Late afternoon;waiting for mum to return from the rice fields
As in most places, young children in the village of Phuc Le, northern Vietnam, enjoy the early part of their lives, while being blissfully unaware of the worries, anxiety and hard work endured by their parents to ensure family survival.
The delightful young girls pictured were encountered by the writer on a late afternoon stroll through the village. Through an interpreter they recounted how their mothers spent many hours working on the family rice plot; toiling for days on end to grow sufficient rice to feed the family for the coming year.
One spoke of her mum, who being very sick with a heart condition, continued to work each day. When questioned about grandparents, another told me how her nanna was bent almost double, a condition brought about by years of laboring in the rice fields; and a sight the tourist will often observe on the streets of cities and towns across the country.
It is stories like these that have inspired Linda and her supporters to try their utmost to “make a difference” for some of these kids. Education is the key. All too often, when a family has insufficient resources to educate all of their children, it is the girls who miss out in favor of their brothers. This inevitably sentences the girls to a life of toil in the rice fields.
By assisting families in that situation CEF is able to give those girls a chance of a better life. An education opens up options for the future and the manner in which a young person might choose to live, love, work and support their family. Your support is vital. And it is important to remember: by assisting one child to a well rounded education you will also be benefiting the lives of not only her current family, but all who may become part of her life in the future.
Let us hope we can keep the smiles on the faces of beautiful kids like these.
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