The pitiful situation of former Youth Volunteers

(Baonghean) -Her husband died of cancer, her son died in an accident, leaving her with a daughter-in-law, two foolish grandchildren, and a dilapidated house... During the day, the four of them met at home, but after dinner, they went their separate ways: the grandmother and her grandchildren went to stay at their uncle's house, the mother and her children went to their grandparents' house, not daring to sleep at home for fear of... collapsing.

Mother and daughter Nhu Thi Hoa in front of a dilapidated house in Hamlet 1, Quynh Hoa Commune (Quynh Luu).

That was the pitiful situation of Mrs. Nhu Thi Hoa (born in 1949) in Hamlet 1, Quynh Hoa Commune (Quynh Luu) who joined the youth volunteer force in 1968. After 2 years in Laos, she returned to her hometown, her husband was a soldier who had just returned from the army, he was injured on the battlefield. They met each other in the same situation and fell in love, in 1972, the two got married. 6 children, boys and girls, were born one after another. The family was poor and had many children, so life was extremely difficult. After saving for 10 years, they were able to build a 3-room house, but they only bought old materials and then went back to rebuild. When the children grew up, they all dropped out of school and went to work for hire. One by one, all 5 children worked for hire in the South, got married and had children there. Because life was also difficult, they rarely returned to their hometown. Only the slow, mentally handicapped son remained in Quynh Hoa with his parents. Through matchmaking, in 2003, the son also got married in Hamlet 2 of the same commune, but he was not quick and resourceful. Both husband and wife could not read or write, which affected the two daughters born in 2004 and 2008. Although they went to school, they only advanced one grade every two years.

In 2010, after several years of continuous illness, Mrs. Hoa took her husband to the Vietnam - Poland Hospital and discovered that he had terminal esophageal cancer. Despite trying to borrow money for treatment, he passed away in November 2010, with shrapnel still in his body because he had no chance to go to the hospital to have it removed.

Before that, in 1998, her daughter and her husband and grandchild died in an accident in the South. In June 2010, Vo Van Quy (born in 1979), the only son living with his grandparents, also died in an accident, leaving his wife and two young children to his grandmother. The pain of her husband's death made her almost collapse, but both her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were foolish, so she had to endure the pain to raise her grandchildren with her children.

Ms. Nhu Thi Hoa is showing the reporter that the tiled roof of the house is no longer intact.

The whole family has 5 sao of contracted rice fields, each year there are 2 rice crops, if the harvest is good then there is rice to eat, if the weather causes crop failure then there is debt for seeds and fertilizer. The old house is eaten by termites, the roof is crooked because of rotten rafters and sesame, but mother, children and grandmother do not have any capital. There is no valuable property in the house, it looks like an abandoned house. Relatives are many but all are equally poor so they cannot help much, only a bowl of rice and sweet potatoes when the harvest is low to keep grandmother from starving. For nearly 4 years now, during the day, the four of them come home to cook two meals, at night they go their separate ways: grandmother and grandchild sleep at their uncle's house, mother and child sleep at their grandparents' house in hamlet 2. Even if the house collapses, they can still protect their lives and property, so there is nothing to regret.

Talking about the two-way life of mother and daughter, both Mrs. Hoa and her daughter-in-law Thai Thi Tham (born in 1979) cried. Mrs. Hoa said: one day she passed away, she did not know what would happen to her children and grandchildren. Quynh Hoa commune had put her family on the list of people who wanted to demolish their dilapidated houses several times, but after surveying, they left it there because the amount of 20 million VND could not be used. Because currently, Mrs. Hoa and Tham's family are only fighting hunger, where can they get money to put more into building a house? The bank cannot lend them money because even if they did, they would have nothing to pay back. So every night, the grandmother and grandchild, mother and daughter split up to sleep over.

Mrs. Hoa only wishes that if there was a "benefactor" who could help her and her children have a solid house, that would be enough, it doesn't need to be big or beautiful, then she could close her eyes and feel at ease...

Ha Linh