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Thirteen-year-old Mung is from an ethnic minority group and was born in one of the poorest villages in Kim Boi district in rural Vietnam.

Sadly her father passed away when she was young. Mung`s mother has a disability and is unable to work. She struggles to provide for Mung`s needs with the USD13 she receives from the government each month.

“When I get home from school, I feed the pigs, clean the house and cook for my mum to help her,” says Mung.

Mung`s uncle tries to support Mung and her mother as well as his own wife and two children. His rice fields produce enough rice to feed the family and pay for their basic daily expenses. But if a crop fails, they will be hungry for several months.

Mung has just completed grade seven. She has a passion for learning and is a good student, despite having to borrow school books from her friends in order to follow the lessons. Her house is 7km from school. It often took Mung and her cousin two hours to walk to school each day.

“I used to have to leave [home] at 5am to be at class on time. It was so dark and freezing,” she says.

ChildFund identified Mung as being at great risk of dropping out of school due to her family`s poor financial situation. To help support her education, Mung was among 200 children in her village who received a bicycle in 2013 so they could get to school more safely and easily, as part of ChildFund Vietnam`s Hope Bike project. She was also enrolled in a project designed to offer support to families struggling to provide for their children`s school needs.

“Children who can easily quit school because of a poor financial situation are a real problem, which ChildFund in Vietnam has encountered when implementing education projects. This support project enables us to help children while our (self-sufficiency) programs take more time to come into effect,” says Mr. Nguyen Ba Lieu, ChildFund Vietnam`s Program Team leader.

Through the project, Mung receives stationary and clothing for school, her fees are covered by direct transfer to her school and she receives a daily meal of rice, to ensure her dietary needs are met.

“ChildFund`s support has helped to reduce the burden on my uncle. He has been really tired taking care of the two families. Now he doesn`t have to worry about the expense to send me to school. I am provided with tuition fees, course books, a desk and lamps to study at home. I also get rice for meals every month. I feel like I am getting closer to my dream.”

Despite her challenges, Mung always tries her best to study hard and her efforts are showing. She recently took part in a mathematics competition in her district and received an €˜encouragement award`. Everyone in the commune is proud of her.

“I would like to become a teacher in the future to earn enough money to support my mum,” says Mung. “My goal next school year is to improve my result in Vietnamese. Any teacher should be good at Vietnamese in order to convey what she means to her students.”

Nurul and Selfila talk about their lives before and after receiving bikes through ChildFund Indonesia’s Dream Bikes program which is helping to ensure children living in the dense, crowded slums of Jakarta get to school more easily and safely.

Nurul (pictured above) is quite a shy one. She is 12 years old and in third grade, behind where she should be in school. Because she has dyslexia, Nurul finds it difficult to read and retain information. She has repeated grades several times and even moved to another school. Her mother always accompanies her to school to protect Nurul from bullying. Nurul doesn`t talk much, and looks to her mother to answer questions.

“She always wanted to have a bicycle,” Nurul`s mother explains. “She saw her friends with bikes. One time, she wanted to ride a bike and tried to borrow it from a friend, but the friend would’`t let her. Nurul asked, ‘Mama, when can I get a bike?'”

But the family didn`t have the money to buy a bicycle.

“We need to pay about US$8 per month for the school fees, which I haven`t paid for four months. I don`t know how much a bicycle costs, but I guess it is about US$100. We can`t afford it. It is way too much for us. I only work as a daily laborer, and my husband works as a security guard,” Nurul`s mother said. “What we earn is only enough for food and to pay the electricity bill. Before Nural received the Dream Bike, it took her about 45 minutes to walk to school. She often arrived late, and it was quite tiring for her. I am really happy now that Nurul has been given the bicycle from ChildFund. Praise the Lord!”

“I ride the bike to school,” Nurul says shyly. “I am really happy I don`t have to walk to school anymore! It is much faster for me to get to school than walking. I want to be a doctor when I grow up. I am going to be a dentist!”

Selfila (pictured above), at 14 years old, is in her second year of junior high school. She is the oldest of three children. Her father supports them with daily construction work. Her mother is a housewife.

“I used to walk to school for about half an hour each way, starting early, at 5:30 a.m.,” she explains. “I walked by myself, as my friends don`t live in the same neighbourhood. When I was younger, I was a little scared to walk on the big roads, because there were many cars. Sometimes I arrived at school late because I had to wait for the rain to end. It was quite hard when I returned home too, because the sun was so hot, and I carried so many books. So sometimes I felt too tired to help my mom at home. But now I have the bike, and I get home faster, so I can help her more. I also have more time to do my homework!”

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