Teacher sacrifices family happiness for ethnic students in border commune

A Thai ethnicity teacher devoted his youth to his students in a remote mountainous commune in Dien Bien Province.

Luong Van Dung spends more than 20 years teaching in a remote commune of Dien Bien Province. — Photo giaoducthoidai.vn

Luong Van Dung, 40, decided to work as a teacher in a school 300km away from his home in Dien Bien Phu City.

He had to walk 70km to reach the school for the first time.

In 2004, after getting a diploma from Dien Bien Pedagogical College, Dung was thrilled to apply to work in the remote border district of Muong Nhe to work.

“At that time, I did not know what Muong Nhe was like,” he told giaoducthoidai.vn.

“I only knew that it was a district that had just been established,” Dung recalled.

“I heard that the district was still in a very difficult situation and no one wanted to go there,” he said.

“But I did the opposite," he said.

After getting hired as a teacher at Sin Thau Primary and Secondary School in Sin Thau Commune, Dung said goodbye to his parents and brothers and set off.

“At that time, because it was newly established, there was no bus to the district centre. So I had to pay VND600,000 (US$26) for a xê ôm (motorbike taxi) to go about 70km further into the border area,” he said.

“But there was no road for the final 70km, so I just followed the trail and walked. It took three days to reach the centre of Sin Thau Commune,” he said.

“Thinking back to the old days, I was still afraid,” the teacher said.

Living and working in the poor communes was very tough.

“The day I said goodbye to my parents, they gave me VND1.5 million. The motorbike taxi ride cost VND600,000. I still had VND900,000 in my pocket to feed myself for a month until getting paid,” he said.

With his modest salary, he had to live very frugally and sometimes had to wait for the next payday to buy more food.

“When I was short of food, I had to borrow rice from the local people, buy food on credit, ask for vegetables for free from the farmers,” he said.

This meant he rarely went home to visit his family.

“I could only go home once a year on Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. Although in the summer school was off I had to stay at school to tutor my students,” the teacher said.

Wife’s sympathy

When he was a student, he fell in love with Nguyen Thi Dung who was from northern Thai Nguyen Province. They married after he worked as a teacher for a year.

His wife stayed in his home in Dien Bien Phu City while Dung worked 300km from home.

This was a great challenge for the young couple.

They didn't save money for nice meals out but for bus tickets for whenever he came back to visit his wife and children when they were sick.

"Whenever I went back to the city, it took me three days to walk from Ta Kho Khu Village of Sin Thau Commune to Muong Toong Commune.

"From Muong Toong Commune, I had to rent a motorbike taxi, it cost VND600,000 to go another 70km to the place where I could get a coach home," he said.

In total, the arduous journey takes six days.

So, every year, he just spends a few days with his wife and children.

In 2007, his wife gave birth to a healthy and beautiful girl named Luong Thi Diem Le but Dung was still far away.

When he heard that his wife had been admitted to the hospital to give birth, he could not go to her and just had to wait for the news.

But thinking of his young wife in pain, he asked for a break from school for a few days and then hurried back.

At home, his daughter was born a few days before he made it back.

“I also felt guilty because at that important moment when my wife suffered alone I was not there to hold her hands,” Dung said.

“And I also felt regretful to not be able to welcome my child from the birth room. That moment was very sacred," said Dung.

Their second daughter was also born without her father’s presence.

Over the years, every time the mother or children were sick, they didn't have Dung to lean on, while his meagre salary meant the family struggled to get by.

First bricks

In 2004, when Dung started to work, the Sin Thau Primary and Secondary School had only three classes of 6th, 7th and 8th grade.

“At that time, the highest grade was only 8th. And families who could afford to send their children out to stay with acquaintances to study higher classes outside the commune or to Muong Te District of neighbouring Lai Chau Province,” he recalled.

The majority of local people were illiterate.

The population in Sin Thau Commune are Ha Nhi ethnic minorities while Dung is from the Thai ethnic minority so the language barrier made his job more difficult.

“Language differences were also a big problem. Therefore, I learned the language through my colleagues to understand the language, customs and habits of the local people,” he said

“That's how I encourage people to send their children to class," said Dung.

As the years went by, he fell in love with the land and the people of Sin Thau.

There were many opportunities to move work to a location closer to home but he could not bear to leave, despite the difficulties and hardships he and his wife have experienced during the past 20 years.

What makes him happy is still keeping a warm family and two children who are obedient and study well.

He is more than happy that from a land where no students passed the 9th grade, now, every year hundreds of Ha Nhi ethnic students go up to higher grades, and dozens of them have entered universities and colleges across the country.

“Every day, just thinking about the bright faces when the students come to class makes my heart feel infinitely happy,” Dung said.

“Thinking about this, the merits of placing the 'first bricks' of generations of teachers in this remote place are worth it,” he added.

VNS