The story of a Nghe An girl who wandered for more than 20 years looking for a way home

Letter to mother of "daughter living far away from home"

Recent,social networkFacebook has been circulating a letter to her mother, believed to be from Ms. Vo Thi Bac in Cam Hoa village, Cam Son commune (Anh Son). The handwritten letter, short and undated, begins with the words: “Daughter living far away from home”. The next line: “Dear: Mother Nguyen Thi Ha, brother Vo Van Thai, hamlet 1, Cam Son commune, Thanh Son, Nghe An”.

The letter to her mother that has been circulating on social media is said to be written by Ms. Vo Thi Bac. Photo taken from Facebook

Next is a note that if the family receives the letter, they should contact the phone number listed or add the phone number of Nguyen Thi Luyen on Zalo. In the lines below, the writer writes the names of her four younger siblings. Finally, there is information about the writer: “Vo Thi Bac is 39 years old. She was only 17 when she left. She has not contacted her family for 22 years.”

Hearing that relatives in the countryside had received a letter from Ms. Vo Thi Bac, we went up there.Cam Son commune(Mr. Son) with the desire to understand the origin of the story. As soon as she arrived, Ms. Tran Thi Loc - President of the Commune Women's Union said: "Ms. Vo Thi Bac's parents have both passed away, her siblings are also scattered to different places, some have died in accidents. The people close to Ms. Bac's family are Ms. Vi Thi Thiet and Vi Thi Dinh, her aunts".

Ms. Vi Thi Thiet talks about her sister's family situation (Ms. Vi Thi Ha). Photo: Cong Kien

At first, when asked about her niece, Ms. Vi Thi Thiet was shy and did not want to share. Encouraged by the village chief Lang Van Tham, Ms. Thiet talked openly and expressed her hope that Ms. Bac would be helped and have the opportunity to return to her hometown to visit her relatives after 22 years of separation.

“Bac’s parents have 5 children, Bac is the eldest daughter. Bac’s family was very poor at that time, they had no land or house to live in, they had to live on a boat. Unable to study, Bac had to go to Con Cuong town to wash dishes to earn money to help his parents as soon as he grew up. Then he was tricked and sold to China, and has never returned. Recently, I contacted him via Zalo, he said he was there, had a husband and children, wanted to come back to visit but had no way to do so yet.”

Mrs. Vi Thi Thiet

Piecing together the information from Mrs. Thiet and Mrs. Dinh, we were able to imagine part of Vo Thi Bac's family's situation. Her father, Mr. Vo Van Binh, was a boatman, fishing on the Lam River. Her mother, Mrs. Vi Thi Ha (Ms. Bac misremembered and asked her to write in the letter as Nguyen Thi Ha) was from Cam Hoa village, working as a ferryman to take passengers across the river. The two met and got married. Having no land to live on, the couple took a small boat as their shelter.

Relatives were happy to receive information about Ms. Vo Thi Bac. Photo: Cong Kien

Mrs. Ha gave birth to 5 children (3 girls, 2 boys), life was extremely difficult, hard, always lacking food. As the eldest daughter, Bac was not allowed to go to school, had to stay home to help her parents take care of her younger siblings. When she grew up a little, Bac went to town.Con Cuongworking for a restaurant, every month when I come home I have money to give to my parents.

At the tender age of 17 and lacking education, the girl from Cam Hoa village was easily lured by a woman from Don Phuc commune (Con Cuong) to cross the border to China with many promises. Once in China, Ms. Bac and several others were kept in a closed room.

Envelope sent to mother and aunt (Mrs. Vi Thi Thiet) by Ms. Vo Thi Bac in 2015. Photo: Cong Kien

Realizing that they had been tricked, she and one of the group members managed to escape and coincidentally met a man who helped them and later married her. She gave birth to two children, but after a while of living together, the couple broke up due to emotional problems. Currently, Ms. Bac is living with her second husband (who has two children) in Henan province (China).

