Deep gratitude, profound kindness.

(Baonghean) - My mother sacrificed her youth to shower us – unfortunate children – with love and care as we grew up. Despite the hardships, when she saw her children become successful, her eyes were filled with happiness, just like any other mother in the world.

Like my peers, at the tender age of five or six, with the sensitivity of a child living in a children's village, I vaguely understood my circumstances. My need to understand grew with each passing year, and one day I mustered the courage to ask my mother about my hometown and who my parents were. At that time, I thought it was necessary because I needed to know about my past and why I had left my homeland so early.

Suddenly, my mother's gaze drifted into the distance, and tears welled up in her eyes. At that moment, I thought I had saddened her. I threw myself into her arms and cried. As always, she opened her arms wide and embraced me, her warm tears falling on my head. She said, "Thanh, I'll tell you. But you must remember one thing: everyone is born into a different circumstance, a different destiny. Fate brought you to me; for me, that's boundless happiness, but for you, it might be a disadvantage. And no parents want to be separated from their children; it's all because of circumstances, my child. Do you understand?" With my weak hands, I squeezed her tightly, my voice choked with sobs: "Mom! I've always known you weren't my biological mother, but in my heart, you truly are my mother, and will always be. I just want to know why I have another mother who loves me so much."

Binh's mother (left) is happy that her daughter, who recently got married and lives in Dak Lak, has come to visit.

After a brief pause, with all the tenderness she usually displayed, my mother began to tell me about my early days at the children's village. My hometown is in Nam Dan, but due to difficult circumstances, my family sent me to the SOS Children's Village in 1991 (when I was only 3 years old). I was frail, weak, and often cried for my mother because I missed home. Therefore, for many nights, my mother would hold me close, comfort me, and tell me fairy tales about fairies, Cinderella, and the benevolent old man… and sing lullabies until I fell asleep. Because of my frail health due to malnutrition, I was frequently ill. During those times, my mother would stay up all night giving me my medicine on time and washing towels to put on my forehead whenever I had a high fever.

The "greed" of a child within me pleaded to know why Mother had come to live with us. In the eyes of all ten of us children, Mother was incredibly beautiful, kind, and deserved a happy family, deserved to have children of her own. But all this time living with her, she only told us fairy tales, about love between people, about how to treat others... She instilled in us stories about kindness, gentleness, and obedience leading to good fortune in life, and the opposite: the price paid for evil on this earth. Yet, she never told us about her own life; she was happy and content being with her children, and that was enough…

As I grew older, my mother told me about her life. She was born in 1959 into a family in Huong Son district (Ha Tinh province), growing up during a time when the country was divided by war. Responding to the sacred call of the Fatherland, she volunteered to join a youth volunteer unit and dedicated her youth to a peaceful nation. After leaving the army, she was sent to study at a medical college and worked in her hometown for a while. In 1990, the SOS Children's Village Vinh was established, needing volunteers to care for unfortunate children, and once again, she volunteered. When she first started working at the children's village, she was very worried because, despite her age, she had no experience raising young children. Many nights she wondered how she would manage to care for ten little children. I know that, with her boundless love and kind heart, my mother overcame all difficulties and hardships to take care of us, from our meals to our sleep. And when the weather changed, when one of us was sick or another was in pain, she single-handedly gave us medicine, fed us spoonfuls of porridge, comforted us, and doted on us…

When we reached puberty, we had to move to the boys' dormitory, and I was so sad. With a mother's sensitivity, my mother read the disappointment in my eyes at having to leave the family. She hugged me and said, "That's the village's rule. You're grown up now and know how to take care of yourself. There are many children out there who need my care and nurturing. You should be happy about this, and even though you have to go to the dormitory, you're still my son. Be brave, my boy." Unable to hold back my tears, I said, choked with sobs, "Mom, I understand, but I don't want to be away from you, my sister, and my younger siblings. I want things to be like they used to be, where whenever I faced difficulties, you were the first person to help, talk to, and encourage me!"

My mother said nothing, she just hugged me tightly and sang a warm lullaby, comforting and soothing me: “Whoever visits their mother in our homeland/ This afternoon, a distant child secretly misses her/ Mother, are you cold?/ The mountain wind is chilly, the drizzle is falling/ Mother shivers as she goes to the rice paddies/ Her feet wade in the mud, her hands plant the young rice seedlings/ Mother plants several bundles of young rice seedlings/ Her heart aches with love for her child so many times…” And then, like a child, I fell asleep without knowing when. When I woke up, I saw my mother, my sister, and my younger siblings cooking a farewell meal for me.

After that meal, I quickly adapted to the new environment, because my mother had already equipped me with all the skills for independent living. And so we grew up surrounded by my mother's love and care. Now I am a graduate student, but during difficult times, my siblings and I still receive encouragement and support from our mother. We are all grown up now, with our own dreams to pursue, but everyone remembers our mother's small family, the larger family of our beloved SOS Village!

Canh Nam

(Based on the account of Tran Van Thanh, a postgraduate student in Urban Planning at Hanoi University of Architecture, about his mother Nguyen Thi Binh - who raised him at the SOS Children's Village in Vinh)