The children in this village cross a river in huge plastic bags just to go to school!
In some parts of the world, children have to fight every day to obtain rights that their distant peers take for granted and often do not even know how to appreciate.
The "privileges" we are talking about are nothing more than good health, sufficient food, time for playing, and last but definitely not least, a good education.
With regard to this last aspect, in a village in Vietnam, students have to be ferried across streams and rivers inside very large plastic bags in order to reach their school.
The area where this very peculiar "school bus" is used as a means of transport is the village of Huoi Ha, which is many miles from the town where the educational facilities are actually located.
During the dry season, the children use bamboo bridges to move from one point to another, but in the rainy season, the situation becomes much more complicated.
In fact, in the rainy season, the streams and rivers are very full, and in particular, the Nam Chim stream is very difficult to navigate with simple rafts, because the power of the current frequently shatters makeshift boats.
Therefore, the parents of the students have invented an unorthodox but efficient stratagem.
The children are closed inside very large plastic bags and literally ferried across the river to the opposite river bank by strong adults.
Although this system is better than rafts, it certainly is not without risks because the force of the water can still carry away both the adult and the child inside the plastic bag!
Once they have arrived safely on the other side of the river, the journey is certainly not finished! On the contrary, the children must walk for another five hours to reach their destination.
Usually, the children spend the rest of the week in the town where the school is located and return home only during the weekends.
The authorities for the Huoi Ha district have warned the town population of the risks involved in using this method, although the alternative with flimsy rafts is certainly not much better.
To play down the issue, the authorities have stated that there are only a few of these cases and that they occur only when the level of the water is so high as to prevent the use of bamboo bridges.
Whether or not these are isolated events, it is certain that such a thing is not easy to see and it seems very unfair that these children must face these dangers in order to try to get an education.
This story is an important message and warning that should be made known to many young people in the West who are often lucky enough to be able to easily reach their school that is within walking distance of their home.
The moral of the story is not only to make people appreciate the gift of what they have but also to understand how important it is not to take for granted one's own culture if there are those in the world who even risk their lives to aspire to a better future.
