San has spent most of his life at OneSky’s Early Learning Centre (ELC) in Da Nang, Vietnam, with his mom enrolling him as a baby. Over the years, OneSky’s teachers have helped San to overcome his shyness and struggles with vocabulary.
Today, after four years of OneSky family-like love and care, the nearly 5-year-old boy is thriving and ready to enter community school on par with his peers!
We know that children flourish when surrounded by caring adults. In Vietnam, OneSky’s programs are providing more young children like San access to quality early care and education while also offering support to their families.
San’s mother, Thanh, is a single parent from a village 300km away who left relatives behind and came to Da Nang to work in a textile factory. They live together in a small rented apartment far from extended family and with hardly any toys for San. During the past year’s difficult lockdowns, they both missed the ELC’s big open space, educational facilities, and in-person community. But the support and family-like care they found at the ELC never stopped.
“Even during the lockdown, the teachers were still in touch with us regularly, with online lessons several evenings a week. It was an amazing feeling knowing that we belong to such a loving community,” recalled Thanh.
“When we received a food donation from OneSky just before the Lunar New Year, I burst into tears. We couldn’t afford to go back to our hometown for Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) so we were incredibly happy to receive the gift, especially as the food was made by the OneSky staff – it showed that we’re not simply migrant workers, but part of the OneSky family here in Da Nang.
“I am the only source of income for our family and must work 12 hours a day at the factory. I am so relieved and grateful that my son is being taken care of by OneSky when I am not able to. San is everything I have, his happiness means the world to me.”
And San is happy. His smile says it all. As he readies for entry to a local community school starting this fall, on par with his peers, both his mom and OneSky teachers are confident he will reach many more developmental milestones.
