Part 2: Leaving home and... separation!
People who leave their hometown to work far away have a stable income and save up capital for the future, but their children are not properly cared for, and there is even a risk of separation between husband and wife. And when they return home, they are faced with unemployment or work with wages that are too low, not enough to pay for their children's education.
Author: Thanh Nga - My Ha - Diep Thanh
Publication date: June 23, 2025 - Technical: Diep Thanh
People who leave their hometown to work far away have a stable income and save up capital for the future, but their children are not properly cared for, and there is even a risk of separation between husband and wife. And when they return home, they have to face the reality of not having a job or working with a salary that is too low, not enough to pay for their children's education.
In Chau Khe commune (Con Cuong), a border area where most of the residents are immigrants from Nam Dan district since 1960. Out of 135 households with 637 people in hamlet 2/9, up to 77 people went to work abroad. The whole commune recorded about 250 people working abroad, mainly through relatives. In the context of little productive land and unstable agricultural output, labor export has become an almost inevitable choice.
Mr. Nguyen The Anh - Vice Chairman of Chau Khe Commune People's Committee acknowledged: In the past 10 years, when the labor export movement flourished, there were families where both husband and wife went, each year each person sent back to their family in the countryside from 100 to 120 million VND. In 5 years, the number of poor households in the commune decreased from 20 to 6 households. However, there were also many consequences, that is, divorce, children were left for grandparents to raise, but the grandparents' skills were not suitable for the times, so most of the children had to fend for themselves. Children were not tutored in their studies, often after finishing high school they only thought about making money, had no motivation to continue studying. In 2024 alone, the commune had 10 married couples but 24 divorced couples, not to mention the separated couples...
Ms. Pham Thi Hoa - Secretary of the Party Cell of Hamlet 2/9, Chau Khe Commune said: "The whole village has only about 7 workers working at Minh Anh Con Cuong Garment Company, the rest go to the South, to the North or go to work abroad. My family also has 2 sons working abroad, 1 in Japan, 1 in Korea. The people in the village now are mainly women, the elderly, and children. Many families have both husband and wife working abroad, some have 4 children, all of whom are working abroad, leaving their children to be raised by their grandparents. Although there are workers who only earn 20-30 million VND/month abroad, and the money they send back is only 50-100 million VND/year, they still have to work hard and have not returned for 5-7 years."
Mr. Vi Trung Dinh - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thach Ngan Commune, Con Cuong District shared that although the commune's population is up to more than 6,300 people, 85% of whom are Thai ethnic people, there are only less than 30 people working at companies in the district, while the whole commune has nearly 200 people working abroad.
In Thach Ngan commune, many households participate in labor export, life has changed since then, many families have become well-off, but the consequences are not small. Mr. Hoang Ba Thai - Party Cell Secretary and Head of Thach Tien village led us to a tall, spacious house. Mr. Pham Thach Hung, the owner of the house, said: "I went to work in Dubai for 9 years, and have just returned for more than a month. My two children are now also in Taiwan. I see labor export as the fastest way to get rich. After a few years of going, I have capital and can improve my life. Now I have returned to farming, raising cows, growing cassava, acacia... Mr. Hung continued: "Participating in labor export brings high income but there are trade-offs. Many people go back and their spouses divorce, their children are separated. Some families have mistresses, jealousy, and even murders have occurred because of the consequences of labor export".
It is known that Thach Tien village has up to 60 people participating in overseas labor export. Although their lives have improved, many families have lost connection with their husbands and children.
Ms. Hoang Thi Luong (born in 1973) is taking care of her 3-year-old grandchild on behalf of her daughter. She said: “My daughter went abroad with her husband, but if she went alone, it would be easy to break up. Her first marriage broke up because her husband went abroad to work alone and then had an affair with someone else. My other son also just went to Taiwan. He said he wanted to earn money quickly to support his parents and did not want to go to school anymore”...
