For years, Nguyen Tran Khiem has offered several underprivileged children and handicapped people in the commune computer knowledge, stable jobs, and human love.
The heart of teacher Khiem
‘Tuition’ of the students is a few kilograms of rice, a basket of potatoes, or wild vegetables they pick as they look after cows in the forest.
He simply wants to teach the students without getting money in return. “My students are very poor. I just hope to give them knowledge to overcome poverty and disability,” says Khiem, who also has little in the way of possessions.
The students have to travel long distances to reach class, and they sometimes have to sleep in his house. The teacher fears that his students are hungry and tired when they walk home, and he often cooks rice for them.
His students, who understand love from the teacher, try their best to learn. As a result, more people from the poor commune have been able to attend universities recently.
With little money in his pocket, he gradually bought memory, a mouse, and a keyboard, and was finally able to assemble the first computer for his class in 2005. The computer became a treasure for him and his students.
“Many curious people visited my house to see the computer. Some of them wanted to learn typing, but there were so many students that I had to save money and assemble more to teach them,” Khiem recalled.
Of course, the poor teacher did not have enough money to buy brand new computers for his free class, so he collected accessories from broken computers that had been thrown away at local trash warehouses.
Several computers were assembled this way, and there are now ten machines at the center, though they operate slowly.
Xo Y An, who is a member of the Bahnar ethnic group and also a teacher, travels 50 kilometers on a forest path to attend the computer course, said: “It’s very hard to reach teacher Khiem’s house. I cannot go if it rains, and I sometimes have to sleep there after class. He is very kind and creates the best conditions for me.”
Without the center the Bahnar student would have to travel an additional 50 kilometers to reach another computer center.
Students who attend the class are ethnic minority communities including Bahnar and H’re. Even farmers attend his class to learn how to update farming technologies.
Home for the handicapped
However, Khiem offers priority to people who are disabled.
Students who are unable to walk, have poor vision or hearing, or are even illiterate, are welcomed to his class. Some use Khiem not only for knowledge, but also to get an opportunity to integrate into the community.
Two years after assembling the first computer for his center, Khiem negotiated with Binh Dinh Province’s Sponsoring Association for People with Disabilities and the Orphans to set up a branch, so that he has the legal basis for further fund raising activities and job-seeking for his students.
Khiem teaches the disabled students computer knowledge and then mobilizes funds from their families and the community to open centers that offer services related to computers.
Training a disabled person is not easy. Dao Thi Le Diem, whose legs are paralyzed, lives in a family with three disabled people. Diem fears going out to places with many people.
Khiem visited Diem’s house several times and told her about his center. Diem now leads a group which offers photocopy and computer services.
Diem said: “If I had not met teacher Khiem, I would not know anything about society, not mention have a job like this. He is a step father of several people like me.”
Khiem found materials and attended courses related to teaching disabled people that allowed him to come back and apply the training to his students.
“Teaching the students is a great challenge for me. They are ashamed of their situation and become naughty and don’t want to study. I am in the same situation, so it’s easy for me to persuade them,” Khiem said.
After finishing the course, those who are able to walk are introduced to work at an internet café. Khiem mobilizes money to purchase a computer and learn typing for those who cannot.
Khiem has to knock on the door of local agencies and schools to find customers for his students, and they strongly support him.
After teaching for several years without any benefit, Khiem officially became a teacher when he signed a contract with the provincial department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to open a computer training school for officials and people living in Van Canh District.
Khiem, whose father died when he was a child, and mother died during his last year in school, worked his way to a degree from the Da Nang University of Technology in 1997. His efforts have changed the lives of numerous people in his community.
He sums up his mission as such: “I think I have to do something. I don’t want to waste my knowledge, which was built by my mother’s, and my own, sweat and tears,” Khiem said.
Source: Dan tri
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