Thoughts about why very poor children work hard at school ~ Guest blog by CEF staff Thuy

She helps her single mum with making small lanterns, but she is also an excellent student

For the very poor and disadvantaged children to get the same school results as children who are not from poor families, they have to make much more effort. Due to their low income, most poor parents can’t spend enough time and money on their children’s education.

Some of the parents have financial stress and it affects not only their emotions and behavior, but also their children. Lack of good study conditions (text books, reference books, tutoring and good health care) are a big disadvantage. Poor children also have less studying time than others because they have to help their families to do housework or even help their parents to earn more money in various ways, such as making straw mats, or working on the farm.

She helps her mum with straw mat making but it does affect her school results

Children with a disadvantaged situation generally have two approaches; the children study much harder and make lot of efforts in order that they can have a better future and some just give up due to it being too hard and go on to live a life like their parents do.

Most of students that CEF supports have ‘Good’ and ‘Fair’ school results as they understand how important education is and how it affects their future. Some students have excellent school results and are the best students at their school. They study so hard and spend most of their time trying their best to get those results. When I asked the exceptional students about their motivation, they answered that they want to make their parents feel happy and proud of them, and to have a good future to help their parents and themselves.

I think the reasons why some poor children study very hard at school is to overcome the difficulties in their life, to have a brighter future and for some it is simply to make their parents happy and proud of them. It’s also the reason why we always advice and encourage all our CEF students to keep working hard and making great effort with their schooling.

Funds raised for Tet Food Parcels for poor families CEF works with in Quang Nam

Tet', or Vietnamese New Year will be bountifully celebrated by some of our CEF families in Vietnam because of the generosity and support of LTC staff.

Raffle tickets were bought by the staff of a Sydney based company 'Language and Testing Consultants' who ran IELTS tests on December 5 and 12 at the University of Technology Sydney. They bought enough raffle tickets to enable us to present 22 Tet Food Parcels to some very poor families we work with in Vietnam.

Thank you to all of you at LTC who support our work in Vietnam, and especially to those of you who gave wonderful raffle prizes and to Graeme for organizing the raffle.

 

When they are poor they can't celebrate Tet ~ Guest Blog by CEF staff Thuy

Tet is the most important, popular and longest festival in Vietnam. This period begins one or two weeks before the actual celebration. It is traditional that before Tet every single household decorates their home, cooks traditional Tet food, organizes their end of year party, buys new clothes for their children, and prepares 'lucky money' for their children and their elders. 

People also try to pay off their debts and resolve all the arguments among colleagues, friends or family members. During Tet, people also have many small parties with families and friends. With all those required activities you can imagine how much people spend and need to spend before and during the Tet holiday.

Tet is also the time for everybody to go back to their hometown, gather with their family, visit relatives and friends, and have a relaxing time after a year of working hard. 

For very poor people will they feel the same about Tet? Will it be a meaningful time for them? Will they feel happy, excited and relaxed about Tet and during Tet? Or will they feel worry, stress and ashamed because they have too many things they are expected to spend money on but they can’t afford to do so?