AnhThu Le
Vietnam
About me
I am a 20 – year – old girl. My country is Vietnam. During my first 19 years, I did not care about my country even just a little. In my mind in those 19 years, Vietnam developed really fast, there were no need for me to try so hard to do something for this country as I thought there must be some others doing so, until the day I left my shelter and saw the real world. It was when I had to live far from my parent to experience the college student life. Most students in my university are required to join some particular students clubs, organizations or social projects. Because of being so used to being taken care of and pampered by my parent, I did not really want to join any of them. I chose what I thought it would be most idle work and it was this project – hope for children. I thought so because I underestimated the workload when working with children, I thought simply just teaching and creating some games for them. But I forgot one thing – those kids are under-privilege and street children. Taking care of normal kids is such a hard thing, taking care of these special kids is much harder. Of course it caused a lot of problems to a girl like me: travel to long to meet them, persuade them to learn (something I used to though as nature), encourage them to join our events for them (something I used to not be able to understand why they hesitated when it brought benefits and gift to them, which then I understood is due to their daily jobs to earn their living),… It is quite lucky for me when I am still a sensitive person. Experiencing part of those kids life, I feel myself so lucky, understand the real situation of Vietnam, realize how much this country need passionate, willing and energetic youth and determine that I have to work seriously with promises to commit and with target to achieve, not just to maintain my old and sole, protected life but to help and protect children who cannot have happiness and luck like me. I am now quite clear about my future path. Even though my major is economics (and in Vietnam it is very difficult for you to change from one major in university to another), it does not bother my passion for social job, in comparison, it supports me really much. Knowledge from my major helps me run this projects, find the financial resource for the projects, manage the flow of many things in projects,… Furthermore, I understand clearly I have to know that I need to be able to take care of myself before being able to say about taking care of any other ones. I need to study the best of mine in the university to get the chance to grab all of the best opportunities to work. Once I can build up quite a bigger network than now. Things of under-privilege and street, exploited children will attract more concerns. My friends in the projects and I will be able to fulfill my intention with this new generation of Vietnam.
What gets me out of bed?
Have you ever enjoyed kind of “princess” life? I was living kind of that life during my childhood with my parent. Do you know how a princess life is? It means you are completely protected, your days are supported by all people besides you, even housework is not even a small part of your business and you can get whatever you want without trying too much. If I did not leave my comfort zone of my parent, I even would not have known that how happy my life was compared with so many other children out there. It was a coincidence when I heard about the project I was working in - “Hope for children” project. At first I just wanted to be there to learn more about project management knowledge so that I could support my future career path but then it was the passion and belief of people in our project that drove me out of my small and selfish world. Joining project was the first time I had an insight into life of under-privilege children. It was the first time I had to take care of other people. It was the first time I needed to understand others people before deciding to do anything for them. It was the first time I knew that how much some people had to try to achieve something they want. And above all, I knew everyone lived with a dream. Those under-privilege kids that we take care of, despite no chance to live with parents, lack of chances to learn at school due to their work in the street to earn for living and numerous chances of being exploited by bad people…, they keep dreaming about one day of being a doctor to not let their grandparent suffer their diseases anymore, being a good teacher like us who try to help them for no reasons, being someone who will not let anyone they love have to suffer the days of wandering around the city just to earn one meal,… My friends in the projects, they are the one who show me the dream and commitment. They teach me that without those two things, I cannot achieve what I really want. They work really hard for what they dream, they commit to what they promise to deliver and above all, they develop by helping others to develop. I am now quite different. I can take care of children who are struggling with their private problems (those kids are quite harder to look after and understand than normal kids) without complaint. I have a clear target in my life to try my best to achieve it.
Supported projects
done
