Ninh Binh, the land that taught me to love.

Contest Entry Code: ee4785670c8c41b1a7255028ffcd9431

Unit: Individual

Place of creation: Hamlet 7, Xã Khánh Hội, Ninh Bình, Việt Nam

My childhood was spent in a thatched-roof, mud-walled house, where, during stormy nights, family was everything. Every time a storm came, I'd watch my parents each clinging to a pillar supporting the house, afraid it would collapse. My three siblings and I would be placed in a large basket, covered with a raincoat, and pushed under the bed – the safest place. After the storms came floods, and my parents' feet would ache and itch from the water. My three siblings and I would be placed on a high table in the middle of the house, surrounded by water, and all day long our only job was chasing ducks away to prevent them from pecking at the walls. At that time, a dream began to sprout in my young heart: "If only I were Mị Châu, the daughter of the eighteenth King Hùng Vương, I would marry Thủy Tinh so there would be no more storms, thunder, or floods, and my parents and the villagers would no longer have to suffer…" Now, as an adult, I know that dream doesn't need to come true. It's not because the storms have stopped, but because I've found a strength even greater than Water: the strength of human kindness. No matter how fierce the storms, they can't drown human kindness; in the midst of it all, it strengthens bonds, "when one horse is in pain, the whole herd suffers." When I think back on those stormy days, I no longer feel pain, but only happiness and pride. Happiness because I had a sheltered childhood, growing up in love, and pride because the blood of Lac Hong in my heart taught me how to transform storms into the strength of human kindness.