17-year-old girl spreads hope through good deeds

Trang with young children from the village. — Photo Hiền Mai/vtc.vn

HÀ NỘI — Travelling across Gia Lai Province on her Honda Cub 50, Twelfth-grader Lê Ánh Thùy Trang makes it her mission to do good deeds and help others.

“For me, happiness is a journey, not a destination,” the teenager said. 

“Sometimes, when I look back at my journeys, it was the laughter and the joy of the people that moved me. Although the work is hard, I feel the energy in the eyes of the people, and that motivates me to do more.”

For over four years of volunteer work, Trang brought clothes for adults and candies for children and sincere love and care to the less fortunate.

Growing up in Blo Village and living side by side with the villagers, Trang can feel the hardships many have been through. Seeing the children of Blo without enough food and clothing made Trang want to do more to help.

The girl’s first trip back to the village was in 9th grade. At that time, she spent her savings buying sweets and asked others to donate old clothes.

“In the beginning, many children and parents avoided me because they saw me as a stranger. But that only made me want to chase them and give them gifts,” she said.

In the first two years, Trang did her charity deeds alone by saving a lot of money to buy gifts for people in the village. Later on, she founded the charity group Flowers, which currently has 10 members, and Trang was in charge of everything from calling for donations and directly gifting people with various items. Trang would travel by her motorbike to nearby villages and ask for more companions on trips to further afield.

Before each trip, Trang posts on social networks to call for donations from family and friends for anything they can contribute.

“Whenever someone texts me with sweets or old clothes that I want to give away, I contact and go to collect them myself. For old clothes, I wash them cleanly, put them neatly in big sacks, and bring them back to villages at the weekend,” Trang said.

When she travels to the villages, Trang speaks Bahnar to be closer to the people.

Although people’s smiles motivate her, Trang is upset when the gifts cannot make a bigger impact and help villagers improve their lives.

“I wish I could do more and contribute more to the community,” she said.

“In the short term, I will try to balance my studies and volunteer activities. My plan in the near future is to open a class in the village where I live so that I can provide free guidance to ethnic children. With this class, children can practise writing and numbers to do better in school. They will have a brighter future.” 

Although she devotes a lot of effort to charity trips, Trang maintains good academic results, with a GPA of 8.2. She won a consolation prize in a student pageant in 2022.

“Trang is a straight-A student in her studies. Her many years of experience in volunteering activities is also an example for others,” said Bùi Anh Quốc, Secretary of the Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai Youth Union. — VnExpress News