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“I want to dispel the old prejudice, to learn and see how colorful the world is.” S. emotionally shared the reason she enrolled to REACH Hanoi Center.
S.’s a H’Mong minority ethnic student in the Hairdressing course, batch 53. Coming from Lai Chau province, she lives in a farming family of 11 members: her parents, 4 siblings and 4 cousins. The poor living condition and lack of qualitied education urged her to push her limit.
S. said, “Most of my female peers’ experience school dropout and early marriage, but I don’t want to settle down and spend my life in only my hometown”. During her 12th grade, S.’d encouraged the neighboring children to finish school and tutor them in H’mong writing. Despite this meaningful job, S. felt discouraged sometimes. She was lacking of orientation like the others.
“I want to pursue higher education and to control my life. Marriage’s my only option, but I’m confused where to start”, S. spoke. Fortunately, she saw a REACH’s advertisement on Facebook. The artistic girl was gratified by the Hairdressing course. Successfully persuading her parents, she took out a loan and travelled 350 kilometers to Hanoi.
S. arrived 2 weeks late and was worried that she missed the coursework. Living in EM’s dormitory, she astounded for immediately practicing the skills instead of revising the theory. However, this studious girl overcame the difficulty and caught up with her classmates with enthusiastic support from Facilitator.
The course provided S. vocational skills and upgraded her life. Soft skills training modules and guidance from Facilitator transform her into a confident person. “As an ethnic minority person, I faced homesick and communication barrier. But my determination was boosted because of attractive activities and the dedicate care from my Facilitator, who I always consider as my second mom”, S. opened up.
During three-month training at REACH, S.’d excellently proved her excellence and resilience. She’s working as an apprentice in EM Hair Salon, REACH’s social enterprise. With a monthly salary of 4.800.000 VND, S. maintains herself, repays her loan and saves up for her family. “I’m contented being a REACH student and a visionary person comprehending self-awareness and achieving goals. In the future, I want to develop my skills and mindset”, S. sharing.
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A. was born in a poor village in Hai Duong Province. The breadwinner, his father relocated to HCMC to be a builder and only visited home on Lunar New Year. A greengrocer, his mother moonlighted as a scrap dealer during off-time.
When A. was born, his family was frazzled. Diagnosed with mobility impairments, he visited centres to find rare disease treatments. His parents then changed their jobs to have more time for him.
When he was 6, he applied to primary school. However, with movement and speaking difficulties, he wasn’t accepted. Having a small circle of friends, his childhood was spent playing alone at home. At 13, he studied in social protection centre. His mother’s death came as a great shock a year later.
In 2020, A. knew REACH through Facebook and was inspired by a 2D Graphic Design Facilitator at Hanoi Center, also a disabled REACH alumnus. Immediately felt attracted, he graduated from the social protection centre and registered for 2D Graphic Design course - batch 51. His family was afraid that he couldn’t get along in Hanoi and didn’t approve, but he was determined to prove himself and travelled about 100km for training.
He thought at first REACH was an ordinary training centre, and friendliness changed his mind. COVID-19 extended his training duration for 2 more months. He encountered 2 difficulties: finance and homesickness. Warm support from Facilitators and students made him sociable. “Leave no one behind” is the motto that Facilitators and students have conformed to.
After graduating, A. had a new difficulty: job looking in Hanoi. Dauntless optimist, he asked Facilitators to study the course again at Hai Duong Centre and found his new passion in graphic design. “A special student to study at both centres, I’m thankful that REACH gave me a chance to explore my potential. Transforming into an intern, I’m dedicated, hard-working and credible. REACH changed me so much.” – he said.
On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, A. visited REACH to send his warmest gratitude to the Facilitators. He’s working as a graphic designer in a printing shop in his hometown and can maintain himself. After REACH’s course, he’s proficient in designing and has self-confidence. In the future, he wants to contribute his skills, be REACH’s business partner, and support the next generations of students.
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The youth from mountainous areas has long had limited access to vocational opportunities because of the enormous distance. Acknowledging those obstacles, REACH has built up a network of local partners in Lai Chau Province such as the Department of Education, Youth Union, etc. This is a mountainous province with 20 minority ethnic groups.
In QII 2022, REACH implemented an Online Marketing course in Vocational Training Center Than Uyen District, Lai Chau Province. There were 30 minority ethnic youth aged 15-30 who attended training with the gender structure was 50% female and 50% male.
In 2 months of training from May 2022 to July 2022, students were equipped with practical lessons from trainers who had real experience in Sales and Marketing, especially in Online Marketing. Students had an opportunity to study 60 sessions with 4 training hours for each in the classroom equipped with computers. Students were asked to practice taking photos and livestream to sell their local specialties. They also started to access e-commerce platforms such as Shopee. Throughout the 2-month course, students grasped sufficient practical skills to immediately become a salesman, contribute to selling their hometown’s specialties, and start their own business after graduation.
This class was expected to build the first step of REACH’s localized training plan for the upcoming years to reach out to more prospective students.
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REACH has been focusing on gender quality in recruiting and training as we have been promoting our media message and offering tuition-free to female IT students. REACH also has organized Gender mainstreaming training to REACH trainers and staff. The Gender training was expected to improve trainers and staff’s awareness and skills in integrating gender quality into training and class management.
Despite the stereotype that females are difficult to work in the technology fields, the growing number of IT female students is one of the positive results of REACH’s efforts toward gender equality in vocational training. Di is one of our graduates who succeeded to overcome the difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic to explore and build up herself in graphic design. She was born and raised in a mountainous village near the border of Dien Bien province, Vietnam where there is only farming and almost no source of income. Her family with her five siblings, parents and grandfather is a big family like other families in her hometown.
“My childhood was only associated with going to the fields in the morning, going to school in the afternoon, tending buffaloes on weekends, wandering around in the mountains without thinking about the future. When I was in secondary school, my classmates in the village all dropped out of school to help their parents work in the fields. At that time, I was the only one who went to school with a super big dream that I would try to study to become a kindergarten teacher in the future or to become a doctor to wear pure white clothes and treat the poor.” – Di said
After graduating from high school, Di also prepared for a dream of becoming a doctor, but due to economic difficulties and no specific direction, she had to give up right from the first step.
One day, when Di was surfing on Facebook and saw a post shared by REACH. She accessed to REACH page and researched courses at REACH. “I was worried but I decided to choose 3D Modelling because I see that nowadays, information technology is very popular. I live in a mountainous area where it is difficult to access technology but I decided to endeavor because the more I don’t know the more I need to try.” – Di shared
“When I was announced that I was accepted, I was really happy but I was also worried if I would be able to study well this 3D course. I even faced many difficulties and I wanted to give up but I overcame those obstacles with the support from REACH, my main teacher, and my classmates”. – Di continued
During her studying at REACH, she received life skills, interview skills, work readiness skills training, etc, and participated in events at REACH. “I was able to renew myself and REACH is like my second home”. – Di said
With a market-driven curriculum and a clear career orientation from trainers, Di succeed to find a job at a company that specialized in furniture construction with an income of 5,670,000 VND (about 250 USD) per month. It is a positive figure for her.
“My job is quite brainy and it requires high attention to detail which asks me to try to learn more. It helps me to improve my observation and working skills. My colleagues are extremely friendly, everyone is sociable and non-discriminatory. It is a good environment for me to develop”. – Di happily shared
“I am trying to learn more from my colleagues to gain more knowledge and I will study a higher level of graphics, I want to become a successful designer in the future” – Di added
Message from Di to her fellows “Learning is a very important thing to start your future journey if you still do not know what to study and what to do. Come to REACH!”
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