For Xuan Minh, the dream of becoming a doctor felt less like a calling and more like a financial calculation her family couldn’t afford. Her father’s long battle with type 1 diabetes drained the family’s resources, while her mother’s income as a seamstress at a local factory stretched thin to cover basics while work hours remained long and arduous. As the eldest child, Minh carried the dual weight of academic ambition and the unspoken duty to set an example for her younger brother.
“For my family, just paying tuition alone felt impossible,” Minh recalled. “Sometimes I wondered if I could really keep going.”
Her story reflects a systemic barrier. In Vietnam, pursuing a medical career presents a steep, often insurmountable climb for students from underprivileged backgrounds—despite the necessity for a healthy society to produce a surplus of doctors. It requires six or more years of high tuition, costly textbooks and lab tools, and demanding clinical hours that eliminate opportunities to earn extra income. For many, the dream of practicing medicine is crushed by brutal economics before it can even begin.
But for Minh, a single opportunity changed the equation. When Children of Vietnam’s Bright Scholars Program offered her a scholarship, it did more than cover costs—it lifted the weight of impossibility. “Thanks to the Bright Scholars Program, I can focus on learning without the fear of failing my family,” she shared.
With this stability, Minh didn’t just survive—she soared. She earned multiple university scholarships, mastered specialized medical technology, and stepped into leadership as class president. Through COV’s workshops, she gained communication skills that will make her a more compassionate healthcare professional.
“Starting university was like being a bird, spreading its wings,” Minh reflected. “I stumbled and struggled, but I am stronger now.”
Yet for every Minh, there are countless other aspiring medical students in Central Vietnam whose potential is being extinguished by multidimensional poverty. The same financial barriers that nearly ended her journey still stand between talented, determined students and their ability to heal their communities.
Your support can be the bridge that turns struggle into service. By providing a scholarship, you don’t just pay for textbooks—you invest in a future doctor who will bring care and compassion to those who need it most. You can help ensure that the next Minh doesn’t have to choose between her family’s stability and her calling to heal others.