Every morning, before the school drum sounds, M. Chu has already walked almost five kilometers.
Chu is five years old, a little girl from the Ca Dong community. She makes the walk holding her big sister’s hand, the sister who is still in primary school but already knows how to be a grown-up. Their parents work far from home, so the girls live with their grandmother and a house full of aunts and uncles, three generations under one roof. Grandma cooks every day with what the family has: rice, vegetables, and a pot of soup. It’s made with love, but life is tight, and some days the bowl is simply not full enough for a growing child.
M. Chu, 5 years old, enjoying her lunch
When the long summer break came to an end, Chu returned to school after three months without school meals. Her teacher, Ms. Ngoanc, noticed the change right away. Chu looked thinner, and her weight was lower than it should have been.
But back at school, something warm and comforting was waiting for her. At lunchtime, a bowl of rice was set in front of her. It was golden, it smelled wonderful, and there were little orange-colored bits in it. “School rice is so different from the rice at home. It’s yellow, it has pieces of carrot, and it smells so good,” Chu says. Then she looked up at her teacher, her whole face beaming, and said in her own Ca Dong language, "Âu rôn cá bế ở trường. Ná! Hế! Cô!” meaning “I love eating rice at school, teacher!”
Children enjoying lunch at Kindergarten.
Chu doesn’t know the words “fortified rice.” She only knows it’s delicious, and she enjoys eating it beside her friends. But her health knows. That rice is the nutrition program supported by COV, and it is quietly doing its work in every spoonful. In just a few months, Chu has gained 1 kilogram. “For a child who finds it hard to gain weight, that’s a very positive change,” - Ms. Ngoanc shared. Across the school, most of the children are growing stronger and healthier too.
It’s a small number on a scale and a big step for a little girl who walks so far every day. Now, when someone asks Chu what she wants to be, she answers without a second thought: “A teacher. I want to teach little kids, just like my teacher teaches me", Chu excitedly shared.
COV staff interviewing a teacher about the children's meals and health at the school.
Maybe that’s because, for Chu, school is more than a place of letters and numbers. It’s where someone notices her, where a warm bowl of rice is waiting, and where friends sit beside her.
One golden bowl of rice. One little girl, a little stronger and a lot happier, with a very big dream.
