The lives of migrant workers through photos.

On the morning of June 20th, at the Vietnam Women's Museum in Hanoi, the Center for Development and Integration (CDI), with funding from the Asia Foundation (TAF) and the Office of Labor Rights of the U.S. Department of State, held the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition "Working Away From Home: My Life - My Story."

A photograph from the exhibition.

According to Ms. Ngo Thi Minh Huong, Director of CDI, the exhibition features nearly 60 of the most meaningful photos selected from 540 photos submitted by workers participating in the "Photos and the Life of Migrant Workers" contest.

Through photographs and stories shared by the workers themselves, the exhibition will help connect migrant workers more closely with the public and policymakers.

These photographs realistically reflect the lives of migrant workers, with their loneliness, exhaustion, precarious income, insecurity, and inadequately cared-for children. Yet, alongside this, we can still see glimpses of the small joys these workers find on their journey to make a living.

Typical examples include the photograph "A Brief Nap" by Du Thi Mo (Hai Duong), depicting workers snatching a precious short nap due to frequent overtime; the photograph "Occupational Safety and Health - Workers' Lives" by Tran Quynh (Hanoi), showing workers accepting dangerous jobs without any protective equipment to make a living; or the photograph "Not Getting a Scratch Is a Blessing" by Le Manh Hung (Binh Thuan), showing children lying sprawled on the floor in an unlicensed daycare center; and the photograph "Mid-Autumn Festival in the Factory" by Nguyen Thi Nhi Hoa (Bac Ninh), with simple star-shaped lanterns, a few balloons, and the smile of a female worker, capturing the natural and warm atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival...

On this occasion, the organizing committee awarded prizes for the "Photos and the Life of Migrant Workers" contest, with the special prize going to the photograph "Lunch of Two Fish Sellers" by Nguyen Thi Mai (Hanoi), depicting two women selling ornamental fish on the street sharing a single loaf of bread during a slow lunch. The loaf of bread symbolizes the lives of free migrants: unstable income, many risks, meals that are sometimes enough to eat, and sometimes even meals that they dare not dare to eat at all.

Author Chau Mai Sang (Ho Chi Minh City) won first prize with a photograph depicting a child under 5 years old guarding a bicycle while an elderly woman collects cardboard from a trash can, all while the parents work as laborers far away and are unable to take their child along.

Additionally, there were two second prizes, three third prizes, ten consolation prizes, one prize for the most beautiful and meaningful photograph of a female worker, and one prize for the most impactful photograph depicting the lives of female workers.

The photo exhibition "Working Away From Home: My Life - My Story" will run for two days, June 20-21, in Hanoi and will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on June 27-28.

According to Dantri