THE JOURNEY OF OVERCOMING ONESELF FROM “A SECOND CHANCE”
“The bright future belongs to those who never stop trying!” is a motivation quote for many young people, especially those who are struggling in difficult circumstances in life. That quote has been proven by the journey of overcoming hardships and the success of Ho Van Cam. From a poor boy in an isolated countryside, Cam has overcome many difficulties and challenges to become an experienced programmer, a person with a generous heart and a solid support for his family.
A childhood of hardship, temporarily putting aside dreams
Ho Van Cam was born in a pure farming family with 6 siblings in Quang Tri, a land that has nurtured many generations of resilient and indomitable young people. His childhood was associated with countless difficulties and deprivations. Cam’s family belonged to the “sustainable” poor household of the village, his parents worked in the fields every day with an unstable income which was not enough to cover the daily meals. His house was just a simple, small, leaky stilt house that “sheltered from the sun and rain”. On stormy days, Cam and his family always had to worry, be anxious and constantly had to find ways to reinforce their house.
Despite the hardships of life, Ho Van Cam always nurtured the dream of studying. He studied very hard and tried his best to be admitted to two universities of education in Hue. However, with his family situation at that time, continuing to walk on the path of knowledge was a very “luxurious” thing for Cam. Therefore, although he was very regretful, he had to temporarily put aside his dream of studying.
Overcome himself, turn the dreams into reality.
People often say, when one door closes, another one opens. A second chance came unexpectedly to Ho Van Cam when he accidentally learned about PNV through a friend of his, and Cam knew that this was an opportunity for him to continue his studies, an opportunity to rise up and escape poverty. Therefore, Cam applied to take the entrance exam for the PNV Information Technology program. And it seemed that all of Ho Cam’s efforts were rewarded when he received a phone call that made him cry with emotion, that was the announcement “Ho Van Cam has won the PNV’s Information Technology Scholarship”.
Looking back on his learning journey, Cam shared with emotion, in the first classes, he encountered countless difficulties because there were many new things that he had never known before. When he heard about concepts such as information technology, computer programming, the naive student thought that what he would learn was “to fix computers, disassemble components”, not to learn software, learn Code,… The knowledge learned at PNV was also completely new and different from what Cam had learned before, making him feel overwhelmed and unable to keep up with the curriculum. In addition, with his background as a boy from an ethnic minority, Cam faced many obstacles in communicating in the common language, which made him become shy and no longer confident as before. The climax was something that he had never thought of before, a “first shock of his life” named “Retake the exam!”, a notice with the name Ho Van Cam taped to the stairs for a long time, pushed him to give up this education path.
“At that time, I was very ashamed of my friends and thought about dropping out of school because I was afraid I couldn’t keep up with them. But I was very lucky to meet Mr. Nghia, BDao, they were the ones who helped me correct my pronunciation, word usage. I met Ms. Lien, an Education Specialist at PNV and listened to her sharing that, ‘no one in this life is perfect, life is not smooth, if you are a strong or courageous person to go on that path’. Thanks to the help of everyone, I had the motivation to focus on studying, and I realized that, it turned out that it was not as difficult as I thought”, Cam shared.
It seems that those difficult challenges once again gave Cam a “second chance” to look back at himself, and from there, he could draw on his own learning experiences to be able to move forward with his peers. That was also the time when Cam realized that he was not alone, but at PNV there were always many friends, teachers and mentors who were ready to accompany and help him, as long as Cam still tried and did not give up on himself.
Confidently stepping forward, towards new opportunities in life
After graduating from PNV in 2015, Cam was hired by KiDo, a leading group in producing and selling confectionery in Ho Chi Minh City. Here, he demonstrated his ability and talent in the field of software, sales applications and website. Currently, Cam is in charge of the quality control (QC) team of the company, responsible for ensuring that the software products meet the standards and high quality.
Cam said that the knowledge and skills that he learned at PNV were an important foundation for him to be able to apply when he graduated and went to work. However, he also did not stop learning and improving his deeper knowledge to meet the needs and requirements of the job. In addition, PNV also helped him develop soft skills such as confidence, communication, presentation, teamwork. These are very necessary skills for his current team leader position.
Not only a successful programmer, Cam also became a solid support and a trustworthy son of his family. When he received his first salary, he saved up and renovated his house into a real home, helping his parents have a more comfortable, happy life and not have to do hard work anymore. He also equipped his family with basic and necessary items such as buying a TV or a refrigerator for his family, so that on special occasions, the whole family can gather together around a warm and loving family meal.
Stepping out of the PNV door, besides the professional knowledge, Cam also learned the core values of PNV, which are solidarity and responsibility, a spirit of “pay it forward” towards receiving to give, making the society better by replicating the good values that she initially received. Every year, she regularly participates in charitable activities of the Smile Association, a group founded by Cam and her PNV classmates with meaningful activities such as supporting cancer patients, children at SOS village, or helping the difficult circumstances in remote and isolated areas and inspiring them to encourage them to go to school.
Cam shared, PNV was an important turning point for him to confidently open the technology gate of his life, and without those “second chances”, Cam was sure that he would not have today, could not help his family and people around him as now. He always appreciated and was grateful for the opportunities that PNV gave him as well as many other students. Cam believed that with perseverance, effort and passion, nothing was impossible.
Join Us to Empower Vietnamese Youth
PNV is a non-governmental organization, established with the goal of supporting students with difficult circumstances to access high-quality education. PNV has helped hundreds of students, including Ho Van Cam, change their lives and achieve success in their careers and lives. Let us join hands in fulfilling PNV’s noble mission by reaching out to Passerelles Numériques Vietnam at ero.vietnam@passerellesnumeriques.org.