Meet people who have returned from "hell".
(Baonghean)We visited the homes of nine sailors from Nghe An province after learning of their return from South Africa. They were all overjoyed to be back home and with their families. However, the shock of their terrifying days abroad still lingered on their bewildered faces. Behind their return lay countless hardships and burdens of worry.
Days spent living like prisoners.
The road to Tien Lac hamlet (Nghi Xuan commune, Nghi Loc district, Nghe An province) is winding, flanked on both sides by barren, cracked fields. We went to the house of Mr. Nguyen Van Thiet, one of the survivors who had just returned home.
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According to the crew members' accounts: They had to work extremely hard day and night, sometimes for 35 hours straight without sleep, and food was extremely scarce, mainly consisting of bread and rice. Workers were frequently beaten without reason. Some were beaten carelessly and locked in the cold hold for hours. When they came out, their bodies were numb, they couldn't work, and were beaten again. One Filipino crew member was beaten so badly that his leg was broken, yet the foreman still forced him to continue working. Nguyen Van Thiet, being a "new recruit," was the most severely beaten. Thiet recalled his most painful beating: "That time, I was completely soaked, and when I went to change clothes, I was taken to the deck and brutally beaten. Both the owner and the foreman used iron pipes to beat me until I bled. I fainted, and when I woke up, they forced me to continue casting nets."
Migrant workers endured hardship, waiting for their wages and the day they could return home to reunite with their families. The cruel treatment and abuse by their foreign employers led to a breaking point. One day in early May, the crew members had to work relentlessly from 8 a.m. to 6 a.m. the following day. Before they could rest, they were beaten again. Unable to bear it any longer, all the workers on board discussed how to escape their misery and humiliation. They tied up the foreman and demanded the captain steer the ship to shore so they could return home. On the way, the Thuy Cat 101 was seized by South African police, who accused the crew of piracy. After 45 days of detention, on June 19th, the crew members were acquitted by a court in Cape Town and returned home.
Mr. Nguyen Van Nhuan (Thiet's father) shared with us: "When I first heard the news, I was very angry with my son, but knowing that they were tortured like prisoners, my heart ached for him." The strong man, who had lived half his life, couldn't hold back his tears when he heard his son recount the terrifying days they had just gone through.
Tragic circumstances
These days, Mr. Nguyen Van Nhuan's house is always crowded with friends and neighbors coming to visit because his son has returned. Behind the joy of reunion lies poverty and the burden of debt left behind.
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Pham Van Lai is Mr. Nhuan's son-in-law. On the day he signed his contract to work abroad, being poor, he asked his father-in-law to mortgage his land deed to borrow twenty million dong, hoping for a better life. After only a few months, he returned empty-handed, having lost his money and covered in wounds. Lai wept, saying, "Now I don't know where to get the money to repay the debt; perhaps poverty will follow me for the rest of my life." Lai's son, just over two years old, is disabled, his limbs as weak as noodles. The debt keeps increasing, and the cost of medicine and care for his son makes life even more difficult for the family. The brutal beatings have also severely damaged Lai's health. The entire family's livelihood depends on his wife's frail shoulders. Sometimes, the two of them hug each other and cry, not knowing how to overcome their hardship. Lai and his wife feel even more sorry for their grandparents. To fund his son and son-in-law's overseas education, Mr. Nhuan's family had to scramble, mortgaging their land deed to borrow 50 million dong, selling all their cows, leaving only an empty barn. They sold everything of value in the house to pay off the interest. Now, his two children have returned empty-handed, making their already impoverished lives even more desperate!
The situation of Hoang Van Tan (son of Mr. Hoang Van Hong, Yen Thinh hamlet, Nghi Hoa commune, Nghi Loc district) is no better. Tan is the youngest of four siblings in a farming family. His mother passed away, and his father is struggling to raise the children alone. Poverty has been a constant burden. The whole family hoped that Tan's overseas work would help alleviate the family's financial difficulties. Tan sadly recounted: "To pay for my trip, my father had to borrow over 20 million dong from the bank. I couldn't help at all and only added to the burden on the family."
The village boys sat dejectedly, gazing out at the barren fields. They didn't know how they and their families would manage. Nevertheless, these simple farmers had learned a lesson about the dangers of blindly believing in the illusion of getting rich. And more importantly, Tan, Thiet, Lai... hadn't lost hope: "Thank you, Mother Arma, Uncle Dung, Sister Kim Anh... (those who helped them during their time in South Africa) for showing us that there are still good people and good things in life."
Cao Minh Thong
