Last week, we reported on the wrap-up of our second cycle of vocational training. As we await the final results of the students’ job placements, we took time to review how the program is going and how we can improve it.
During these discussions, our volunteer project coordinators shared a story about one very special student named Truong Van Ni.
We’d like to share his inspiring story with you today too.
Ni’s Extraordinary Story
When the first cycle of VNHELP’s vocational program commenced, the 30 participants were all nervous and eager to start their training. During hands-on exercises, they engaged wholeheartedly in their work. During class lectures, they transcribed the instructors’ words furiously onto their notepads.
But the instructors noticed that at least one student, Truong Van Ni, never looked down from the blackboard during class lectures. His hand rested idle while his classmates scribbled away. Yet it wasn’t as if Ni was disengaged; in fact, he really enjoyed the lessons and soaked them up with satisfaction. When the teachers asked him about it, Ni acknowledged that he was completely illiterate. He couldn’t read, so he couldn’t take notes.
The school’s faculty convened and Miss Muc, an instructor there, decided to personally take up the responsibility of giving Ni extra tutoring sessions so he could learn to read. During their sessions together, Ni opened up about his family life and revealed just how much taking part in the program meant to him.
Ni grew up on a boat with his parents and two siblings. The family worked odd jobs for anyone who would pay them. During harvest seasons, they’d work on pulling rice. At other times in the year, they’d work as hired hands on a shrimp farm.
Because their boat was small, there’d never be much room to sleep. Ni’s father would often dock the boat at a deserted area where they wouldn’t be disturbing anyone. His parents and younger sister would sleep by the boat, while Ni and his brother would pitch a tent somewhere on shore.
The family’s modest living situation was made more difficult when Ni’s father passed away. A stray dog had bitten him, leaving a mortal would. The family didn’t even have money to bury him. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan Ni once worked for allowed Ni’s family to lay his father to rest in their family burial ground.
After his father’s death, Ni’s family stopped living on their boat. They rented a small hut by the beach to find jobs that would help them get by day-to-day. They eventually settled in Vinh Thong ward in an isolated area. From where they lived, one would have to board a little ferry to get to the main business centers.
On days where Ni came home from work late, there’d be no more ferry in operation. Ni would have to take his bicycle, which he used to get around in the city, and hide it by the stream so no one could take it. Then Ni would undress, and with one hand Ni would hold on to his clothes, while with the other he’d swim back home.
Ni and his two siblings never got a chance at a proper education, so none of them were literate. They’d all work whatever jobs they could find at low wages. Even while taking part in VNHELP’s training program, Ni would work on Sundays, days where everyone else rested, as an attendant at a building parking lot for an auntie he used to know in Kien Giang. He’d save up some of the money and send some back to his loved ones.
These days, Ni’s older brother has gotten married and moved away. His mother and sister stayed in Vinh Thong and now sell snails and coffee to local fishermen. After graduating from the program, Ni found a job as a mechanic at Salon Hoa Le Moto in Kien Giang, where he earned the trust and high regard of the shop’s owner. He’s on the path to financial stability and even has his own motorbike to get to work. Thanks to Miss Muc’s efforts, he can read and write just fine.