Her brother, who worked as a construction assistant, fell from a high place and could not survive. A few months later, the father discovered that he had terminal cancer and could not be cured. In the house where only three women remained, Hoang Thi Khanh My became the fulcrum of her sick mother and elderly grandmother. That new student majoring in Korean language (Duty Tan University) is like a light of hope that lights up faith in the midst of a dark life. 

On the day Khanh My entered school, Mrs. Hoa sold her only asset, a bull, for 14 million VND, gathering everything for her son to return to the street. The cow has only been raised for more than half a year, purchased with a preferential loan of 10 million VND from the Women's Union. 

Looking at the empty cow barn next to the deserted pig barn after the cholera epidemic, the poor mother did not dare to think about her daughter's university journey ahead. When her husband was hospitalized, Mrs. Hoa had to borrowed 50 million VND from a poor family for treatment. 

Even though she knew that having cancer was a sure death sentence, how could she and her husband's relationship be willing to ignore it? Now that he's gone, the debt weighs even more heavily on her shoulders, which seem to get thinner and thinner each time. 

The house still has rice fields and a few sweet potato beds, but recently, she has been constantly sick, so Mrs. Hoa has had to ask her neighbors to help her. Everyone in the neighborhood knows her family's situation, each of them shares a little effort, helping her from farming to repairing the roof after each stormy season. The roof is made of lime and honeycomb stone, made before liberation. Last year's storm season, the wind blew the roof away so it was re-roofed with corrugated iron. The summer weather in the Central region is so hot that many nights my grandmother and I have to spread mats out on the porch to avoid the heat. 

To take advantage of school, My rode her motorbike 60 kilometers to her hometown on weekends to help her mother take care of the potato beds. The daughter's thin hands now have to hold the hoe instead of her father. Many people also feel shy when thinking about her journey to pursuing a high school education. 

Right from 10th grade, after school, Khanh My went to work at a coffee shop to earn money to pay for her studies. On weekends when there was a party, she was asked by an acquaintance to run the wedding table. 

Summer came, when her friends had plans to go out, My asked to go to the tourist area to clean rooms. There is almost no farm work that My has never done: sowing rice, watering potatoes, herding cows, mowing grass... My mother can help with whatever she sees. As long as there was work, wherever she could earn honest money, she would rush in, not afraid of difficulty, hardship, or shame. 

Despite the hardships, Khanh My was always quite good students every high school year. My told that if she had to work hard to earn real money, why should she be shy? Every day she helps sell coffee, her employer pays her 100,000 VND. Every day I help at a wedding, I get 200,000 VND. Every month, when I'm called to help at a few weddings, My says she's very happy.