This is a life that Thao Pao Venh has never imagined before. With three siblings and a mother who passed away early, his family faced considerable hardships. If teachers and soldiers from Defense-Economic Unit 356 had not visited his home, encouraged him, and provided all necessary books and clothes, Venh would have dropped out right after finishing his primary school. His father used to say to Venh “As long as you can read, that’s enough!”
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Representatives of Defense-Economic Unit 356 hand over uniforms to needy children on the occasion of the new academic year 2024-2025. |
Like Thao Pao Venh, Production Team 1 of Defense-Economic Unit 356 has adopted Ly Thi Van, a student at Class 5A1 of Vang Ma Chai Semi-boarding Primary School in Phong Tho district since 2020. Every month, Van receives 20kg of rice from the unit and is provided with books, clothes, and school supplies at the start of each new academic year. At the weekend, she visits the troops’ barracks to study.
Witnessing Van happily playing in her new dress from the soldiers, Senior Colonel Le Hoang Mai, Political Commissar of Defense-Economic Unit 356, held that standing side by side with ethnic minority groups in Phong Tho border area for over 16 years now, they understand their hardships. Therefore, in addition to supporting their economic development and poverty reduction, they are committed to ensuring that children have chance to go to school.
Defense-Economic Unit 356 works in the area of seven difficult border communes in Phong Tho district, whose infrastructure is inadequate and over 60% of the households live in poverty, so many children mau drop out from school. Over five years ago, while assisting local economic development, the troops witnessed many students climbing steep hills to reach school in the rain.
This image deeply concerned the leadership of the unit. Thus, the unit’s Party Committee and chain-of-command decided to provide rice for local needy students’ lunch, marking the implementation of “Accompanying border students” initiative.
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Representatives of Defense-Economic Unit 356 present gifts to needy children on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2024. |
At first, the unit’s troops raised fund to buy rice. Every afternoon, they delivered meals to students at various schools. In order to maintain the meaningful initiative, the unit decided to extract its fund and mobilize support from the Military Region 2 Command. Over the past five years, the program has assisted nearly 3,000 students at 29 schools in seven disadvantaged communes in Phong Tho district, enabling them to attend classes regularly and allowing parents to focus on economic development to escape poverty.
The noble deeds of the unit have not only helped local ethnic minority children to continue their study but also enhanced local ethnic minority groups’ trust in the Party and State, while promoting the image of Uncle Ho’s soldiers in the current context.
Translated by Minh Anh