(Baonghean.vn) - For children in mountainous areas, summer is not only a time for rest and play, but many also help their parents with practical chores around the house.
Summer is eagerly awaited by children everywhere, filled with excitement and longing, as it's a time for rest and play after a year of hard work at school. However, for children in mountainous regions, summer is not just about carefree moments. During our travels through villages and hills, we often encounter images of mountain children struggling to carry rice on their shoulders, digging for bamboo shoots in the forest, carrying firewood, or wading in rivers and streams under the scorching summer sun to cast nets and set traps… hoping to catch some fish and shrimp to improve their family meals. These are images that are both simple and innocent, yet also evoke a sense of poignancy…
Here are some pictures of children in western Nghe An province:
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| With their parents going to the forest or working in the fields until late evening, the children in the Piêng Cu resettlement area (Tiền Phong commune, Quế Phong district) take care of each other every day. |
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| At just eight years old, Quang Thi Hang (Chau Tien, Quy Chau) is already mature enough to take care of her younger siblings. Wherever her older sister goes, she follows closely behind. |
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| Many children also help their mothers sell agricultural products. |
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| In the summer, with no school to attend, children in the mountainous regions are carefree, enjoying countless childhood games... |
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| ...or perhaps he would spend his time learning the craft of weaving from his father. |
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| Older children become one of the main laborers in the family. Lu Van Thi (Meo village, Nam Giai commune, Que Phong district) stacks straw in the dry feed storage area for buffaloes and cows. |
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| The children follow their older siblings and mothers into the forest to dig up bamboo shoots, which they then bring down to town to sell and earn extra income. |
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| The two sisters, Lo Thi Thom and Lo Thi Thanh (right), are scooping up fish with their mother. |
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| With only her mother and herself living in the house, and her mother being frail all year round, Luong Sao May (from Pieng Lang village, Nam Giai commune, Que Phong district) became the main breadwinner at the age of 15. She single-handedly cultivated three acres of rice paddies under the scorching summer sun. |
Phuong Chi
