Son La is a picturesque, wooded and mountainous region in the Northwest of Vietnam, bordering Laos on its South side. The population is composed of ethnic Thai, Xinh Mun, Muong, Hmong, and Kinh people, whose lives harmonize with and depend on the natural resources of the land. Many families are poor: they mostly subsist from maize crops, but lack many basic amenities such as irrigation for their farms, electricity, clean water, roads, medical facilities, and schools.

Tu Nang commune has 24 villages with 2,026 households (8,721 people). The old Ban Tin Toc school had no classroom; instead it borrowed a space from a community building, and was all that the area’s children (around 77 3-5 year olds) had for many years. While there had been many requests to build a separate kindergarten submitted to local education committees, no budget ever materialized. A fervent wish of parents and community leaders was to have a safe, hygienic school for their children.

Groundbreaking for the new school occurred on August 15th, 2020. The construction was completed for 3 classrooms and a teacher room. The school has a capacity of 75 to 100 students. It was inaugurated and handed over to the teachers and community leaders in November. They, along with the parents and schoolchildren, were elated, for now they had a beautiful, new, safe and hygienic kindergarten, close to where they were living.

Our sincere thanks go to Ms. Mai Dolch in California, who provided the fund for construction, and Gieo Tin Yeu Charity Group in Hanoi, who supplied the new furniture for the school.