Ahead lie the mountains and forests; behind, the cashew orchards lie ruined, devastated and bare. ĐẠ NHAR – We set foot here on just such a day!

Đạ Nhar – Children Sing Together

By chance we met a group of 3–4 little children with baskets on their backs and knives, hoes and sickles in their hands, walking briskly, with no hats on their heads and no shoes on their feet. Curious, we stopped and asked where they were going, and the oldest of the group answered in one breath:

– We're going up to the forest, where else? Just to find some wild nhíp greens to eat, our tummies are so hungry.
The other little ones chimed in:
– And to get mật gấu roots, wild bitter-melon vines and bamboo shoots to trade for rice too.
We were astonished; our whole group stared wide-eyed at one another, then asked:
– You're so little, how can you gather those things? Why don't you stay home to help your parents and go to school?
So they all answered at once:
– There's nothing to eat at home, miss. The cashew leaves are all scorched, there's no fruit, so there are no nuts to sell and nothing to trade for rice.
– We have to fill our tummies first before we can cram any letters in; if you sit in class hungry, your stomach growls and you can't sit still.
With that, they went off together, cheerful and eager. We heard that each of them gathers a bundle of wild greens a day and trades it for 10 thousand VND….

We sighed as we watched them walk away. At an age when children are “still too young to know hunger or worry”, the most important things for them should be studying, going to school and getting to play; and yet fate has been cruel, and the cashew crop, alas, is a total loss! What will become of these children?

Y Tam hopes that, with the generous hearts of people near and far, you will join Y Tam in carrying out the “Đạ Nhar – Children Sing Together” program in the most joyful and meaningful way, and give these little ones a festival of smiles that truly lets them be children