Nguyen Thi Duc, a 58-year-old from Khanh Hoa Province in south-central Vietnam, has spent the past decade offering free classes to underprivileged children in the provincial capital city of Nha Trang.

Despite having no teaching certificates, Duc’s compassion for disadvantaged children has allowed her to help children with disabilities, orphans, and kids from low-income families take steps toward fulfilling their dreams.

The inspiration to launch free classes came when she met two children from low-income families during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the early 2010s. 

The two children, she noticed, were watching another group of children from afar, hesitant to join in the fun.

Duc approached the two children and found out that they were orphans and had to collect recyclable items along the street for resale in order to make ends meet.

“I hope that the children joining my class will try their best in learning so as to fulfill their dreams. This would make me and other members in the class truly happy,” Duc said.

Nowadays, she provides lessons for 58 students ranging from kindergarten to ninth grade with support from a team of high school- and college-aged volunteers.

One of these volunteers, Nguyen Quynh Nhu, a student at Khanh Hoa University in the namesake province, said that most of the children belong to marginalized groups.

She also noted that the children are all well-behaved and hard-working and that she believes they can be taught to love themselves, overcome life’s difficulties, and learn to become good citizens.

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