Meaningful work of my class

The story begins on a Monday morning in early April. The classroom atmosphere is the same as usual. Laughter, the creaking of chairs, the rhythmic tapping of pens on the desk… But then, everything suddenly slows down when the homeroom teacher walks in with a more serious expression than usual. In her hand is a piece of paper folded into four, carefully held.

She looked around the class and spoke slowly:

- I have something to share with you. Thu Ha's studies have been declining lately, some of you have probably noticed. The reason is not because she is too busy playing, but because her mother is being treated for terminal cancer, and her family's circumstances are very difficult.

The whole class fell silent. All I could hear was the rattling of the ceiling fan overhead, even though it was set to the lowest setting. I glanced at Ha. She had her head bowed, her hands clutching the hem of her shirt as if trying to shrink herself even smaller. Normally, Ha was very quiet, gentle like a quiet little cat among us excited students, but now she was even quieter.

She continued:

- I would like to start a small donation campaign in my class. It doesn't need much, but if possible, I hope you will help the family a little. I believe that your kindness will be the most valuable thing.

During recess that day, we gathered in the corner of the classroom to discuss. One of us said, “I don’t have much money either…” But then, without anyone saying anything, we all searched our bags and pockets. Some took out their breakfast money, some went home to ask their moms. One of us even brought a piggy bank with a cracked cheek to class and shoved it into the class monitor’s hand: “I’ve never broken it before, but now I want to help Ha…”

Some friends contributed 5,000, some 20,000. Some people only contributed a small bag of cakes, because "this is the kind Ha likes". Binh, the grumpy boy who seemed to care about no one, was different today. Binh silently folded the bill into four, said nothing, just gave it to Ha and turned away.

We collected nearly 500,000 VND. Although the amount was not much, it was the wholeheartedness of the members of the class. After collecting that amount of money to help Ha, we put it in a small envelope. The class monitor represented the students and gave it to the homeroom teacher.

When the homeroom teacher gave the money the whole class donated to Ha, she just put her hand on her shoulder and said:

- The whole class sends you some encouragement. If you have any difficulties, don't hesitate to tell me.

Ha looked at the envelope, her eyes red. She stood up, bowed deeply and thanked her teacher and her friends.

From that day on, something seemed to change in my class. Every time we had a break, we invited Ha to go out and play with us, tell stories to her. Some of her friends brought extra cakes to share. Even Binh, the most difficult boy in the class, helped Ha with math.

That day during class meeting, the teacher stayed behind after the meeting and asked the whole class to sit down for a moment. She said, her voice choked:

- Ha's mother wants to ask you to convey her thanks to the whole class. Even though she is currently being treated in the hospital, she hopes that the whole class will help and take care of Ha when she is no longer in this world.

Hearing her words, we felt our noses sting.

Ha is better now. She no longer sits in her own room like before. She tells stories more, smiles more, and her eyes are no longer sad like at the beginning of the school year. In a recent literature test, she even wrote a touching paragraph about the “nameless friend” who helped her in her most difficult times.

I didn’t think a small action could warm my heart so much. We are just 8th graders, we haven’t done anything big yet. But one thing is for sure, what we have done is a good thing. I believe that meaningful actions, no matter how small, will connect us more closely.