'Professional story' of a woman who has been repairing cars on the sidewalk of Vinh street for 20 years

(Baonghean.vn) – For the past 20 years, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, 63 years old, has been working hard repairing cars on the sidewalk to earn extra income and support her family.

On the sidewalk of Cua Nam flower garden (Vinh City) there is a special bike repair shop that any visitor who has ever visited will never forget. The mechanic is a kind-hearted woman named Nguyen Thi Hoa.

Every morning from 6:30 to 11:00, and then from 2:00 to 6:00, Mrs. Hoa pushes the cart containing repair tools to that location.

For the past 20 years, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, 63 years old, has been working hard repairing cars on the sidewalk of Cua Nam flower garden (Vinh City).

Rain or shine, for 20 years now, she has persisted in doing a job that is not meant for women. Ms. Hoa is the youngest of 6 children. In 1973, she applied to work at the Truong Son Handicraft Cooperative, which specializes in producing bicycle parts. This is also where she met her husband, Mr. Vo Sy Hoa. They have 3 children together and live together in a small house in Block 1, Cua Nam Ward.

Many times Ms. Hoa helped customers fix things and they were not used to paying her when they did not have money with them.

The family’s life began to be disrupted when the cooperative lost money and was dissolved. Returning empty-handed, Mrs. Hoa and her husband began to do all kinds of jobs to make a living. Mrs. Hoa’s daily work was pumping, patching tires, or tightening chains on bicycles and motorbikes.

On busy days, she earns a few hundred thousand dong to buy food for her grandchildren, but normally she earns around 100 thousand dong a day.

Mrs. Hoa pumps tires for customers.

Especially, if she encounters difficult situations where customers do not have money, she is still happy to help and is willing to lend money even though she does not know who the customer is.

Some customers came back to pay, but others never came back. Among the customers who visited the shop, Ms. Hoa still remembers clearly the case of a poor man from Thanh Chuong who, on his way to see his mother at the provincial general hospital, had a flat tire near the flower garden.

Mrs. Hoa helped this man with his tattoo and gave him a debt because he had no money left. After about a month, when she had forgotten about the debt, the customer returned. She found out that the man's mother had passed away and that due to difficult circumstances, he would come back to pay her back later. After hearing the story, Mrs. Hoa not only took the money but also sent some money to burn incense for her mother.

Mrs. Hoa and her grandchild next to a cart containing tools for making a living.

Many people have advised her not to lend money to customers, while her family is not well off. But Mrs. Hoa just smiles, she believes that people who are unfortunate enough to have their vehicles broken down on the road need help, if they don't have money then consider it a good deed to help others...

Chu Thanh