Le Van Cu, a resident of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, has built some 100 bridges in the delta’s provinces without getting paid over the past 14 years. The story about the philanthropic work of this 54-year-old man has garnered lots of love and comments on social media.
Born into a poor family, he had to drop out of school after finishing the ninth grade to do various unskilled jobs to make ends meet.
After years of working so hard and saving for a better life, he and his wife bought a small plot of land near a bridge to settle down. The married couple continued to work relentlessly until their own business got off the ground. He began learning how to build rural bridges and formed a bridge-building team of 11 members a few months later.
Receiving financial support from general donors, he designed and built rural bridges most economically. He refused to get paid for the construction work. The man sometimes contributed his money to the bridge projects.
The man shared: “I used to live in poverty. Now, my life is improving, and I want to give back to the community.”
The man also wished to share his experience of building bridges economically with more people so that the number of beneficiaries would increase, according to thanhnien.vn.
Challenges facing a poor student
Doan Thi Thu, a poor student in Hoang Khai Commune, Yen Son District, Tuyen Quang Province, has just been qualified for studying at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Thai Binh Province.
This is a big joy as well as a big challenge for Thu and her mother, Lam Thi Hong. Hong had to leave her drunken husband, who beat her many times without any reason, with her three children: Thu, the eldest daughter; Thu’s younger sister, who is now a 10th grader; and her brother, a 4th grader. They live in a small house of Hong’s sister. The single mother does any job at construction sites in the neighborhood to earn a modest sum of money to bring up her children.
Thu has been an excellent student over the past 12 years. She was good at biology during the three years at the senior high school. She received an Odon Vallet scholarship in 2020 and an Access scholarship granted by the U.S. Embassy in 2022.
Thu told tuoitre.vn that she would go to Thai Binh City to study at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy to realize her lifetime dream. She would do any job in this city to earn enough money for her schooling, like what she had done for years to ease part of the burden for her mother.
The savior of disabled people in Danang
Mai Thi Dung is the founder of the Center of Research and Community Inclusive Support (CORMIS) under the Union of Science and Technology Associations in the central coastal city of Danang since 2018.
Over the past four years, disabled people learn how to make a living sustainably and are equipped with necessary skills to live a happy and positive life.
The first project of the CORMIS is themed Recycling for a Happy Life, which collects used fabrics and fabric scraps for disabled people to make handkerchiefs, handbags and tablecloths for sale. To have such materials for production, Dung asks for used bed sheets, pillowcases and curtains from hotels and resorts, and fabric scraps from tailor shops and garment factories.
Dang Thi Be, a 50-year-old disabled woman from Danang’s Son Tra District, told tienphong.vn that she and other peers at the center can now turn out some 100 types of products for customers upon request. Like Be, Le Dao Bich Hien, a 40-year-old woman with paralyzed legs from Thanh Khe District, who used to be a hawker, has become a good sewer of the center. They can now earn stable income and be more confident in life.
