Dear Truong Sa. Part 2: "Young shoots" on the island

Children's laughter

“This sea is mine, this island is mine, Truong Sa/ No matter the storm, no matter the hardship/ We will overcome...” Following the song, I went to see the children singing enthusiastically at Song Tu Tay Primary School. Looking at their clear eyes, their lovely chubby hands clapping to the music, I felt like I was returning to the pure world of childhood.

After school, the children rush out of class, freely riding bicycles, playing soccer, running, jumping, playing... Children's laughter resounds across the island.

Phan Tran Man Nhi and Phan Gia Phat live with their parents on Song Tu Tay island and are both studying at primary school. Both children knew the names of visitors after meeting them for the first time and were as close as family. Nhi took us around the island, chattering about trees, fruits, toys, schools, etc. Ms. Tran Thi Lien, Man Nhi's mother, said that the children on the island are all very healthy and rarely get sick. Being able to run and play freely, the children are confident in getting to know and making friends with everyone. They know the names of many officers and soldiers on the island and happily greet everyone. Man Nhi is in first grade and her dream is to become a doctor to treat her mother. In the second semester, Man Nhi can read quickly, write beautifully, and especially knows many songs about Truong Sa.

Man Nhi's friends and neighbors are dozens of children who came from different hometowns with their parents but are now in the same class and school.

In Sinh Ton, all children are considered to be the children of the same family. They freely go to each other's houses to play with toys, eat snacks, share books and pens... No child is seen "hugging" a phone.

Tri Nguyen, 8 years old, is studying in grade 4 at Sinh Ton Primary School. He is good at English and computer science, but especially loves drawing. When guests come to his house, Tri Nguyen quickly brings them a picture he just drew of navy soldiers holding guns to guard the sea and sky of the Fatherland. When asked if Tri Nguyen and many other children want to go back to the mainland, they all shake their heads and say they want to stay on the island with their parents.

Pure joy

“If you have money, you can take your children abroad to travel to Sa Pa, Da Lat, but it is not easy to take them to Truong Sa,” said Mai Thi Ut Lan, a resident of Sinh Ton Island. Lan, who used to be a foreign language teacher at a school in Khanh Hoa, followed her husband to Sinh Ton to live. She wanted her children to have special experiences in life, wanted them to have a clean environment to develop. And her son has indeed had a different happiness from the children on the mainland. He can breathe the fresh air of the ocean every day, study in a full-fledged school, is not addicted to the phone, does not have to take extra classes day after day...

Teacher Bui Tien Anh, 26 years old, loves the disadvantaged children compared to their peers on the mainland, so he devotes himself to teaching and educating the children on Song Tu Tay Island. He teaches both preschool and primary school. Hoping that the students will be active and confident in communication, he teaches the children to greet each person, sing happily, read books, and freely express their talents... Not letting down the teacher, all the children on the island are polite, know how to greet and say hello to adults properly; know how to give in, and play together every day.

On the island, there are “new shoots” sprouting. Ms. Bui Thi Kim Ngoc on Sinh Ton Island is 3 months pregnant with her second child. Her husband, Mr. Le Thanh Tuan, hopes that his wife will be healthy every day so that he can welcome the baby as a special mark for them on the island. They are taking care of each other and looking forward to a new beginning.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phung, photographer and member of the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association, has taken countless beautiful photos in the Truong Sa archipelago, but he really likes the photos of children studying and playing. Those are the images that leave the most emotions in him. "The children of the time before 4.0, playing freely and innocently on the island, give me a way to express the saying "love for the Fatherland" in the simplest, most familiar and easy-to-understand way", Mr. Phung confided.

I remember the night on Sinh Ton Island, by the flickering fire boiling the pot of banh chung of the islanders and soldiers preparing for Tet, I whispered and taught little SuSi and she quickly memorized the lyrics: "Like a green marble/This earth spins round/Our house lies small/In the heart of a homeland...".

----------------------

Lesson 3:The brotherhood tightens