ANGLOPHONES, Please scroll down ...
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| Do Thi My a 12 ans / Do Thy My at 12 |
La petite Do Thi My - dont le nom signifie "la tres douce" - avait besoin d'un vrai coup de main. Ainee d'une fratrie de trois, elle avait perdu son pere lorqu'elle avait 10 ans. Sa mere, veuve, faisait de son mieux pour subvenir aux besoins de ses 3 filles et de sa propre mere. Le seul emploi qu'elle avait pu trouver - vendeuse de babioles aux quelques touristes de passage - etait a la frontiere du Laos, dans les montagnes, a 3 heures de chez elle. Cent candidats a l'obtention d'une bourse d'etudes - parmi de nombreux jeunes tres defavorises - ont ete choisis par les "Oncles" Hieu va Thuong - les travailleurs sociaux les plus experimentes de la region de Hue. Do Thi My en faisait partie...
L'enseignement primaire est capital mais, pour EW, maintenir les enfants a l'ecole l'est egalement. C'est pourquoi, avec comme seule arme une ancienne photo d'ecole de Do Thi My a son entree en 6e, l'equipe avait a coeur de la retrouver apres 10 ans pour savoir ce qu'elle etait devenue. Son histoire confirme qu'il n'y a guere de meilleure politique a mener que de s'investir dans le soutien des enfants.
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| My et "Oncle" Nam - assistant social qui a retrouve sa trace / My and Uncle Nam - a social worker - who found My for the EW team |
La maman de My continue a travailler comme vendeuse a la frontiere du Laos avec des horaires inhumains. My, a 22 ans, est ainsi pratiquement chef de famille. Apres avoir obtenu le bac, elle a fini ses etudes a l'IUFM. Elle est maintenant institutrice. Son salaire de debutante est maigre - environ 800,000 dongs par mois ($40) - mais cela lui permet de subvenir aux besoins de sa grand-mere de 87 ans et de contribuer aux frais de scolarite de ses deux soeurs. (Hoa, 20 ans, est aussi etudiante a l'IUFM et Cam Ly, 18 ans, est en Terminale et veut se specialiser en anglais).
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| Pagode dans le village ou habite My / My's village - Temple roof-line |
Les 3 soeurs ont invite l'equipe EW chez elles, dans leur village de Trieu Son Nam. Nous y avons partage un repas de tofou et de legumes et des tranches de pasteque. Ce matin-la il y avait une coupure de courant... Aucune ventilation donc et la grand-mere en souffrait... La maison elle-meme est situee pres d'une riviere et est inondee tous les ans - l'eau peut arriver a mi-mollet. Les trois filles partagent une petite chambre - vide, a part les nattes sur lesquelles elles dorment et le "dan tranh" de My (un sitar vietnamien a 17 cordes). La grand-mere - qui perd la memoire - ne beneficie d'aucune retraite et necessite une attention quasi constante.
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| My (g) et ses 2 soeurs, Hoa et Cam Ly / My (on the left) and her 2 sisters, Hoa and Cam Ly |
Et malgre toutes ces difficultes, My et ses soeurs respirent la gaiete et l'optimisme. My nous montre sa page facebook avec les photos de ses ecoliers lors des festivites de Tet. Elle nous fait part de ses impressions ("les Occidentaux sont tres aimables", selon elle, "et ouverts"...), de ses joies - la musique, son travail et la visite mensuelle de son petit ami, Hoang, etudiant en informatique a l'Universite de Da Nang. Et de ses reves - dont beaucoup se sont deja realises. 10$ par mois peuvent changer une vie...
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| DUONG Phuc |
Depuis lors, Tam s'est debrouillee pour assurer le minimum en travaillant comme conditionneuse de batons d'encens. Elle les achete en gros et passe des heures, accroupie sous l'auvent, a les compter, les mettre en paquets pour la vente au detail - 2$ de profit net par jour.
Phuc's story is also one of difficult challenges and great promise. Her mother, Tam, was living with her husband and his extended family. Phuc's father ran off, leaving Tam and all three daughters with no means of support when Phuc was still small. Tam's own father provided the family with modest living quarters but Tam's former brothers-in-law were mean-spirited enough to come back and makd off with all the furniture...
