a clothes factory and the wife works as helper at various local restaurants. They live in a community housing apartment where the rent is subsidized by the government. Even without the pressure of monthly rent, their combined income barely sustains the family of four and pays for the kids’ school fees. Recognizing their dire circumstances, Duong and Chau work hard in school and never ask for toys or treats that kids their age take for granted. They have been repeatedly honored and recognized as best students in their classes. The Foundation’s assistance will ease the financial pressure on the mother and grand mother, provide some school supplies, and pay for some after-school tutoring that will increase their chance to gain entry to a good university in the future. 

The Nguyens Family #1 (since 2017)

Ms. Thu Nguyen is a single parent of 3 young children, Thien Nguyen, 12 years old, Nhai Nguyen, 10 years old, and Loc Nguyen, 3 years old (in 2017). Her husband died 2 years ago, when baby Loc was less than 12 months old. Since then, she’s been struggling to sustain the family and pay school fees for Thien and Nhai. The primary income comes from farming rice when in season, which she stores and sells it when she needs money. To supplement the income, she grows vegetables and a few fruit trees as well as raising chicken and dogs (it’s heart-breaking to see this demand for dogs in Vietnam). When someone can babysit baby Loc, she does odd, hard-labor jobs such as building masonry wall, hauling construction materials, fixing roof, etc. Her strength and endurance are truly remarkable. Despite her best efforts, the children appeared smaller in size than their peers. It goes without saying that Thien and Nhai do not enjoy all school supplies, parental attention, and tutoring that their friends take for granted. Despite the handicapped environment, they do better than average in school and seem happy and resourceful. They help out with various chores around the house, and occasionally bring in extra protein from fishes that they catch themselves. It is uncertain how long Ms. Thu can sustain the family this way and what she would do, if one year, harsh weather ruins the rice harvest. For now, the Foundation’s assistance helps pay for the school fees in hope of keeping the children in school as long as possible, as this may be their only hope and path out of poverty. 

Background on the Vietnam’s School System

Vietnam’s literacy rate is over 97%, thanks to the largely state-run system of public schools. Admission to primary school and secondary school (1st to 9th grades) are free; high school (10th to 12th grades) is also free but requires passing of the Intermediate Graduation Examination. Even though the public schools do not impose tuition, there’s a cost for attendance, which varies from month to month and school to school. At the schools where the Nguyens and Phams children attend, the monthly cost is about VND500,000 per month (roughly $25/student/month), which may include mandatory extracurricular tutoring, supplemental text books, reading materials, school supplies, activities, etc. This cost is above and beyond the typical annual cost of core text books, uniforms, and school supplies that the parents pay at the start of school year. Teachers receive a fixed salary from the government; so unfortunately, most schools/teachers devise creative schemes to collect additional fees from the students. For example, a teacher may announce that his class falls behind schedule on a certain subject, and as such all students are required to stay late one hour every day for a week to catch up. The students of course must pay the teacher for the extra class hours.

To set things in perspective, VND500,000 is how much Ms. Thu earns from selling a 100 kg bag of rice. The rice stock seen here is ‘her saving’; she sells a few bags at a time when she needs the money. 

The Nguyens Family #2 (supported from 2022 to 2023)

In a phone conversation with Ms. Thu (Nguyens Family #1) earlier this year, she mentioned the passing of her brother-in-law in January 2022, leaving behind a devastated wife and a young son. A Foundation's representative reached out to the widow to learn about the family situation. The widow is Ms. Nguyen thi Thu-Huong, who works full-time for Triton, making leather clothes for fencing. She typically works a 12-hour shift, from Monday to Saturday, and makes a little over $200/month. On Sundays, she also works on the rice fields during farming season to bring in extra money to cover school and other expenses. The son, Nguyen Nhu Thuong, age 12 (in 2022), is in the 7th grade in the 2022-2023 school year. Ms. Thu-Huong also has an older daughter who is 20 years old and already married and moved out.