It can be said that the new face of some rural areas is changing rapidly due to labor export. The economy is better, houses are more spacious, but in those houses there is a lack of lasting attachment between family members. Behind the money sent back home are gaps in affection, education and community connection – gaps that are not easy to fill.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao and her husband Ho Van Lam in village 2/9, Chau Khe commune (Con Cuong) used to look for work in their hometown, but with a daily wage of less than 70,000 VND, life was extremely difficult. 3 years ago, Mr. Lam joined the labor export program in Taiwan with an initial cost of 150 million VND, after 1 year he had accumulated more than 100 million VND. Ms. Thao then also went to Taiwan with her husband, leaving the children to be raised by their grandmother.
Ms. Thao and Mr. Lam are among many cases where working at home is not enough to eat, so they have to go abroad to work, or go to work far away hoping to have some money to stabilize their lives later. Talking about this, Vice Chairman of Chau Khe Commune People's Committee Nguyen The Anh said: We once expected that when Minh Anh Factory came, it would solve the unemployment problem for local workers. But after working here for less than 2 months, many workers quit because the salary was too low, less than 4 million VND/person/month. Therefore, most young workers choose to leave their hometown, go to industrial parks in the South or go abroad to work if their families can borrow initial capital to pay the exit fee. Also with the above situation, Mr. Vi Trung Dinh - Vice Chairman of Thach Ngan Commune People's Committee (Con Cuong) said: "When Minh Anh Con Cuong Garment Company first opened, it attracted up to 150 workers in the area, but the salary was too low, so they all quit."
In 2020, Mr. Vu Ba Son and his wife, Ms. Mua Y Nu, from Truong Son village, Nam Can commune (Ky Son), went to Hanoi to work. A few months later, hearing that it was easier to do business in Binh Duong province, Mr. Son and his wife moved in together. The couple applied to work for a sofa manufacturing facility, earning 10 million VND per month after food and drink. But after only a few months, they could not make it, so they returned to their hometown. Because there was no job with a similar income, Mr. Son and his wife went to Binh Phuoc to tap rubber latex with an income of 15 million VND/month...
According to Vice Chairman of Ky Son District People's Committee, Mr. Tho Ba Re: It is true that the problem of solving employment for workers in remote areas is becoming more urgent than ever. Because in the past, people could rely on farming, plantations, and forests to make a living, but now they cannot, the increasing demands of life make them want to go far away to work to have more capital to take care of the future. Our concern is that the number of workers pouring into the South, the North and going abroad to work is very large, while in the province there is a great need for workers, but they do not choose.
However, Mr. Re also said that Ky Son district had tried to attract investment and bring the factory back but failed. Typically, the district planned a small industrial cluster in Chieu Luu commune, but in the past 20 years it has not attracted any businesses; because with the steep mountainous terrain, Ky Son district is very difficult to have a planning point large enough for businesses to build a factory with a scale of several hundred workers, not to mention the conditions of the yard and auxiliary works.
In Con Cuong district, although Minh Anh Garment Factory has been operating in Chi Khe commune for more than a year, it has attracted 1,000 workers in the area with a starting salary of 4-7 million VND/month. Initially, many workers eagerly returned from all over the country to join the factory. They hoped that with a starting salary of over 4 million VND plus overtime, it could reach 7-8 million VND/month, but because of the small number of orders, after many months the salary has not improved.
Ms. Vi Thi Nguyet - Deputy Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Con Cuong District said: We have tried very hard to bring jobs to our hometown children, but to be honest, up to now, the number of workers who are children in the area is not much. The local government has sought many solutions to connect labor supply and demand. When the enterprise entered production, the first batch of workers went to work at the factory. We went directly to discuss with the manager about communication and how to communicate with the workers, because to some extent, the people still have the characteristics of ethnic minorities such as being easily offended and lacking discipline. Then the issue of the quality of shift meals and the minimum income level were also proposed by us to ensure the lives of the workers. But the people still think that the salary is too low, so many workers quit after a few months.
(To be continued)
