The gathering life of the 'mismatched chopsticks' in the Nam Giai forest

(Baonghean.vn) - In the morning, the 24-year-old husband took his wife, who is 12 years older than him, into the forest to pick bamboo shoots. They had one thing in common: they were illiterate.

Couple Ha Van Tai and Vi Thi Loan. Photo: Huu Vi

On the main road through Cha Lau village, Nam Giai commune, Que Phong district (Nghe An), there is a makeshift hut nestled like a watchtower. The hut is deserted, damp and dark, with two beds inside. The stove is cold with firewood. On the kitchen loft, there are a few baskets, tools used to transport wild bamboo shoots. The large, convex-screen TV is an asset.most valuable in this tiny tent.

Locals said this was the home of Ha Van Tai and Vi Thi Loan. They had lived in the tent since early 2016 when they moved out. Loan was living with a group of women and children in the village in a nearby stilt house. It was a rainy day, so the women and girls were off work picking bamboo shoots - the only "job" they could do to earn money. The new school year had not yet begun, so the children could only stay at home. The men were gathering somewhere in the village drinking.

The "home" of Vi Thi Loan and her husband, one generation younger than her. Photo: Ho Phuong

When asked about her birth year, the woman with a haggard face shook her head and said: “I don’t know.” When asked about her age, Loan said: “36 or 37. My husband is 21. My mother doesn’t remember my birth year,” Loan said.

Ms. Loan in Na Puc village, Mr. Tai in Chao village, Nam Giai commune, Que Phong district, got married for half a year before their parents let them live separately. The family was too poor, so separating the household and letting the children live independently was the best way they could think of to reduce the family's economic pressure. Before that, because of bank debt, the husband's parents had to sell their stilt house and forest land that they had not yet paid off. They also had to live in a tent - according to Ms. Loan.

Means of livelihood of Mr. Tai and Mrs. Loan

This unmarried couple went to Cha Lau village to borrow a piece of land from an acquaintance to build a hut. From there they began their life of foraging. In the morning, both husband and wife woke upcarrying baskets into the forest. Husband first, wife second, the two of them went to pick bamboo shoots, mushrooms, wild vegetables... Picking everything that could be sold for money to buy rice. The couplealso pay attention to avoid theseng “their” forest - that is, the protective forest to avoid being fined. Building houses on borrowed land and not having any land to plant forests or rice. Picking and gathering is the only way for Mr. Tai and Ms. Loan to make a living.

The couple had one thing they thought was “similar”: they had never been to school, so neither of them knew how to read or write. They had a household registration book and two identity cards. But no one knew what was written on these documents. Tai had a phone. He asked someone else to save his contact list. When he needed to call someone, he called the literate boys and girls in the village to help.

The "mismatched couple"'s identity card. Photo: Huu Vi

According to cHung Minh Nhan Dan, Mr. Tai was born in 1993, Ms. Loan was born in 1981. "Parents were poor, they didn't let them go to school" - Ms. Loanspeak.

Mr. Tai said he had been sick since he was young but did not know what the disease was. The Thai people call it “luong” (jaundice). The body is weak, the skin is yellow, the abdomen is bloated. He cannot do heavy work like a healthy person. He and his wife also had a child but he died more than a month after giving birth. Village residents said that Mr. Tai and Ms. Loan’s family is the poorest in Cha Lau village./.

Ho Phuong - Huu Vi