On the morning of 1/8, at Ngoc Linh Semi-Boarding Ethnic Primary School in Tra Linh commune, Da Nang city, nearly 400 students prepared for the new school year. Principal Nguyen Tran Vy, 47, still spends 40 minutes each week riding his motorbike through forest roads to two remote school points for inspections.

"August 1 always brings back a special memory for me", Vy said.

In 2000, young teacher Nguyen Tran Vy received an assignment to Tu Nat school point in Tra Cang commune, Nam Tra My district, Quang Nam (now Tra Tap commune, Da Nang). After two bus rides and over six hours of walking, he stopped in front of a bamboo shack with a corrugated iron roof, surrounded by dense forest. "I was surprised then. It was true that a school only needed a teacher and students, but there were no facilities", Vy recounted.

Vy leads students to the inauguration of Tu Nat school point, Tra Cang commune, in 2020. *Photo provided by subject*

In the 2000s, every August 1, teachers and students at Tu Nat would go into the forest to cut bamboo and rebuild classrooms after storm season. Without electricity, roads, or phone signals, teachers stationed in the villages felt completely isolated. Once, when Vy's son was hospitalized, his family had to write a letter by hand and ask someone to deliver it through several forest routes to reach him. By the time he received the news and returned, his son had already been discharged.

Low salaries and remote locations made him want to transfer many times. However, the community's support kept him there. At that time, the village had a movement to "support teachers". The village chief calculated how much rice each teacher needed and encouraged villagers to contribute. Students on their way to class would also bring wild vegetables or chili peppers they found for their teachers.

In Vy's eighth year in the village, a family invited the teachers to their New Year's Eve meal. The host boiled a chicken to treat their guests. When the teachers tore the chicken meat to take to the kitchen for porridge, they saw the host's five children eating a pot of boiled cassava. "We are used to eating cassava, teachers are not. Any rice must be saved for the teachers first", the host said.

Only then did the teachers realize that the cans of white rice the villagers brought to school were portions they had foregone. On another occasion, for Vietnamese Teachers' Day (20/11), a fourth-grade student, drenched from the rain, brought a bag of rice and a wet chicken to school as a gift for his teacher. In that moment, Nguyen Tran Vy realized he was not just working for a salary but was working amidst immense kindness.

Witnessing the students' deprivation, Vy began seeking sponsorship. Initially, each time he went down the mountain, he requested red scarves, pens, notebooks, and warm clothes from the Provincial Youth Union. In 2011, when he was seconded to the District Department of Education and gained Internet access, he connected with charitable groups. Noticing that many groups from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City spent tens of millions of dong on travel to survey school points, he offered to do it himself to save that money for books and supplies.

The Nam Tra My Connecting Love Club was established then, bringing together local teachers and youth. Members contributed from their salaries to repair classrooms with earthen floors. Later, Vy persuaded sponsors to shift from providing "one-time consumable" gifts to building schools and housing for teachers.

Many school points are deep in the mountains, requiring forest paths to be opened, which raised doubts about construction feasibility. Vy used the strength of the people as the answer.

At Tra Tap school point, a project comprising two classrooms and one teacher's room was sponsored for 150 million dong. Villagers had to carry each bag of cement, climbing steep slopes for six to seven hours to reach the school. "For the project to take shape, the effort put in by the people was no less than the sponsorship money", he said.

Vy receives an outstanding award in the National Volunteer Program in 2020 in Hanoi. *Photo provided by subject*

Nguyen Huu Huan, a representative of the For Love Fund (Ho Chi Minh City) – a partner in building nine school points – stated that the group gave Vy full authority to decide on support locations due to his ability to mobilize local efforts.

Local residents affectionately call Nguyen Tran Vy "Vy the 'Crazy'". Although his wife and children live in the city, for the past 26 years, he has traveled across mountains to supervise construction projects. To date, he and his colleagues have facilitated the construction of over 40 solid classrooms at 20 school points, four semi-boarding areas, and other public works.

In 2016, he received a Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister and the National Volunteer Award in 2020. Among the projects, he most vividly remembers raising 25 million dong to install solar power for a village. On the night the power was connected, the transformer hummed loudly, causing the teachers to panic and run out to the yard, fearing an explosion. When they calmed down, the entire school point lit up amidst the vast forest. Villagers rushed out, stunned, gazing up at the electric lights. Smiles radiated from their sparkling eyes.

"In the past, I only wished for a solid classroom. When I achieved that for the village children, I felt I received so much in return", he shared.

Vy helps villagers in Khe Chu village, Tra Van commune, Nam Tra My, build temporary homes after a 2017 landslide wiped out nearly the entire village.

The inauguration ceremony for Lap Loa school point, Tra Tap commune, in 2019.

On every trip to the villages, Vy's backpack always contains candies for the children. Pictured here with children in Tak Po village, Tra Tap commune.

Vy eats a quick bowl of noodles after completing the corridor floor of Rang Di school point with other teachers in 2017. This point was inaugurated in September 2016, but due to a lack of sand, the teachers and students here had to collect sand from the stream, bowl by bowl, until March 2017 to complete the corridor.

The groundbreaking ceremony for Mang Priu school point – Ngoc Linh Semi-Boarding Ethnic Primary School, Tra Linh commune, Da Nang city, in 5/2026, with sponsorship from the Hope Foundation and VnExpress newspaper. This is one of the school points where Vy serves as principal.

Phan Duong