Nghe An: Mother searches for missing daughter for 16 years

In the last days of November, as soon as the market closed, Mrs. Cao Thi Hoe in Dien Hoa commune (Dien Chau) rushed home to prepare meals. She worked hard selling flowers and fruits at the market, but her income was not good. Every time she had a little extra money, Mrs. Hoe used it to buy a bus ticket to look for her daughter. Since her eldest daughter went missing, the dilapidated house at the end of the village was also devoid of laughter. That is why Mrs. Hoe's face looked older than her 53 years. "Before I die, I just want to find my daughter," she said.

Mrs. Hoe and her husband have 5 children, of which Nguyen Thi Hien (born 1988) is the eldest. Due to difficult family circumstances, in 2003, she borrowed money with the hope of going to work abroad, while her husband also went to work far from home. The 5 children had to be sent to their grandparents to be cared for.

“While I was studying language in Hanoi to prepare to go abroad, Hien dropped out of school and followed his friends to work for hire. At that time, he was in 8th grade. After some investigation, we found him in Hanoi, working at a restaurant, and brought him back. But not long after returning home, he ran away again, this time taking his younger sister with him,” the woman with a haggard face recounted.

Mrs. Hoe looks older than her 53 years. Photo: Tien Hung

Leaving her language studies unfinished, Mrs. Hoe continued to go to Hanoi to look for her daughter. Seeing her daughter working at a restaurant, she tried to persuade her, but she refused to return home immediately. Instead, she made an appointment with her parents to finish the contract and then take her younger sister home. As promised, Hien took a bus for her younger sister to return first, and her older sister to return later.

“Not long after returning home, Hien ran away for the third time. My husband and I continued to go to Hanoi to look for her, but this time we could not find any trace of her. At that time, I was involved in a case of being tricked into going to work abroad, losing all my money, and also losing my daughter, so I was in a state of shock. It took me half a year of psychiatric treatment to recover,” she said.

A few years later, a handwritten letter from Hien sent home, informing her that she was in China. In the letter, Hien said she was working in China and had a boyfriend there. She also said that she and her friends were opening a restaurant. “She said she missed her family very much and attached the phone number 178008613726988790 along with a few personal photos. When her parents called that number, it was her number. For the next month, the whole family kept in touch. But then suddenly they couldn’t call anymore,” Ms. Hoe added.

Hien's photo sent to the newspaper was in China more than 10 years ago.

The last phone call between Hien and her family, this girl said that the customer who came to eat at the restaurant was poisoned, so she was working with the local police. In the following days, the family kept calling Hien's phone number but could not contact her. After 1 year, when they called again, someone answered but they said the phone number had changed owners.

Since then, there has been no trace of Hien. In recent years, the family has tried to post information in many places, but the responses about her have been inaccurate. "Mom keeps crying every time she thinks about Hien. The whole family is looking forward to meeting her for a reunion," said Nguyen Van Duong (22 years old), Hien's younger brother.

Mrs. Hoe said that for the past ten years, since Ms. Hien went missing, she has never stopped missing her child. "Our family is very worried, but we do not know how to find our child. If anyone knows where she is, please let us know so we can find her," she choked up. Through Nghe An Newspaper, Mrs. Hoe's family hopes that anyone with information about Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien (born March 29, 1988) can call 0328114233 (contact Duong, Ms. Hien's younger brother).

Ms. Hoe currently lives alone. Photo: Tien Hung

Discussing this issue, the leader of Nghe An Provincial Police said that in the province, there are currently many cases of women being tricked and sold to China or voluntarily leaving and then losing contact with their families. Since the beginning of the year, the Criminal Police Department has coordinated with the Blue Dragon Children's Organization to rescue many women who were tricked and sold to China.

Most recently, these two units brought Ms. Ho Thi Hien (44 years old, Quynh Bang commune, Quynh Luu district) back to her family. Ms. Hien is a victim of human trafficking, tricked and sold to be the wife of a Chinese man for 25 years. The reunion took place in tears, because when she returned, both her parents had passed away long ago after many years of waiting for news of their daughter. At the age of 18, Hien was kidnapped while working at a local restaurant and then taken to China by human traffickers, sold as a wife in a remote rural area. Every day, she had to endure beatings from her husband's family.

Nghe An is currently a key locality for human trafficking crimes. According to incomplete statistics, there are still nearly 300 women and children who are victims or suspected victims of human trafficking. Every year, Nghe An has 12 to 16 cases of human trafficking. Most of the victims are between 14 and 30 years old. However, in addition to these identified victims, in the mountainous villages, every year there are still many women and children who leave their homes and are suspected of being trafficked. Most of these people are adults and do not want to stay at home and work in the fields, so they connect with those who went before or were lured away and then disappeared. Most of them are suspected of being taken to China to marry or to work as prostitutes in the country.