"One day soon I will come visit you"

Searching through old letters, Mrs. Vi Thi Thiet's hands trembled, her eyes filled with tears. She shared: "My grandson Bac suddenlymissing, Ha and her husband missed each other so much that they stood at the bow of the boat every day, looking across the river and waiting. Not long after, they passed away in an accident. When they died, they refused to close their eyes because they were still immersed in their longing. 6 years ago, Bac sent a letter to his mother and aunt. He still did not know that his parents were no longer with him..."

The envelope Ms. Vo Thi Bac sent with the letter to Ms. Vi Thi Thiet. Photo: Cong Kien

Mrs. Thiet took out two envelopes, one with the words “Sender: Vo Thi Bac” and “Recipient: Nguyen Thi Ha, address: Hamlet 1, Cam Son, Anh Son District, Nghe An Province”. The second envelope had the recipient “Aunt Nguyen Thi Thiet”, the same address as the first envelope, and had a handwritten Chinese line added. Inside, along with the letter to Mrs. Thiet, there was a photo of Bac and an envelope with handwritten Chinese lines.

Ms. Bac said that the Chinese characters in the letter were her address, and Ms. Thiet only needed to write the letter in a pre-addressed envelope and send it to the post office to receive it. But when she sent it, the staffpost officeThe recipient's address was written in the wrong place, it should have been in the lower right corner but was written in the upper left corner. If she sent the letter, there was a high chance it would be returned, so Mrs. Thiet had to return home. Ms. Bac still did not know her family's situation after the day she disappeared.

Letter to mother of Ms. Vo Thi Bac in 2015. Photo: Cong Kien

As a child, she never went to school, never learned to read or write, and was away from home for too long, so Ms. Bac had a mistake about her mother's and aunt Thiet's last names. The two letters sent to her mother and aunt were likely written by a Vietnamese person in the same situation, and there was a mix-up in the initial sounds in the pronunciation of some northern provinces.

The letter Ms. Bac sent to her mother has a passage: "Dear mother, time has passed.playfar away, worried about the distance. Mom thought I was missing, right Mom? But I have no culture andeelSo wherever I go, I don't tell you, Mom. Many times, I think about you, but I don't know what to do. I hope youriverThank you, Mom. Mom, I forgot to ask about your health at the beginning of the letter. Is the whole family well? As for me, I am still healthy abroad. Now I have a beautiful husband and two sons. The older one is 9 years old, the younger one is 7 years old…”.

Letter to her aunt (Mrs. Vi Thi Thiet) by Ms. Vo Thi Bac in 2015. Photo: Cong Kien

Next, Ms. Bac said that her life is quite comfortable financially, not as difficult as at home, so her mother and siblings do not have to worry about her. And continued to confide:“I let you know that I am still alive. One day soon I will come back to visit you and I will talk a lot.”. After the line wishing the family good health, the signature added a few words: “This is Henan China".

When reading the letter on social media, Ms. Thiet's children were shocked.connectwith Ms. Bac. “The first time we saw Bac after 22 years apart, my whole family burst into tears. Bac asked to see his parents, when he learned that they had passed away, he collapsed... Of his four younger siblings, one has passed away, two are living in Gia Lai, one is working far away, all in difficult and arduous circumstances. I hope he can soon return home, meet his siblings and relatives, and burn incense before his parents' souls" - Ms. Thiet confided.

The house of Vo Thi Bac's four younger siblings has been abandoned for many years. Photo: Cong Kien

“After Ms. Bac went missing, Mr. Binh and his wife passed away one after another in an accident, and the four children had to rely on their maternal relatives. Their uncle gave them a piece of garden, and the commune and village supported the construction of a small house for the orphans. Now the house has been abandoned for a long time, because Ms. Bac’s siblings have also left their hometown to work and live far away…”

Mr. Lang Van Tham - Head of Cam Hoa village, Cam Son commune (Anh Son)