The miserable life of a man with 11 children in Nghe An

Through an introduction, we found the house of Mr. Pay Van Thuan, residing in Cha Lum village, Yen Tinh commune (Tuong Duong). Entering the house, the first thing we easily noticed was a shabby, dilapidated 2-room wooden frame house roofed with palm leaves. There was nothing valuable in the house, only a few pots used for cooking.

Mr. Thuan's house is located at the foot of the mountain.

In this Thai village, if you ask Mr. Thuan (55 years old) and his wife Luong Thi T. (43 years old), everyone will know that the whole family can "establish a football team". According to Mr. Vi Van Khiem - Chairman of Yen Tinh Commune People's Committee, this is the family with the most children in this area. "And this is also one of the poorest households in the commune", Mr. Khiem said.

More than 2 years ago, unable to bear the poverty, Mrs. T. took her 2 children and left home to find a new life in another district. Since then, Mr. Thuan has been living alone. The road leading to Mr. Thuan's house is winding and bumpy like his life. The shack at the foot of the mountain is dilapidated and damp. Inside, there is not a single asset worth 100,000 VND.

The house is now dilapidated.

“When it rained, the whole family got soaked. But things were much more difficult in the past,” Mr. Thuan said. His neighbors took pity on him and cut bamboo from the forest to build this hut for him three years ago.

Like many others of his age in this village, Mr. Thuan did not have the opportunity to study. Growing up, he only knew how to rely on farming and going to the forest. When he grew up, he got married to Ms. T. - who was just over 15 years old at that time. "Before, the couple lived in the fields to work and produce, often being close to each other, so their desires arose, but they did not master birth control methods, so their plans failed," Mr. Thuan explained why they had so many children.

After his wife left, Mr. Thuan had to live alone.

This man said that it was because of ignorance that he had so many children. With so many children, even though he and his wife worked hard from morning to night, they still did not have enough to eat, not to mention their children's education. After 11 births, 2 of Mr. Thuan's children unfortunately passed away when they were young. Also because of poverty and hunger, none of his children had a chance to study properly. When they were in the 3rd or 4th grade, when they were just old enough to know how to read and write, they all had to drop out of school to follow their parents to the fields to earn a living.

When his eighth child was born, Mr. Thuan named her Pay Thi Giang Gio. He said that at that time, he realized that having many children was very "bad" and was the cause of poverty. He also did not have enough education to know that the name even had spelling errors compared to its meaning. In addition to this name, many of Mr. Thuan's children were also given quite special names such as Pay Thua Ke, Pay Sinh Nhat...

In Mr. Thuan's house, there is no property worth 100,000 VND.

“I have many children but now I live alone. Because life is too hard, my wife left me for another man 2 years ago, and each of my children has gone to find a living in a different place,” Mr. Thuan added.

The oldest child of the couple was born in 1992, followed by 1995, 1997, 2000, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008 and the youngest in 2014. He has no job and spends all year round digging up fields to grow corn and cassava in exchange for rice. With so many children, it is understandable that hunger and poverty often haunt his family.

Among his children, 3 are married, and some are wandering around to earn their own living, some in Thanh Hoa, some in Hanoi, some in Bac Ninh...

Because he used to work too hard to earn money to feed his children, he often gets sick and can no longer go to the fields. Sometimes, neighbors or relatives feel sorry for him and give him some rice, salt, and fish sauce to help him survive.

Talking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Pay Van Thong - Head of Cha Lum village (Yen Tinh commune) said that sometimes Mr. Thuan's children also stopped by to give him some rice to eat. Although his children are married, they are not well off, so the support is only modest. "Previously, the population officer came many times to guide his wife on family planning, but neither of them understood. When taking medicine, they kept telling him to take it in the wrong order, so it was not effective. As for the IUD, every time it was inserted, it would fall out...", Mr. Thong shook his head in disappointment.