Woman in Nghe An gives money envelopes to people returning to their hometown to avoid the epidemic by motorbike

At noon on July 31, at the checkpoint at Ben Thuy 2 Bridge, Nghe An Newspaper reporters witnessed Ms. Dinh Thu Hien (47 years old, Ha Huy Tap Ward, Vinh City), along with a few relatives, continuing to prepare more envelopes to distribute to workers traveling by motorbike from the South to their hometowns to avoid the epidemic. "100 envelopes have been distributed. Now we are preparing another 100 envelopes," Ms. Hien said. All envelopes have a face value of 500,000 VND.

Ms. Hien and her relatives sat in a car parked next to the checkpoint. A cardboard box containing an envelope was placed on the hood of the car. Workers riding motorbikes back to their hometowns after passing the checkpoint to make a health declaration will be guided to Ms. Hien’s car to collect money. To prevent the epidemic, those sitting in the car only greeted the workers with their hands or spoke loudly. In response, after receiving the money, the repatriated workers bowed their heads in gratitude.

Ms. Hien's car waits on the side of the road for workers to receive envelopes. Photo: Tien Hung

Starting from the afternoon of July 30, Ms. Hien brought 100 envelopes containing a total of 50 million VND and stopped her car near the checkpoint to distribute them to workers returning home by motorbike. Ms. Hien said that in order for people to know how to return home via this bridge, she had to take pictures and post them on Facebook to announce it.

“Because I have to inform people going back to their hometown to cross this bridge, I have to post the information on Facebook, but actually I want to do this quietly,” Ms. Hien shared.
According to the reporter's investigation, this middle-aged woman is quite famous in the charity world. Recently, she has repeatedly transferred money to friends in Ho Chi Minh City to buy essential goods to support the poor at "zero-dong stores" and pay shippers to deliver essential goods to the poor. All of her charity activities are quite discreet. "During the epidemic, many people are in difficult situations, I can share a little bit with them, it's good, helping others makes my heart warmer," she said.

Despite the rain and wind, on the evening of July 30, as promised, Ms. Hien stopped her car to wait for workers until midnight to distribute envelopes. Photo: TH

"I asked my friends to inform those who returned to their hometowns by motorbike to avoid the epidemic, passing through Ben Thuy 2 bridge so that I could share some of the difficulties with them. My family will be waiting here until 12 o'clock tonight," Ms. Hien wrote on her personal Facebook account on the afternoon of July 30. This status line surprised the community, many people expressed doubts. However, just as Ms. Hien wrote, on the evening of July 30, her family stopped the car to wait for the repatriated workers until midnight before going home to sleep, despite the rain and wind. On the morning of July 31, the whole family continued this charity work. Seeing that the repatriated workers seemed hungry, Ms. Hien also bought 100 packages of sticky rice and pork rolls to give to them.

At noon on July 31, while talking to reporters, hearing that a group of workers returning home by motorbike did not choose Ben Thuy 2 bridge but went through Ben Thuy 1 bridge, Ms. Hien and her relatives hurriedly gathered envelopes, drove through the checkpoint 500m away to wait for the workers.

Not only did they give money to Nghe An workers, all the workers who returned home by motorbike through the checkpoint received envelopes. Some were from Tuyen Quang, some were from Yen Bai, and some were from Thanh Hoa. After traveling more than 1,400 km from Binh Duong to here, Mr. Tran Bao Long (34 years old, Nga Son district, Thanh Hoa) said he was very moved to receive this amount of money.

A group of Ky Son workers slept at the foot of Ben Thuy 2 bridge because they were too tired after returning from Binh Duong. Photo: TH

"That's a huge amount of money for my wife and I right now," Long said. Three months ago, Long brought his wife and 2-year-old child to Binh Duong to start a business. However, the pandemic hit when the couple hadn't even found a job yet. The money they brought with them ran out, and Long and his wife had to ask for help from their hometown. A few days ago, Long decided to ride a motorbike to take his wife and children back to their hometown. "If we don't go back, we won't have any money for food or lodging," Long said, adding that on the way back home, the couple only had less than a million VND in their pockets for gas and food. Luckily, along the way, there were many volunteer groups giving out free food and drinks.

Every day, hundreds of workers return home by motorbike from the epidemic center. Photo: Tien Hung

According to a traffic police officer on duty at the checkpoint, at the Ben Thuy 2 bridge checkpoint alone, every day hundreds of motorbikes declare to be traveling from the southern epidemic centers such as Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai... to their hometowns to avoid the epidemic. Of these, the largest number are still workers from Nghe An and Thanh Hoa.

In particular, there were children who were only 10 days old but still clung to their mothers sitting on the back of a broken-down motorbike to overcome the stormy journey to return home. Some people had accidents along the way, scratching their bodies. There were workers who had just arrived in their homeland and could not control their emotions, bursting into tears at the checkpoint at the southern gateway of Nghe An province. On the evening of July 30, reporters witnessed a group of dozens of workers from Ky Son using torn cardboard boxes to make mats, sleeping in the flower garden next to the foot of Ben Thuy 2 bridge. Even though at that time, it had just stopped raining.