16 years of wandering of a woman sold as a foreign wife

(Baonghean.vn)- 16 years ago, because of her gullibility, Van Thi Nguyet (born in 1980, residing in Hamlet 8, Quynh Thach Commune, Quynh Luu District) was taken advantage of by human traffickers and tricked into being sold to China. After decades of being a wife in a foreign land, she was fortunate to be able to return home and reunite with her family.

16 years of wandering

One day in late autumn 2001, when Ms. Nguyet was working as a waitress in a cheap restaurant in Hoang Mai town, she met a strange customer with a Northern accent. After Ms. Nguyet shared her family situation, this man showed sympathy and offered to help by taking her to Hanoi to work as a worker in a textile export company owned by a relative, a job that was both leisurely and profitable.

Feeling frustrated with her current job, when hearing the stranger's offer to help, Ms. Nguyet quickly nodded without any doubt. Fearing that the opportunity would slip away, that same night, she left her work and followed the strange man to Hanoi.

During the journey, she was drugged without realizing it, and slept for many days. When she was woken up and realized she had been tricked and sold to China, it was too late.

Ms. Nguyet recounts the day she was tricked and sold

Ms. Nguyet was taken to a remote, poor land surrounded by mountains. A man came to see her and bought her for 80,000 yuan to be his wife. Ms. Nguyet's wandering journey began from there.

After a month of confinement, she and her husband went to work on the farm to earn money to pay off their debts. To get the 80,000 yuan they needed to buy her as their wife, her husband's family had to mortgage their house to borrow money from the bank. Her husband's parents completely abdicated the responsibility of paying off the debt to her and her husband.

At the age of 21, she had to be an "unwilling" wife in a foreign land, with no language barrier. Her husband's family was so poor that she had to eat millet porridge instead of rice all year round. Frustrated, she tried to commit suicide many times but could not because her husband's family always had someone watching her.

Two months after her marriage, Ms. Nguyet became pregnant. From then on, out of love for the child in her womb, she no longer dared to think about death. When her son was born, she felt somewhat comforted.

Nguyet's family on the day of return

The income of the family of 8 depends entirely on the wages of Mr. Lieu Hai Mien (Ms. Nguyet's husband). But he does not have a stable job either. Every day, Mr. Mien accepts any job that he is hired to do, such as construction work, hoeing land, or planting millet.

“My family was very poor, my husband’s family was even poorer. We were so poor that during the 16 years of marriage, I did not dare to buy myself a new set of clothes. All year round, I did not dare to buy my children a piece of pork. Only on Tet and after giving birth did I dare to cook rice to eat.

To have money to pay off the debt, my husband went away to work for hire. I stayed home to grow millet and take care of the children. Having learned how to pickle vegetables from my mother when I was still in my hometown, I went to the market to pickle old, wilted vegetables that people threw away, brought them home to cut into small pieces, pickled them, and then brought them to the market to sell for money.”

After paying off all the bank debt, Ms. Nguyet saved up money to pursue her dream of returning to her homeland.

16 years have passed in a flash, now Nguyet and her husband have two sons together (the older one is 14 years old, the younger one is 4 years old). Because of giving birth to two "princely sons", her husband's family is not satisfied. They think that if they have sons, they will not have money to get married in the future.

“Vietnamese women who were tricked and trafficked like me when they came to China, some were taken to the city to work as prostitutes, while most were taken to poor rural areas to be sold as wives. Chinese men have to spend 400,000 yuan to get a local wife. Because of poverty and not having the money to marry according to local customs, they buy Vietnamese women to be their wives. With just 50,000 to 150,000 yuan, they can buy a Vietnamese woman to be both a wife and a maid,” Ms. Nguyet shared.

After decades of wandering, she repeatedly shared her wish to return to her homeland to find her family and relatives, but was scolded. In August 2016, under the pretext of returning to her homeland to "deposit" her wife for her two sons, she was allowed by her husband's family to return to her homeland after 16 years of no news.

Reunion Day

Sitting holding his granddaughter in his arms, Mr. Van Dinh Thuan (60 years old, Nguyet's father) was still emotional on the day he met his daughter who had been missing for decades.

“I never dreamed that I would see my daughter again like this. Not only did my daughter return alone, but she also brought a son-in-law and two grandchildren. It is truly a blessing for my family for three generations. Seeing my children return healthy like this, I can close my eyes with peace of mind.”

According to Mr. Thuan, since hearing the news of his daughter's disappearance, he traveled all over Nghe An and Thanh Hoa for half a year to look for her, but then returned disappointed. Since then, because of the demands of life, he and his wife have not had the means to look for their daughter anymore, but in their hearts they always yearn, hoping that one day their daughter will return.

Mr. Thuan (Nguyet's father) recounts the day he met his daughter again.

Missing at the age of 21, it was not difficult for Ms. Nguyet to find her way back home even though after decades, everything had changed. On the day of reunion, no one said a word to each other, they just hugged each other and cried with happiness.

“I consider myself a lucky woman because even though I was tricked and sold, my husband loves me. Knowing that I was determined to return to find my family, he did not stop me. Afraid that my mother and I would not return, my husband decided to return with me. He said that wherever his wife and children were, he would be there.”

Sharing with reporters, Mr. Nguyen Sy Luc (head of Quynh Thach commune police) said. After 16 years of being missing, Ms. Nguyet was lucky to return to reunite with her family. Ms. Nguyet married a Chinese man and has two sons. Her whole family is living with her parents in the locality.

Hoang Hai