• Number of Students: 447 | 67% Low Income | 99.8% Minority 
• Students have to commute from 7-12km (4.5-7.5miles) to go to school
• Minority Boarding School

• School has no library at both main and satellite locations
• School has trouble to raise funds to improve learning conditions

• Equipments and supplies for teaching and learning

Books provides us with a lot of knowledge and to me, a library is very much necessary to a school. “A room without books is like a body without a soul”; this quote shows how important books are to all of us. I was born in a family that was able to give me a lot of  opportunities. As much as I’m not religious, I could say that I’m blessed and happy to be in this family that will support me to the end. And to see that not everyone was born this way, it is very painful to watch all of those small kids have to go through mountains and rivers just to get to school to learn since they have a more unfortunate fate. So me and my trusty sidekick are planning to help Cao Pha Secondary School to build a library by raising funds and donating books so that the children can have a place to go to when they want to read books and this would also improve the education as a whole.

After doing some research online and also asking some people about the school, I can see that Cao Pha is a secondary school that was opened in 2012, which is very new considering the fact that it is currently 2019. The school is located in Cao Pha village, Mu Cang Chai District, Yen Bai Province. The school was built based on the rural terrain so it doesn’t look as beautiful as a normal school in the city and the students have to go through a lot of trouble before they can even reach the school. A tour around the school shows that they don’t have really good facilities with no other learning resources from a library and the only thing they can rely on their provided books from the beginning of the school year. Also they don’t have any kind of rewards to excellent students to motivate them further and since the school is very far from the students’ home so they can’t really be part of some social games or activities in general. I see that there has been some donations from other sources and organizations as there were some good equipments lying around in the school storage but there is still no library. For me and my partner, we all see that education should be top priority so we think that building a library for the school would boost the students’ knowledge and also a place when they want to relax. By giving them news books would also mean that we will be able to keep them updated of what’s happening around the world and not only in Vietnam. This will show them the value of a book and how it will help them be prepared for the future to help build a stronger country and again help the ones in need.

To build this library for Cao Pha Secondary School, we need to develop some method that would help contribute on the construction and also a goal. The goal is to raise about $1500 from each individual so that we can buy the material to build the library and also to keep it. To reach this goal, we will have to sell stuff like necklaces and bracelets and mostly second hand things like clothes and toys in the weekend. While selling these things, we can also promote the project and also the organization as a whole so that other people would join and help us on this journey. To somewhat cut the budget, we won’t be buying a lot of new books but we will however ask people to donate them which to me is a better way since there will be books that they won’t use anymore which they can now make use of them by giving them to help other people in need of it. I would sometimes go and collect the books and also sort them and put them into boxes with the help of my friends. This was a really fun experience to be perfectly honest, I didn’t feel that tired while doing all of this to reach the goal. I got to meet new people that had the same purpose as me and I was able to lend a hand to the schools that needed help so I see this as an absolute win.

“Education and knowledge is an investment that is never at one point unnecessary nor wasteful.” It is a philosophy my mother told me once that I will always bear in my mind. Since I was born, I am blessed with full education and opportunities to acquire valuable knowledge from my parents, school and other countless activities. But not every child is born sharing the same opportunities as me, and I could never ignore those unfortunate fates and the unfairness in live. And so along with my partner, I am driven to raise funds and help build library to preserve and share the knowledge to the young, eager students in Cao Pha Secondary School.

Cao Pha is a secondary school located in Mu Cang Chai district, Yen Bai province. Such rural area is very much different from our cities, especially in terms of education and its resources. The school has incredibly small size and is very new as it was opened to the students just only in 2012. The facility is extremely poorly developed with no extra learning resources such as libraries and there is no rewards regarding education as well as little to no social activities. There might have been donations from different sources but such materialism contribution is insignificant and does not hold much truly valuable meaning. With my mentality that education and knowledge must always be put on the very top priority list, I want to promote and share the knowledge as well as my very fortunate education to those children, the future of the country and the world, and make this precious opportunities economically accessible. By giving books containing all kinds of knowledge and wonder of the world I am able to keep the students in rural area up to date and in the loop of dynamic world. And so setting up library for the poor children helps them understand deeply and to promote to the people around the value of reading and acquiring education through readings and books.

To provide the required facility, each of us has to set the goal of fundraising individually a total of 1500$ to purchase new books and prepare the logistics to help build and maintain the library. Beside the main goal, I also help promote the program and the project to call for the donation of all sorts of books to add to the collection of the library. During the weekends I go out with my friends to fun fairs and markets to sell goods like beautiful and traditional bracelets and necklaces as well as second-hand things like clothes and stuffed animals. Occasionally I would go collect donated books and sort those books with my friends and other families. I also bought goods from Canada as currently I am studying there and bring them back to Vietnam to sell at events. Although it is individual goal each person must accomplish, to me it is more fun to be able to help each other out and gain valuable experience together as well when we sell goods to raise funds.

Ultimately having the chance to champion a project with my friend, I can help narrow that unfortunate gap a little closer and help the life of those small children specifically and rural areas generally a little better. Better education is what children should always get first as they always deserve to do so and to learn. Such possessions and physical comfort come and go wastefully, but the importance and significance of knowledge existing in books through words and reading will be preserved and remained forever. Through what I am striving to do I hope people would grasp the idea and get on this journey with me to help put a smile on those children’s faces.