First day as a soldier

On the morning of July 15th, at 10:30 AM, the Minh Tri team arrived in Minh Tri commune. With a warm welcome from the commune's leadership, the youth union, and the volunteers, we quickly took over the area and divided up our "camps".The group was divided into three houses. House 1, led by Luu Minh Nguyet, was located at Uncle Thai Quan's house; House 2 was assigned to Nguyen Dang Thanh at Aunt Nguyen Thi Bay's house; and House 3 was assigned to Hoang Minh, who had the honor of staying at the secretary's house. At 11:30, after eating a one-of-a-kind instant noodle meal, the members quickly settled into their positions and "slept" until the team leader's whistle. Everyone was probably tired after the long journey. At 2:30, we woke up and greeted the school's Youth Union leaders. Meeting the teachers, we volunteers felt like hungry babies meeting their mothers, and indeed, the instant noodles from lunch had vanished without a trace. Then, we had to explain things, point out that the garden was overgrown with weeds, and the toilet had no door. The parents smiled kindly and affectionately at their children, then declared: "You have to clean up everything yourself to live here!" Sigh, we had no one to rely on! 3 PM. After receiving loving support from their parents, the girls weeded and cleaned the house, while the boys were given the important task of closing the toilet door and "creating" a new clothes drying rack. Deputy leader Thìn even took the opportunity to climb a pomelo tree to pick morning glory flowers for cooking soup in the afternoon. At 4:10 PM, all the volunteers from Minh Trí group visited neighboring families to get acquainted. Among them were the families of Mr. Nguyễn Văn Quân, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thái, Mr. Huy – Vàng, and Mr. Dư – Thức. Although it was called a visit, every time they spoke, they would ask: "Do you have a sickle or a hoe? Can we borrow them?" At 6 PM, after struggling with the new stove, the first meal was finally ready. At 7:15 PM, the whole group ate at house number 2. Afterwards, all the volunteers gathered at the village cultural center. Attending the meeting was Mr. Bùi Văn Duân, Deputy Secretary and Head of Lập Trí village. Mr. Hanh - Deputy Head of Lap Tri Village; Mr. Phong, Deputy Secretary of the Lap Tri Village Youth Union. The young performing arts talents of the group were tested and evaluated against the performing arts talents of Minh Tri. Finally, Mr. Bui Van Duan announced the specific tasks for local officials participating in activities with the volunteer student group and announced the schedule of some activities such as: children's summer activities; opening skills training classes; cleaning… At 11:30 PM, the whole group was woken up by a prank by the caretaker Thu Trang. While still dreaming of a prince, she saw someone lurking in, it turned out to be Deputy Caretaker Thin, the whole family laughed and then fell asleep again without realizing it.