A Child’s Dream Sets Sail
Acer Vietnam | Enabling Boat
Children from impoverished coastal villages in Vietnam lack opportunities and access to technology. In partnership with Microsoft and the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD) and the Quang Ninh Provincial Government, Acer Vietnam launched the ‘Enabling Boat’ project, which provides information technology and computer science training to hundreds of children in remote coastal villages in Ha Long City via a vessel.
In the first class, we came across Vu Thuy Linh, a six-year-old student at Minh Khai Primary and Secondary School in Ha Long City. She was born in a fishing village in Ha Long Bay, but after the city enforced a migration policy, Linh and her family were placed in a resettlement area in Ha Phong Ward along the coastline. The family’s source of income is based on the sea. Her mother brings tourists to Ha Long Bay by rowboat while her father dives to capture fish. Having a computer is a luxury for anyone in these resettlement areas.
“The first time I stepped on the enabling boat,” said Linh, “I was very happy because I saw the computer on the table. I just wanted to sit down and use it all the time.” Together with her clasxsates, Linh participated in an information technology and computer science contest with a proposal on her dream to become an IT teacher, and won the B prize. “I have a dream to become an IT teacher to use information technology as wings for disadvantaged children, like how teachers in the project “Enabling Boat” helped me," she said.
Not only does this project provide underprivileged youth in the coastal area access to technology, it also inspires them to reach for their dreams using technology when they grow up.
