Ngan with a lovely smile at the saigonchildren office.
Under the laws of physics, the world of particles is never chaotic; they always move in clear paths and rhythms. For Ngan, a third-year Physics student, her path was also clear despite difficult circumstances: study hard, become a Physics teacher, and return to support her family. However, life is not as easy to predict as a laboratory environment. When sudden family crises hit in late 2024, she faced a tough choice: on one side was the lecture hall with her study dreams, and on the other was her responsibility as an older sister to her grandparents and younger sister, who was getting ready to enter university just like she did three years ago.
Ngan Finds Her Own Path
After the family crisis in September last year, all the financial burden fell on my grandmother’s shoulders. Understanding that difficulty, I spent all my free time doing part-time work outside of class hours. From May to November, I saved every penny to add over 2 million VND to the saigonchildren scholarship to pay my tuition fees.
Instead of giving up, Ngan chose to face it with admirable persistence. For nearly half a year, while her friends could spend time on vacations or focus on studies, she worked hard on lesson slides, spending all her free time tutoring to earn extra income. Every penny she saved was not just money, but proof of her self-respect and the willpower of a young person who never wanted to give up.
Some nights I stayed up not to do homework, but to figure out how to keep my expenses to a minimum while still managing my studies.
She managed on her own and carried everything herself, quietly and persistently like a seed growing through dry, hard rock with a belief: As long as she could keep studying, every difficult problem would have an answer.
A Click That Opened Up Support
Amid heavy financial pressure, while searching for support opportunities, she found information about Urgent Support on the scholarship program’s website. That was not a coincidence, but the result of actively looking for solutions. She wrote the support application by herself, sharing the difficulties she was facing and her wish to continue her studies. For her, that bumpy road could never stop her from becoming a teacher; it is just that sometimes, under the harsh sun, she needed to pause a little to recharge for her journey.
Ngan participates in the PowHERful activity with other female students in the scholarship program.
When writing the application, I didn’t know if I would receive support or not, but I shared my situation so the program could help me to some extent. A few days after I submitted the application, Ms. Phuong contacted me, set up a meeting, and asked to learn more about the difficulties I was facing. Honestly, at that time I didn’t think too much; I just knew to make use of the resources around me to get through that hard period.
The result of that proactive effort was a semester’s dormitory fee support and boxes of nutritional milk sent to her. This support did not change her situation immediately, but it brought what she needed most right then: time and health. With stable accommodation, she had one less worry to focus on her classes. With extra nutrition, she gained more endurance to continue caring for her grandmother and younger sister. The support package was a response to Ngan’s proactive spirit, a timely encouragement so that resilient students are not alone on their journey of dreams.
You know, sometimes difficulties are just a variable, and when we actively seek companionship, there will always be support so that no dream is left behind. Like facing a bumpy rocky slope, we may not walk your path for you, but we will be a leverage point so you never have to stop.
Besides regular scholarships, the Emergency Support package is always ready to accompany you through unexpected difficult times. If you need a support; to keep your studies from being interrupted, please see detailed information here.
