Two Ho Chi Minh City college alumni have presented their former professor with a three-story house in gratitude for his past academic lectures and life lessons, a deed that has moved many people ahead of the Vietnamese Teachers’ Day, which falls on November 20 each year.

They built the home in Thu Duc District for the retired professor, Duong Thanh Liem, who chaired Nong Lam (Agriculture-Forestry) University in the city from 1994 to 1998, after learning that he has been struggling with financial and spiritual difficulties for a long time.

Prof. Liem, 75, could not buy a house for himself and thus had to take care of his mentally ill wife and two daughters who had suffered nervous breakdowns in a teacher dorm room, following years of teaching at the university.

He has also been living with the pain of losing another child, who drowned at the age of 13 many years ago.

The seasoned educator rejected the house at first, but was then persuaded to take it by Dr. Duong Duy Dong, who is now the vice president of the university.

“The two alumni from the 1991 undergraduate class pleaded with me to convince Prof. Liem to accept the house, which was built as a sincere thank-you to him,” Dr. Dong said.

“They said they would not be as successful without his lectures and sharing of life experiences,” he added.

Now working in cattle feed production, the donors have stayed in touch with their alma mater since graduation and awarded many scholarships to needy Nong Lam students, he said.

The two alumni refused to say how much the house cost, but it is equipped with all the necessary domestic facilities: a TV, a fridge, a gas cooker, beds, and wardrobes.

Building a house for a former teacher is something of a rarity in Vietnam, especially in a big city like the southern hub, where owning a house or even a small apartment would be an epic achievement to a large number of people.

Incorruptible

Prof. Liem started teaching at the school in 1976, and retired in 2003. He was known for his honesty and incorruptibility as a lecturer and university president.

One of his colleagues once complained to him that his simple lifestyle would probably stain the university’s reputation, referring to the extremely old motorbike he was driving at the time.

“That’s me,” he explained. “I don’t feel like using a new and expensive one.”

Another asked him about using his title to find a house and he simply said, “I don’t want to take advantage of my position for personal purposes.”