When My Hanh was a little girl, she dreamed of becoming a teacher.
At the time, it felt like nothing more than a dream. No one in her family had ever gone to college, and even finding a way to keep her in school through high school was a constant struggle. University felt impossibly far away.
“My parents could not afford to pay for my education, and they were unable to support me closely in school because they had very little formal education themselves,” Hanh shares.
In Vietnam, millions of children growing up in economic hardship face the same reality. When education is disrupted, poverty tightens its grip and is passed from one generation to the next, especially when parents have had limited access to schooling.
In 2015, COV learned about Hanh’s family circumstances and stepped in to help. Her father, Mr. Nam, earned a living collecting scrap metal in nearby areas, while her mother, Mrs. Thi Gai, who had fragile health, worked as a factory laborer at a plastics plant in an industrial zone. Supporting the education of Hanh and her two younger siblings was a constant financial strain and an ongoing worry for the family.
“At that time, even though we wanted our daughter to continue her education more than anything, we did not know how long we would be able to support her,” Mrs. Gai recalls.
Through the Study Steps Tutoring and Life Skills Training Program and the Bright Scholars program, COV walked alongside Hanh for eleven years. They supported her step by step, helping a young girl with a distant dream grow into someone who could finally reach it.
Hanh participated in personal development workshops organized by COV.
Today, Hanh is a teacher at a public primary school. She is now able to contribute financially to her family, easing a burden that weighed on her for many years. In a recent alumni survey, Hanh shared that she feels genuinely happy and balanced in her life today.
“Words alone are not enough to express my gratitude to COV,” Hanh says. “For eleven years, I received not only financial support but also opportunities to develop essential life skills, build confidence, and expand my connections. COV helped lift the economic pressures off my shoulders so I could focus on becoming who I wanted to be.”
For Hanh, becoming a teacher represents years of perseverance and the shared commitment of her family, her community, COV, and her own unwavering determination.
Hanh’s journey is a powerful reminder of what becomes possible when a child is not left to carry her dreams alone. COV’s role was not just to fill a financial gap, but to stand beside a family at a critical moment, to believe in a young girl’s potential, and to provide steady, long-term support when it mattered most. By investing in education, skills, and confidence over many years, COV helped transform uncertainty into opportunity and a fragile dream into a lasting future.
Today, Hanh is one of many living examples of the impact that sustained, community-driven support can create. And there are still countless children like her, full of promise, waiting for someone to walk with them on their journey.
Your support can be the reason another dream survives, grows, and one day comes true.