The reunion of a Nghe An girl who was tricked and sold into marriage at the age of 12

broken family

In early September, the dilapidated stilt house of Ms. Xeo Thi Oanh (45 years old), in Son Thanh village, Ta Ca commune (Ky Son), which had been abandoned for many years, was unusually bustling. Many neighbors and relatives heard that her daughter, who had been missing for nearly 10 years, had returned, so they came to visit and congratulate her.

10 years ago, Ms. Oanh's second daughter Kha Thi Kim Dan wasfraudwent to marry a Chinese man. Not long after, Ms. Dan's husband also got frustrated and fell into addiction, both drugs and alcohol. Ms. Oanh had to take her two remaining children to her parents' house in the commune.Keng Dunearly 80 km away. Some time later, her husband was arrested and imprisoned for drug-related crimes. The small stilt house - the family's biggest asset - has been abandoned ever since.

Dan's stilt house. Photo: Tien Hung

“I thought I had lost it for real,” Oanh choked up. The woman with a haggard face said that Dan was the second child in a family of three children. Oanh’s family used to be one of the poorest in this mountainous commune. Sometimes her children would not even know a piece of meat for a whole month. The school was far away, and Dan and her sisters had to walk many kilometers every day because they did not have bicycles. After struggling to get to grade 7, Dan had to drop out of school to ease the family’s burden and help his parents. The child, who had just turned 12, went to work as a dishwasher for a restaurant in Muong Xen town.

Hearing that Dan had dropped out of school to work as a dishwasher in town, Ms. Vi Thi Nguyet went to his house to ask about him. Ms. Nguyet was a neighbor living in the same village as Dan's family and also a close relative. After a few visits, Nguyet enticed her nephew to "go to Laos to work, easy work, high salary".

The moment Dan met his relatives again after nearly 10 years. Photo: TV

Trusting Mrs. Nguyet, without much thought, the whole family agreed to let Dan go with them. But Mrs. Nguyet did not take him through Nam Can Border Gate but instead took a bus to Vinh City. “The distance from my house to Nam Can Border Gate to go to Laos only takes about a few dozen minutes by motorbike. But I was put on a bus to Vinh City, then Mrs. Nguyet handed me over to someone else. At that time, I also found it difficult to understand, but because I was too young and trusted her, I just listened,” Dan said, with his Kinh language no longer fluent after many years in a foreign country.

The house has been abandoned for many years. Photo: Tien Hung

Lucky victim

After a journey of thousands of kilometers, with many changes of vehicles, Dan was taken to Hebei province (China). When getting off the bus, Dan realized that she had been tricked. The traffickers then offered to sell Dan as a wife to Chinese men. But the customers all ignored her because Dan was too small at that time. They had to sell her cheaply to a local farmer family for nearly 200 million VND. “I was so lucky because that family was good people, they adopted me. Maybe I wasvictims of human trafficking"luckiest", Dan said.

Dan and his mother with authorities on the day of reunion. Photo: Tien Hung

The scrawny, dark-skinned child from the highlands, now a beautiful young woman, said that at first, she just wanted to run away and find a way back home, but there was no way. “Back then, we didn’t have a phone, didn’t know Chinese, and didn’t know anyone around, so it was impossible. I didn’t know who to talk to, so I cried every night,” Dan said.

Meanwhile, in her hometown of Ky Son, after several months of not hearing from her daughter, Dan’s family began to worry. They tried to meet Vi Thi Nguyet but were unsuccessful because the whereabouts of the woman involved in this human trafficking ring were always mysterious and she was rarely in her hometown. “Once her daughter got married, she came to attend and we were able to meet her to ask for information about her daughter. But she kept stuttering, saying that she would take us to Laos to see her daughter after a while. Since then, she has been missing,” Xeo Thi Oanh recounted.

From a scrawny, dark-skinned child, Dan is now a beautiful young woman. Photo: Tien Hung

During those years, Ms. Oanh borrowed money many times to go to Laos to find her daughter but there was no information. She went to Vinh City, not knowing where to start, just wandering along the crowded streets of restaurants but still could not find any trace of her daughter. When she ran out of money and did not know who to borrow from, she decided to return. But the love of a mother did not allow her to sit still.

At that time, people living near Muong Xen Bus Station were familiar with her face. Because almost every day, Ms. Oanh wandered around looking for her child here. Whenever she saw a bus arriving at the station, she would jostle to see each person’s face and ask them questions. But all the efforts of the poor mother were in vain.

Until one day a few months ago, Ms. Oanh received information that her daughter was still alive, but in a remote province of China.

“That day, I went on Facebook and saw a post by a young man from Son La who was working in China. The content included Dan’s name and hometown. After reading it, I shouted happily, “Here is my nephew!” Then I immediately informed my family and superiors,” said Cut Sy On, a police officer from Son Thanh village and also a relative of Dan.

Talking about the post looking for her family, Kha Thi Kim Dan said that during her 10 years in China, she had never met a single fellow countryman. Recently, by chance, she met a young man from Son La, so she told him the story, asking him to post information to find her relatives so that they could be brought back to the country. But she was afraid of falling into the hands of the gang.human traffickingOnce again, Dan was very careful. When her family in the countryside contacted Dan through a young man from Son La, this young woman was still very careful, not sharing any information about her current residence. Instead, she continuously asked questions to verify, even asking for photos to be sent by her family. Only when she was sure it was correct did she agree to provide her address.

People told the Criminal Police about the process of being tricked and sold. Photo: Tien Hung

Based on that information, the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Police, in coordination with the Blue Dragon Child Protection Organization, organized a rescue and brought the child back to the country to hand over to his family at the end of August. Currently, Nghe An Police are investigating and searching for those who tricked and sold Dan to China to handle according to regulations.

Sharing with Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Kha Thi Kim Dan said that in China she now has a stable job and a boyfriend. She is also planning to stay at home for a while and then go back to China.