Love nurtures dreams

(Baonghean) -After the renovation period, the economy was extremely difficult, with workers' salaries being low to cover their living expenses, each family had to be frugal and frugal. However, when witnessing the hunger and ragged clothes of homeless children, Mr. Nguyen Nang Cay and his wife (Block 2, Hong Son Ward, Vinh City) opened their arms to help.

The cramped three-story house right next to Vinh market is home to Mr. Nguyen Nang Cay (born in 1944) and Mrs. Le Thi Hong (born in 1945) and their youngest son. This is also the shelter that once took care of two homeless, hungry children in Vinh market nearly 20 years ago. Those children are now grown up and have stable jobs, but at this rare age, the hearts of parents have never stopped turning to their children, even though they are not their own flesh and blood.

After a period of fighting in the army, Mr. Nguyen Nang Cay transferred to work at the provincial post office, his wife, Mrs. Le Thi Hong, was an office worker at the Tea Company. Three children were born one after another, and it was not easy to pay for their education with a worker's salary. However, it was during those difficult times that the couple opened their arms to welcome the boy Thach Quang Tien home to raise.

It was in 1989, a skinny, ragged boy timidly knocked on Mr. Cay’s door to beg for food. “Looking at him, so skinny, wearing only a thin shirt in the bitter cold of the days before Tet, I felt sorry for him. I told my wife to get him some food. He said he was from Nghi Loc, had run away from home and was raised by an army unit. The unit transferred troops, Tien (the boy’s name) got lost so he went to Vinh market to beg for food. There, some street guys forced him to pickpocket, but he refused, so he was so hungry that he had to beg for food,” Mr. Cay said.

Mr. Cay and Mrs. Hong talk about the adoption process. Photo: PV

Feeling sorry for Tien's situation and seeing the good nature in this homeless boy, Mr. Cay discussed with his wife to take the boy home to raise. "At that time, raising 3 children of school age was already very difficult, but when I discussed with my wife to take Tien home to raise, she agreed immediately..." During the months of living on the streets, Tien had scabies and boils all over his body, Mrs. Hong had to find great compassion leaves to boil a large pot of water, then bathe Tien, buy medicine to apply.

There were days when the grandparents took turns staying up all night because of the boils on Tien's body, making him feel hot and cold. Because he was sick, Tien was given more favor, attention, and care by his adoptive parents. Tien was too old to go to school and could not go to school, so Mr. Cay became an involuntary teacher. During the day he went to work, and at night he held Tien's hand and taught him how to write, spell, and do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division... At the age of 15, Tien asked his adoptive parents to help him become independent as a porter at Vinh market. The money Tien earned, Mr. and Mrs. Cay pooled together for him and saved it so that he would have his own capital, and later go to school to earn a living.

After having a decent amount of capital, Tien went to driving school. After graduating, he saved up for many years, and with the capital his adoptive parents lent him, he bought a car to run a business and took additional cultural courses. Currently, Tien is a teacher at a driving school in Vinh City and has a happy family. He is present on holidays like the other children in the family... On weekends, he still brings his children to play and eat with his parents," said Ms. Hong.

In 1994, little Tran Van Tuan also became the fifth child of his grandparents in such a coincidental occasion. Tuan's father died early, his mother remarried. The stepfather did not want to be entangled with his own child, so he forced his wife to "disown him". With no other choice, the mother had to send her child to a poor woman selling food in Vinh market. The woman who was asked to raise Tien was also so poor that she had to abandon Tuan in Vinh market, waiting for people's pity. “One day I passed by and saw people crowding around a small, skinny child. The boy was only 3 years old but kept clinging to the pants of the women watching the cars in the market, telling them to go find his father and that his mother didn’t love him anymore. I felt so sorry for him but at that time we had 4 children so I didn’t dare to take him in. The next morning, as soon as I opened the door, I saw Tuan’s mother holding her child standing at the gate. She asked me to help raise Tuan. Not wanting to see him curled up in a basket, waiting for people to give him a few coins, my wife and I agreed,” Mr. Cay continued.

Tuan was given his adoptive father's surname. The name Nguyen Nang Tuan was recorded in Mr. Cay's family register and Tuan became the youngest child in the family. Although loved by his parents and siblings, Tuan became more and more rebellious as he grew older. "My wife and I have also suffered because of Tuan. He was very disruptive at school, sometimes he beat up his friends, sometimes he disrupted the whole class, almost every week my parents were "invited" to meet the teachers and the school's Board of Directors. The whole family tried to force him to finish 9th grade and then send him to vocational school. Now he is working at the company of my wife and I's eldest daughter. We just hope he will settle down so that my old couple can feel at ease," Mr. Cay said about his adopted son. Thanks to the advice of Mr. Cay and Ms. Hong, Tuan has also found and reconnected with his biological mother. The 22-year-old young man is now also dedicated to making a living, content with his job of helping his older sister.

The love and kindness of Mr. Cay and Mrs. Hong raised homeless and unfortunate children like Tien and Tuan. “If it weren’t for my parents, I don’t know what would have happened to me. I would have starved to death, frozen to death, or become a thief or a hooligan. I am grateful to my parents for raising me, connecting me with my ancestors and relatives, and for giving me back my blood and flesh... I will forever remember this kindness. Now that I have a happy family and have raised my own children, I understand my parents’ hearts even more...”, Mr. Tien confided.

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