A trip to Cao Bang

I took this picture during a volunteer work in Cao Bang. The kids are about 3-5 years old, walking in a group of 3 and on their daily to school.

As I was waiting for our pickup trucks, I saw 3 groups like them walking over, and no group has an adult. Yes, No adult walking 8-10km on a rocky mountain road with chasms on the side to school every day.

And their school, there is no electricity to power light or fan. The water they used for drinking and cooking is pulled straight from a nearby river or waterfall; there is no filter.

Each class has around 7-9 students; each of them is at different ages. There is a 12 years old kid that still in second grade. Some of them start primary school at 8, some started then skip several years. Even in grade 5, some of them didn’t even know the alphabet. Some are not even able to understand Vietnamese; they only know their minority language.

One of the hardnesses of teachers here is to encourage parents to let their children go to school. They have to go to each family to talk and convince them. The main reason they do is to get subsidized from school and have someone to watch their kids while they are working on the farm.

…

The more I think about these kids, the more I realized how lucky I am. Lucky not in just living conditions, but also in terms of opportunity. I wonder if these kids even know the concept of having a dream in life?

And A question for myself: with this much of luckiness, Am I, living up to it?