Located at the end of Dung Si Thanh Khe Street, Da Nang, the Village of Hope provides shelter and education for disadvantaged children in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province in a bid to help them have a better future.

Teacher Ha Thi Thanh prepared a lesson plan in a late afternoon.

Nearly 30 years after its establishment, the Village of Hope has received, cared for and raised nearly 900 orphans, disabled children and those from families living under especially difficult circumstances. Currently, the village is taking care of and raising 111 children aged 6–18 years, of whom 33 are deaf.

Ordinary children will attend schools outside the Village while deaf children are taught by the village’s staff. Educating ordinary children is a difficult task but it is much more difficult to educate deaf children and help them to integrate into mainstream society.

Over the past nearly 30 years, teacher Ha Thi Thanh, 63, who is called grandmother by the children of the village. In the eyes of the village’s staff, Thanh is a dedicated teacher as she is dedicated her life to teaching sign language for deaf children who are being cared for at the village.

In her efforts to ensure that her students absorb knowledge effectively, she has divided 15 students into 2 classes: one with 8 boys and another one with 7 girls, between 6 and 12 years old. Perhaps these classes have the fewest students in Da Nang but their teacher is the oldest among her colleagues in the city’s schools. However, teacher Thanh has a lot of responsibility as she is responsible for the education of her deaf students and for preparing them for their future.

Teacher Thanh confided that she has cried many times during nearly 30 years of working as a teacher for deaf children. She has cried because of the suffering and misfortune that these children have been experiencing . Therefore, she has been exerting every effort to get closer to these unfortunate children in order to provide more care for them, and use innovative teaching methods in the classroom to help them make learning easier and more effective. Love and compassion for her students inspire teacher Thanh to explore different ways of connecting to them, as well as help them stabilize their perception and behavior, and absorb the knowledge faster through sign language.

However, their knowledge absorption is very slow due to several reasons such as the shortage of teaching facilities and equipment dedicated to deaf children. Teacher Thanh’s love brings patience in teaching her students who repeat grades in an attempt to help them master the knowledge of sign language precisely and firmly.

In her efforts to help deaf children integrate into the living and learning environment of the Village, she regularly exchanges with their relatives and the village's staff to learn about personality and psychology of her students. Teacher Thanh’s perseverance and unconditional love help her students do better in school and act more kindly and politely toward others, including teachers, visitors, older adults, as well as develop true and emotional intimacy with their friends, and consider their friends to be their "second family”.

Every night, teacher Thanh still diligently prepares her lesson plans, and explores the best teaching approach and methods for increasing student learning after her students go to sleep.

Ms. Le Phuong Thao, the Deputy Director of the Village of Hope remarked: “Teacher Thanh has stuck around with the village since its establishment, and she has helped to equip her students with the skills to succeed in life, have a better future, and fully integrate into the society. She always loves her deaf students and treats them like her own children. She is planting the seed of hope for deaf children.”

The love and compassion of teachers and the staff of the Village have helped many children find a stable job and build their happy families after graduation and leaving the village. Many of them have returned to the village where they were taken care of and taught to provide support for the children living here to help them to be confident to continue their way of life.

Reporting by LINH DAN – Translating by H.L