Husband goes to sea, wife is a bricklayer

(Baonghean) - Coming to the coastal areas of Quynh Long, An Hoa, Son Hai - Quynh Luu communes, we were really surprised to see the scene of weak women building houses quickly.

Da part of the husbands follow the seafaring profession, each with their own circumstances but they all exude the beauty of coastal women who love to work, are hard-working, and dare to take on even the hardest jobs to build a family home. I suddenly remember a poem by an author: “You asked me why I chose the construction profession?/ What’s fun about the sun and wind of the construction site/ Dark skin and calloused hands…”

Late afternoon, the wind from the seaport blew into the Hon Cau area of ​​Trong Hoa village (Quynh Long) and was bone-chillingly cold, but the group of masons, all women, were busy, some holding trowels, some helping with the plastering. We saw a level 4 house with a concrete roof in the process of completion, the walls were mainly built with straight planks.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bay is called the "foreman", respected by those in the profession because she has talented hands, builds quickly and beautifully, and "plasters" the walls very "sharply". Ms. Bay is standing precariously on the scaffolding, one hand holding a trowel, the other hand holding a ruler, working on the wall happily telling the story of her profession: "After working as a construction worker for five years, at first I specialized in "carrying buckets and cement", after learning for two years, I decided to become the "foreman". Gathering about a dozen women in the village, then whoever hired me built whatever I wanted. At first, we only dared to take on small houses and fence repairs, but gradually, with experience and high skills, we took on building both flat houses and high-rise buildings". Ms. Bay pointed out: “The level 4 house we are building has a total area of ​​over 80 square meters, only 8 workers are needed to build and help with construction, about 2.5 months to complete and put into use. According to Ms. Bay, in addition to building a house, you have to know how to calculate to advise the homeowner to buy enough materials such as cement, steel, etc., without excess waste. During the construction process, you have to calculate the structure and safety of the house. If you build a multi-storey house, you have to calculate how deep the foundation is and how many pillars are needed to support the house.

According to Ms. Bay: “The bricklaying profession is hard for men, and even harder for women, not to mention that this profession is always lurking with dangers, stepping on nails and bruising hands and feet is common. During the hot season, all day at the construction site, the south Lao wind blows hot and stings our faces. Knowing that, we women accept it because this is a profession that helps our family improve their lives.” Knowing that Ms. Bay’s family is also difficult, with young children, a sick mother, and a husband who goes to sea all year round, not enough to feed several mouths, she was determined to follow this male profession.

Ms. Tran Thi Nam was born in 1985, from Quynh Long. Stepping out from the pile of dusty mortar, she confided: "We were assigned 4 main workers specializing in construction, 3 workers specializing in construction assistants, but in reality, when needed, we still help and build at the same time. No one differentiates between construction workers and construction assistants because everyone has difficult circumstances to follow this hard and arduous profession." Ms. Nam is skillful, building so skillfully that she doesn't need to follow the "wire", the mortar is neat and tidy wherever she builds, not falling off, very economical for the homeowner.

Ms. Nam smiled: "We are striving to build on schedule so that the homeowner can stay in the new house during Tet and the workers will be paid to cover their expenses during Tet." Ms. Nam's husband used to be a salt worker, then he followed the seafaring profession. In recent years, the seafaring profession has been unprofitable, with some trips ending empty-handed because the boat could not catch any fish. All the mouths to feed have to rely on Ms. Nam's trowel and ruler. According to Ms. Le Thi Loi - a construction worker: The work is hard, the income is not high, but in return, the two sons, one in grade 8, the other in grade 10, are both obedient, good at studying and love their parents, that is a great encouragement for me to continue working as a construction worker. Ms. Tran Thi Van - the owner of the house under construction said: The advantage of female bricklayers is that they do not drink alcohol, work "early, come home late", build carefully and firmly.

Thanks to its reputation in construction, Ms. Bay's team of workers has spread far and wide. Her team now has over 20 female workers, has built dozens of level 4 houses and 5 high-rise houses, such as the high-rise house of Mr. Tran Toa, Mr. Nguyen Lac in An Hoa commune - Quynh Luu, currently Ms. Bay's team is completing 3 other level 4 houses. Ms. Bay said: The average income of the women is 100,000 VND/day, the amount is not large but receiving many projects, having work all year round is very good.