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| Phuc (g) avec ses soeurs et sa mere a la maison / Phuc (left) with her 2 sisters and her mother - at home |
Quand elle parle de sa mere, Phuc rayonne d'admiration. "Elle est un modele pour nous toutes. Elle est aimante et nous donne a la fois une ligne de conduite tout en nous laissant notre liberte". Les regles de Tam sont toujours respectees par Phuc, 25 ans, et ses soeurs, agees de 21 et 23 ans. Toutes les 3 doivent dire ou elles vont, laisser un numero de telephone et etre de retour avant 21h. Elles doivent toujours etre respectueuses envers les aines.
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| La cuisine de la famille de Phuc / The kitchen at Phuc's family home |
Phuc travaille dur et a reussi tous ses examens d'anglais. (Elle passait des heures a lire des livres a haute voix pour ameliorer son accent). Sa soeur, "Ty" - qui a commence le piano il y a 2 ans et joue avec beaucoup de talent - est prof de chimie. Elle espere reprendre ses etudes superieures pour pouvoir faire de la recherche. "Na", tout juste 21 ans, est toujours en fac ou elle etudie le Japonais, mais elle donne des cours particuliers pour gagner un peu d'argent.
"Je crois que nous avons toutes le sens du travail", nous dit Phuc. Lors de la visite de l'equipe EW, Tam preparait ses paquets d'encens a la vitesse de l'eclair. Phuc preparait ses cours d'anglais - 23 heures par semaine. Elle travaillait sur des questions de comprehension pour accompagner une bande audio qui traitait d'un PDG lors d'une conference a Chicago... Phuc, par ailleurs, sert de traductrice/interprete. Quant a Ty, elle donnait un cours particulier a un jeune garcon apres sa propre journee de travail, tandis que Na etait plongee dans ses devoirs de japonais, tout en fredonnant des airs de musique pop americaine qu'elle ecoutait a la radio. Toutes les trois, encore a la maison, se levent tot pour aider Tam dans son travail.
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| Na fait ses devoirs / Na studying on the porch |
Phuc, tout comme Do Thi My, a connu un chemin difficile. Elle peut etre fiere d'avoir tant accompli malgre des circonstances defavorables (et meme si elle a beneficie d'un certain soutien). Et, tout comme Do Thi My, elle a un petit ami adorable, etudiant en informatique. Leur reve ? Ouvrir une maison pour enfants abandonnes.
EW souhaite a ces remarquables jeunes femmes - ainsi qu'a Tho, Nghia, Nham et les autres boursiers - un tres bel avenir.
Cliquez sur la video / Click on the video
(NB - Pensez a regarder plus loin pour d'autres photos !)
English-Language version :
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| 3 des 100+ boursiers actuels - Tho, Nghia et Nham - avec "Oncle" Dinh / Current scholarship Beneficiaries - Tho, Nghia and Nhan - with "Uncle" Dinh |
Do thi My - whose name means "the very gentle one" - was a little girl who desperately needed a helping hand. The oldest of 3 daughters, she lost her father when she was only 10. Her widowed mother was trying to care for her girls, as well as her own mother, with the only job she could find - selling trinkets to the odd tourist at the Vietnamese border crossing into Laos, up in the mountains, 3 hours away from home. The Hieu va Thuong "Uncles" - the most experienced social workers in charge of screening - singled Do Thi My out as one of the hundred + recipients for an ongoing scholarship : some 10$ a month to help with basic food needs and school fees.
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| My aujourd'hui / Do Thi My today |
Primary education is a must, but keeping kids in school is also of vital importance to EW. So, armed with nothing more than an old school photo of Do Thi My upon her entry into 6th grade, the EW team was very eager to track her down. Ten years down the line, hers is a story confirming that there is no better human "investment" than caring for kids.
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| La soeur cadette de My - Cam Ly My's younger sister - Cam Ly (age 18) |
Do Thi My's mother is still spending super-human hours working as a vendor, so My herself, at 22, has become the virtual head-of-household. After having completed secondary school and a recent degree in education, she is now an elementary-school teacher. Her starting salary is meager - about 800,000 dongs ($40) - but this allows her to continue supporting her 87-year-old grandma and helps put her two younger sisters through school. (Hoa, at 20, is also studying at the College of Education and Cam Ly, a 12th-grader, hopes to major in English).
