‘Charity bridge’ needed to realise children’s dreams of schooling

A reader in Kon Tum has written a letter to appeal to Dan Tri and kind-hearted donors to help build a bridge over the Po Ko River, where children have to cross using a cable to get to school.

Children living near the Po Ko River in Ngoc Hoi District, Kon Tum Province go to school each day by swinging from a cable that crosses from one side of the river to the other.

These days most pupils in Vietnam are enjoying their summer holidays, but these children are trying to spend extra hours in school because the coming flood season will force them to stay at home.

When will children living by the Po Ko River not have to use such dangerous means to get to school?

They are not allowed to go to school by using the cable anymore for the sake of their own safety, even if they would be willing to risk their lives for knowledge. Every child has the right to equal access to education. The children here live with such difficulties and they have less favourable conditions for getting to school than some others have. Why is that so?

Will their simple dream of going to school and making a better life for themselves have to be suspended, waiting for a magic solution?

The worse I feel for the children here who face such challenges in life, the happier I am that the Dan Tri Bridge over Dai Canal in Tay Yen Commune, An Bien District, Kien Giang Province has been built. Children there can now get to school safely. Children living by the Po Ko River also wish for a bridge like that, so that their lives will not be in danger when they cross the river on their way to school.

What can I possibly do to help them? I am a disabled person. Therefore, I am writing this letter to call on kind-hearted donors along with Dan Tri/DTiNews online newspaper to join hands again and build another charity bridge for them.

I hope there will be many more charity bridges built to aid children in needy areas all over the country so that they might have a chance to learn.

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