Three orphaned brothers and their grandmother's heartfelt story.
In Bac Son hamlet (Hai Loc commune), nearly 80-year-old Mrs. Ngo Thi Tan remains the sole support for her three orphaned grandchildren. After buying medicine each month, she is left with only about 150,000 VND to feed four mouths.
Lacking everything
In the early days of the new year, while many families still felt the warmth of reunion, the small house of Mrs. Ngo Thi Tan and her four grandchildren remained as quiet as ever.The house was built in 2019, with the elderly woman borrowing 25 million VND from the bank and the rest from charitable donations. To this day, she has not been able to repay the loan in full.
The old woman has three grandchildren; the oldest is 13, the youngest hasn't even started first grade yet. Their mother left their hometown many years ago and hasn't been heard from since; the children have never known who their father is. They grew up in a cramped house, confined to an old bed, worn-out clothes, and a few old books placed at the bedside. In that house, the only thing that wasn't lacking was their grandmother's love. Everything else depended on her hands; she is now nearly 80 years old.
Mr. Tan currently receives a senior citizen allowance of 500,000 VND per month. Approximately 350,000 VND of that goes towards brain-boosting medication. The remaining 150,000 VND covers food, utilities, and miscellaneous expenses for four people. Therefore, daily meals mainly consist of subsidized rice and vegetables grown in the backyard; meat and fish only appear when someone gives them to them or when they manage to sell some vegetables or shellfish.
The family is currently classified as near-poor. Besides receiving government assistance, she takes advantage of opportunities to grow and sell vegetables, earning a few tens of thousands of dong each time. Her eldest grandchild occasionally goes with the locals to the beach to gather clams, selling them to help her grandmother buy more rice.
A 13-year-old's anchor in a small house.
In that house, Cao Van Thang (13 years old) quickly understood his family's circumstances and became a pillar of support for his grandmother and two younger siblings. Outside of school hours, he followed the adults to the beach to search for clams, helped pick vegetables, gathered firewood, and did whatever work he could to earn a few tens of thousands of dong.
The small kitchen, destroyed by the storm, still hasn't been repaired. Many days, Thang lights the fire himself to cook rice, carefully saving every can of rice so that the three brothers don't have to go without a meal. Working tirelessly from morning till evening, the boy has become accustomed to his role as the eldest brother in the family – quiet but always stepping up to help when his grandmother is tired.
Behind that small frame was a 13-year-old boy, covered in mud after a day of gathering clams, his eyes still bright and resolute. Returning from the beach, he would help his grandmother prepare dinner for his younger siblings.
When asked about his aspirations, Thang simply said he wanted to finish high school so he could have a stable job later and take care of his grandmother and younger siblings. His dream isn't grand, but given his current circumstances, it's a long journey.
Mr. Cao Van Hung, head of Bac Son hamlet, Hai Loc commune, said: "The local authorities and organizations have repeatedly shown concern and provided support to the best of their ability, but due to limited resources, they have not been able to help the family fundamentally improve their living conditions. The family is currently classified as near-poor."
At nearly 80 years old, Mrs. Tan still has to wake up early every morning to pick vegetables to sell at the market. After buying medicine, she folds the remaining money for the whole month and puts it in a small box by her bedside. That money has to be divided among three meals for four people for 30 days.
Saying goodbye to the four of them, leaving the house built with borrowed money seven years ago, the children's voices still chirped on the porch. The grandmother sat by the stove, silently opening the rice jar in the corner of the house, measuring out the rice for the coming week. That jar of rice determined every meal for the four of them.
All support should be sent to:
Ms. Ngo Thi Tan: Bac Son Hamlet, Hai Loc Commune, Nghe An Province.
Or via:
Hai Loc Commune Women's Union;
Representative: Ms. Dau Thi Minh Hong - President of the Association
Phone number: 0899628793;
Account number: 120000150747
Account holder: Hai Loc Commune Women's Union
Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank)
Contact us to verify the information:
Journalist Nguyen Ngoc Dung, phone number: 0913.064.060.
