The lingering pain of Lap

(Baonghean) -After 7 years of leaving the Nam Non River to resettle in the Ban Ve Hydropower Plant, the people of Lap village (Ngoc Lam commune - Thanh Chuong) are gradually getting used to their new life. However, recently, people have been really worried about the phenomenon of some women in the village "suddenly" disappearing, and then shortly after receiving news that they had been tricked and sold to China. When they returned home, they tricked and sold their own relatives...

Lap village currently has 70 households (more than 300 people), of which 5 households are near-poor, the rest are poor. Difficult life, limited social awareness, and lack of jobs have given rise to many social problems. Among them, the most pressing problem is the situation of luring and tricking women into going to China. According to data from Village Chief Kha Van Binh, up to now, Lap village has 5 women who went to China, 3 have not returned, 1 has just returned and continued to go, and 1 is at home.

Mr. Binh took us to meet Kha Thi Hoa (born in 1990), who returned from China a few months ago. Hoa is quite agile, active and relatively open to conversation. Hoa's parents have 4 sisters, Hoa is the eldest. Coming from Kim Tien commune (Tuong Duong) to resettle in Ngoc Lam, the family encountered many difficulties. Growing acacia and cassava could not ensure daily food, not to mention studying and shopping. Therefore, after finishing 7th grade, Hoa had to drop out. One day, her aunt, Quang Thi Thuon, now living in China, came to visit. She told a lot about life on the other side of the border, a happy and fulfilling life.

Listening to Quang Thi Thuon's enticement and promises, this 23-year-old Thai girl quickly packed her luggage to leave. Her aunt took Hoa through Mong Cai Border Gate and then deep into Chinese territory. It is a land located along the hills, where residents mainly live by farming. Once there, she began to lose her dream. After a few days here, Hoa had to start working for hire to make a living. The language barrier, difficulty in communication, and the job not being as expected made Hoa depressed. Besides, the homesickness and missing her siblings made Hoa unable to sleep many nights. Hoa decided to return to her family and hometown after about 4 months of working for hire in a foreign land. Back home, Hoa actively cooperated with the authorities to investigate the ring that trafficked women to China and has now arrested a number of subjects.

A corner of Lap village.

Not far from Kha Thi Hoa's house is the family of Mr. Lo Dinh Anh and Mrs. Vi Thi Doan. They have 5 children. The only son died a few years ago due to drug addiction. Of the four daughters, 3 are working in the South. The youngest daughter, Lo Thi Ha (born in 1994), went to China early last year and is now said to have married there. According to Mrs. Vi Thi Doan, due to the difficult life, there is no job at home, so to earn more income, her daughters had to drop out of school early and go far away to earn a living. The youngest daughter, Lo Thi Ha, is beautiful and well-behaved, and her parents intend to let her stay home to help with the work.

Because her health had weakened a lot, her husband had a spinal cord injury that made his left leg almost immobile. However, around April last year (2012), Quang Thi Thuon (also a distant relative of the family) came to visit Ha's house, painting a vision of a bright future for Ha. Believing Thuon's words, Ha immediately arranged to go to China with Thuon. A few months later, Mr. Anh and Mrs. Doan received news that their youngest daughter had married there, and for the time being, she could not return to visit her family. Mrs. Doan missed her daughter so much that she stayed awake many nights worrying because she did not know how her daughter was doing in her homeland. She said in tears: "If I had known this, I would not have let my youngest daughter go, she would stay home and help her parents. At that time, I thought that she would only be gone for 3-4 months and then return, but who would have thought... I don't know when I will see her again."

Passing by a house that was closed and quiet, Mr. Binh said: “This family also has a daughter who married a Chinese man. About a month ago, she brought her husband back to visit for a few days, then went back there. Her parents, relatives and villagers advised her to stay and not go anymore, but she did not listen.” Village chief Kha Van Binh added that at village meetings, the Management Board actively coordinated with commune-level departments and agencies and Ngoc Lam Border Guard Station to step up advocacy and propaganda work, but so far people’s awareness has not changed. These households always give the excuse that they have no jobs at home and have to send their children far away to earn a living.

Talking to us, Ms. Loc Thi Loi - Head of the Women's Association of Lap village shared: "We hope that superiors will create conditions to expand propaganda and mobilization work to raise social awareness and law compliance of the people. And we hope to create more jobs to increase income and improve life...".

Article and photos:Cong Kien