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| La chambre des 3 soeurs / The 3 girls' bedroom |
The girls invited the EW team to their village of Trieu Son Nam, 10 kilometers outside Hue, for a simple meal of tofu and vegetables, followed by slices of watermelon. The power was out that morning... The house itself, near the river, is flooded every year up to mid-calf. The 3 girls share a small room where there is no other furniture than bedrolls stacked up in the corner and than My's "dan tranh" (a 17-string Vietnamese sitar). The grandma, who has lost her memory and who has no retirement income, needs ongoing care.
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| La soeur de My, Hoa ("Fleur") / My's sister, Hoa (which means "Flower") |
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| Le repas de midi prepare par Hoa / The lunch prepared by Hoa for EW |
Yet, despite all these challenges, My and her sisters are full of optimism. My shared her facebook page with pictures of her school children performing for Tet New Year festivities. And she shared her impressions (Westerners are "friendly and open-minded"...) and her joys - music, her work and the once-a-month visit from her boyfriend, Hoang, who is a computer-programming major from Da Nang. And shared her dreams - many of which have already come true - for only 10$ a month...
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| Le lit de la grand-mere (avec moustiquaire) - dans le salon / Grandma's bed in the livingroom, with mosquito netting |
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| Grand-mere de My / My's grandma |
Phuc's story is also one of difficult challenges and great promise. Her mother, Tam, was living with her husband and his extended family. Phuc's father ran off, leaving Tam and all three daughters with no means of support when Phuc was still small. Tam's own father provided the family with modest living quarters but Tam's former brothers-in-law were mean-spirited enough to come back and makd off with all the furniture...
Ever since, Tam has eeked out a living packaging incense. She buys in bulk and spends hours squatting on the porch counting the sticks into bundles and then wrapping these up for resale - all of $2 net profits per day.
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| DUONG Phuc |
Phuc glows with pride when discussing her mother. "She is an inspiration to us. She is loving and gives guidance but also freedom". Tam's rules are still observed by Phuc and her sisters - ages 21 to 25. All must say where they're going and leave a phone number, be back by 9 pm. and always show proper deference to elders.
Phuc glows with pride when discussing her mother. "She is an inspiration to us. She is loving and gives guidance but also freedom". Tam's rules are still observed by Phuc and her sisters - ages 21 to 25. All must say where they're going and leave a phone number, be back by 9 pm. and always show proper deference to elders.
Phuc worked hard, passed all her exams in English. (She used to read books aloud to herself so as to improve her accent and intonation). Her sister, "Ty" - who just picked up the piano 2 years ago and who plays with talent and nuance - is a teacher of chemistry. She hopes to go on to graduate school and thus move on to a research position. "Na", at just 21, is still in school. She is a Japanese major but also gives language tutorials on the side.
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| La soeur de Phuc, dite "Ty", prof de chimie sur le point de partir au travail / Phuc's sister - "Ty", Teacher of Chemistry on her way to work |
"I think we all like to work", indicated Phuc. When the EW team visited, Tam was preparing her incense bundles with lightning speed. Phuc was preparing comprehension questions about an audio tape of a CEO at a business conference in Chicago for her classes in English - 23 hours per week. She also sides as a translator/interpreter. Ty was tutoring a young boy after her workday ; Na was poring over her Japanese homework while humming along to some US. pop music on the radio. All 3 girls, still at home, are up early to help Tam with her packaging.
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| La mere de Phuc, "Tam", qui conditionne des batons d'encens pour 2$ par jour / Phuc's mother, "Tam", a piece-worker who makes bundles of incense for 2$ a day |
Phuc, like Do Thi My, has had a difficult path to success, but she can be rightfully proud to have accomplished so much despite less-than-favorable circumstances and with only a small hand up. And like My, she has a very sweet boyfriend specializing in computer engineering. Their dream ? To open up a home for abandoned children.
EW wishes all these strong young women - as well as the current crop of scholarship beneficiaries like Tho, Nghia and Nhan - all the very best for the future.
