Picture Perfect

Photo by Le Thiem Xuan - Communications Officer

Huong has never talked to her, but she is certain she is nice. “She must be a good person”, the 12-year-old says, “because she cares about others, especially children. She cares about me.”

Huong’s warm words are for her sponsor whose kindness has helped World Vision bring happiness and support to the girl, her family and her community perched in the mountains of Quan Hoa district in Vietnam’s northern Thanh Hoa province.

Stuck to the walls of her home are several pictures Huong has drawn depicting the world around her. Children playing together and pupils happy to be at school look down from on high as the girl sketches another snapshot of life.

“My sponsor has been really important in making my drawings come true,” she says.

Huong lives with her parents and younger brother in their village home and has belonged to World Vision’s Sponsor a Child programme for underprivileged youngsters since she was three. Since, she has joined forums to learn the rights all children should enjoy, entered painting competitions and expressed her emotions through letters to her as yet unmet sponsor.

“Every child should have the right to play, learn and join in with social activities,” Huong remembers from the forum. “It’s great to share my stories and those of my friends and family with my sponsor too,” she adds.

The knowledge Huong learns through such World Vision programmes helps her study and her rapid progress at school has allowed her to win a place at a boarding school for gifted ethnic minority students in her district.

“I have to study hard because I want to be a teacher. It’s my parents’ dream and my dream too,” the soon-to-be teen reveals.

Huong and her family in front of their house.

Although modest, Huong’s family circumstances have improved greatly since World Vision first came to Quan Hoa some 10 years ago.

Her mother, Mrs Ngoi, says: “World Vision gave us some new varieties of seeds and a sow and taught us the best ways to grow the crops and look after pigs.”

“We don’t go hungry between harvests anymore because we can grow high-yield rice and maize and we have some pigs and cows as well,” she continues. “My husband and I have more time for our children now.”

After saving for years, Huong’s parents were able to build a new house with a toilet and bathroom in 2013. These essential facilities were possible after World Vision helped their village to construct a shared tank to provide clean water.

Huong recalls: “Before, we had to get water for drinking and cooking from a small stream. It was hard work fetching it, so we only used a little at a time. We had to go to the stream if we wanted a bath too.”

“Our old toilet was just a hole in the ground with some bamboo to sit on,” she reminisces with a shudder. “It was disgusting and scary because the hole was always full of maggots and worms. And it stank!”
 
Others in her village have also seen positive change in their lives. Huong’s father, Mr Nhuoc, says, “Lots of people now have enough rice to eat and more cash from selling livestock thanks to World Vision’s training, seeds and breeding animals.”

He adds, “We can look after our children properly now and give them the chance to do well at school.”