Vo Thanh Tai
"My name is Tai. Full name: Vo Thanh Tai. This year I am 29 years old. I was born and raised in a poor countryside in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. My family has 4 members: Dad, Mom, Sister, and me. My family is very poor. My parents are both hired workers and have no assets. Their biggest assets are my sister and me. Even though my family situation is difficult, my parents still love my two sisters. My parents raised my two brothers to go to school until they graduated from college. I graduated from university in early 2019, majoring in fashion apparel. By mid-2019, I was forced to join the Vietnamese Army. At the end of 2019, I officially became a border guard protecting Vietnam's borders. My first time in the army was the worst time for me. My family is financially exhausted. While I was in the army, my mother was the breadwinner and supporter, the family's main economic source. When I joined the army, I was depressed because I was too worried about my family and missed my parents back home."
"When I met the children who migrated from Tonle Sap to Cambodia to live on the Vietnam border, I felt like I was revived and found joy and hope because I sympathized with the difficulties and needs of the children. I decided to devote all the love from my heart to teaching them to read and do math. I helped children eliminate illiteracy. At that time, meeting them every day was my happiness. The money I received from Switzerland allowed the border children to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2019 and 2020. The border children also celebrated Christmas in 2020. The border children were taught by me how to wish Tet according to Vietnamese customs and receive lucky money at the beginning of the new year. I do everything I can to let the border children know about Vietnamese culture because I want to repay the gratitude of the border children for helping me overcome the most sad and desperate period during my time in the army."
"The border children and I have been together for nearly 2 years, from the end of 2019 to the beginning of 2021. I really gave all the love from my heart to the border children. I served in the army for 2 years until I was discharged in early 2021. Now, though I became a worker at a garment company, I still visit and give gifts to the border children twice a month. I am a rural worker, so every month I only receive 300 USD in salary. I must help my parents. With the money I receive from Switzerland I help the border children go to class. I hope that after reading my story, you will support me to help children in difficult circumstances at the border. Thank you for reading! This is my true story."
I sell some pictures to help the children:
The pictures are hand-painted and framed, size 90 x 120 cm, CHF 7'000 each