In An Hoa commune, we came across women pouring the foundation of a new house by the roadside. This is the construction team of Ms. Ho Thi Cuc, from Hong Phong hamlet, An Hoa commune. Ms. Cuc was born in 1984, but she already has a strong team of over 80 female bricklayers and masons. She is taking on 10 new houses at once, including high-rise buildings.

Ms. Ho Thi Cuc's team is actively building houses in An Hoa commune.

Ms. Cuc said: “At first, I worked as a construction worker, then became a “main worker” and became a “boss” specializing in civil construction contracts. At first, many people looked down on me and said: “What do women know about building houses? If you give them the job, the house will collapse…” But after only 8 years of establishment, we have not been able to finish all the work. Every year, we accept to build 15-20 houses, of which over 50 have been built in the communes of Quynh Ba, Quynh Nghia, Tan Thang… We mainly recruit female workers from coastal areas, they are easy to manage and diligent in their work.

In general, our team of workers does not hesitate to do any work from carrying water, mixing mortar, mixing mortar, carrying bricks, digging soil, etc. Most of the "masonry trowel masters are self-taught and have experience as masons. In general, this profession requires health, dexterity and experience to be able to hold a trowel and become a master mason". Ms. Cuc is currently learning more from construction engineers about how to read drawings and structural drawings to build more solid high-rise buildings. According to Ms. Cuc, for a long time, when building houses in the countryside, even though they are high-rise, most people do not have design drawings. Recently, many households with conditions have hired design drawings and required contractors to build according to the design. Therefore, one must learn to be able to read to understand, and if there are things that one does not understand, one must continue to read more technical books and ask specialized construction engineers.

Ms. Ho Thi Hoa in Hoang Phong hamlet - An Hoa shared: Ms. Cuc, in addition to being the head of the construction team, always holds a trowel and instructs the sisters on how to build. Before building, we must ensure technical quality such as dipping or watering the bricks before building to make them saturated with water, and spraying water on the wall after building to prevent cracks. Before mixing the concrete, we must clean the rocks and gravel.

We observed that the construction workers had a hard time, but the female construction workers had an even harder time. Wherever the construction workers were, the construction workers were there to do all kinds of work such as sifting sand and rocks, mixing mortar, and carrying mortar to serve the construction workers. Ms. Mac Thi Lanh in Bac Loi hamlet - An Hoa said: “Every day we work for more than 8 hours, calculating the amount of mortar, bricks, and stones lifted up and down every day, sometimes up to a ton. Even though it is hard, Ms. Lanh still smiles: Construction workers also have a hard time, they have to stand on precarious heights all day, in general, after working all day, they feel sore all over, but when they wake up, the pain is gone and they continue. Because this job is higher than the salt making job, the salt making job is very unstable. In recent years, storms have destroyed all the salt fields, rising water has flooded the salt warehouse, salt farmers are in trouble, luckily we have this job as a construction worker to make a living”.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Quyet - Chairman of An Hoa Commune People's Committee said: An Hoa is a poor commune, life has long depended mainly on salt making, boys follow the seafaring profession. In recent years, the salt and seafaring professions have been unstable, especially the salt profession has had to stop since autumn, so there is a surplus of female workers, so the establishment of masonry groups by women has created jobs for hundreds of female workers in the whole commune. Currently, the whole commune has 5 masonry groups, 2 of which are mainly female workers. Thanks to the masonry profession, many households have improved their lives, have money to build houses, cover living expenses, and send their children to school.

However, female bricklayers are still facing many difficulties. When they are sick, they have to pay for their own medical expenses. Working in an environment that affects their health, such as having their limbs exposed to lime and cement, and the dangers of occupational accidents, workers sometimes have to work at high altitudes in high-rise buildings. However, protection and insurance are still lacking, scaffolding is only temporary, and work accidents can happen at any time. Most of the bricklayers are not properly trained, mainly growing from experience, and are not equipped with knowledge or basic skills in occupational safety.

Saying goodbye to the female masons at dusk, I still saw their silhouettes immersed in the cold rain. They were like diligent bees, silently building many works to beautify the homeland.

Van Truong