A young man attends culinary school with support from Samaritan's Purse
In the past, my family and others in my village faced many difficulties. There were a lot of social problems in our village. Many years ago, all families in the village grew poppies, and there were drug addicts in every family. There were only dirt roads. The villagers had the habit of keeping cattle on the ground under the floor of their stilted house. Sitting on the wooden floor, they could see the cattle below. The living environment was polluted. Adultery was also a common problem in my village at that time.
In 1996, the Gospel was spread to my homeland, and God has changed and blessed the land richly. At present, about 70 percent of the families in my village are Christians; 90 percent of the families completely rejected poppy planting. The families have made about 1.8 miles of concrete road. The rate of adultery has decreased significantly. Cattle have been separated from human houses.
My hometown has become a tourist site for both national and international visitors. That’s the reason I chose to go to Hoa Sua Vocational Training School to learn culinary skills. In the future, I hope to open a restaurant in my hometown to contribute to the development there.
When I first came to Hanoi to attend school, I felt tired and sick because of the hot and suffocating weather. I was discouraged and missed my home a lot. I couldn’t keep up with what the teacher was saying because my language skills weren’t good enough. My schoolmates often made fun of and looked down on ethnic minorities like me. That made me unhappier and disheartened. Thank God for the encouragement and comfort I received from my Christian friends who also came from the highlands. They brought back the joy to my soul.
Also in the midst of difficulties when living in a new environment, I met the staff members of Samaritan’s Purse. I had opportunities to talk with them and attend many activities run by them like the life skills and living values training, the book club, and the English class. The activities conducted by Samaritan’s Purse staff have filled the emptiness of each evening when I did not know what to do to dispel the feeling of missing my home. Meeting Samaritan’s Purse staff members has changed my perspectives toward people in the lowland. The distance between us has been removed.
I will study diligently so that when I graduate from school, I can open a restaurant to contribute to the development of my hometown. I would like to send my sincere thanks to Samaritan’s Purse for supporting my studies and for creating opportunities for my personal improvement.
