Children in the highlands are helpless because of drug abuse.

(Baonghean) -Four little creatures live in an empty hut in the Tibetan village, not only facing wind, rain and cold, but at any time this place can turn into a place where village boys come to inject drugs when they are addicted.

That thatched hut is the shelter of three sisters Dinh Thi Phuong (11 years old), Dinh Van Dat (9 years old) and Dinh Thi Thuy (7 years old) and their cousin Lo Thi La (7 years old). Village Chief Luong Viet Truong (Tay village, Tien Phong commune - Que Phong) said: "The drug convictions against their parents have turned them into homeless children for several months now."

Phuong, Dat and Thuy's father, Dinh Van Thang, has been sentenced for the second time for organizing heroin use with 7 years in prison, and their mother, Lo Thi Thu, "will have to wait another 2 and a half years before coming home, uncle." Phuong talked about her family, her eyes dry and her face expressionless: "My mother went (to prison) once and then a few months ago she went again. Then my father also went..." La's mother, Lo Thi Lam - Lo Thi Thu's sister, is also serving a 14-year prison sentence.

Dinh Thi Phuong is alone in an empty tent. Photo: HV

Since her parents were imprisoned, Phuong, the oldest child in the group, had to carry a basket into the forest to find bamboo shoots to sell in order to have money to buy rice for her younger siblings. Being young and weak, each day she could only carry five or seven kilos of bamboo shoots, which she sold for 20,000 VND. On rainy days, when she could not climb the slope, Phuong and the three younger children went to the markets to collect plastic bottles to sell to scrap dealers. At night, the children slept on three wooden planks put together to make a bed, covered with a crumpled blanket. The children's possessions included three bowls, one pot, an aluminum tray, and Phuong's bamboo shoot picking knife.

On days when she didn’t go out to collect bamboo shoots and ran out of money to buy rice, little Phuong would lead her younger siblings to the houses in the village to ask for rice. Fortunately, the villagers were kind and no one had the heart to chase away the unfortunate children. At the beginning of the new school year, seeing her friends coming to class, little Phuong, who was always eager to learn, felt very sorry, but after only 2 days of class, she had to return with her basket. “My younger siblings are hungry, uncle, if we don’t go collect bamboo shoots, there won’t be any rice for them.” – The little girl with a face older than her 11 years spoke clearly, each word. She wanted to go to school, but hunger and having to make a living at such a young age extinguished Phuong’s small dream of going to school.

Ms. Le Thi Dao, whose house is nearby, also has 6 people, including her daughters-in-law and sons-in-law, who have been sentenced to prison for the “white death”. There was a time when she had to raise 13 grandchildren by herself while their parents were in prison. Currently, Ms. Dao is also raising 4 grandchildren. Her daughter, Nguyen Thi Hoa, is serving a 14-year prison sentence for heroin trafficking. Not only in Que Phong district, according to the writer’s research, in Tuong Duong and Ky Son districts, there are many homeless children because their parents are serving sentences or have died from drugs. In Xoong Kon village, Luu Kien commune (Tuong Duong), there is an old man, Vi Van Quy, over 70 years old, who is taking care of 2 young grandchildren whose father died from shock from a drug injection. After the death of his 27-year-old father, the mother also fled to China, leaving behind 2 young grandchildren, the oldest of whom is only 5 years old. Mr. Quy is currently unable to work, so he can only beg for food in the village to raise his grandchildren.

Mr. La Van Mien from Vang Lin village (Yen Thang - Tuong Duong) is over 70 years old, but every day he still has to go to the forest to find bamboo shoots, pick mushrooms, and dig cassava to sell to raise his two grandchildren. This old man, who is in his twilight years, is only worried that he will not be able to live until his grandchildren grow up. His son, who has been a drug addict for over 10 years, has been away from home for 2 years now, and his daughter-in-law has also followed the enticement of human traffickers to abandon her children and go to China.

In the areas where “white death” has swept through, the most pitiful are the “homeless” children who are living on the support of the community. It is time to sound the alarm so that authorities at all levels and departments and sectors can find solutions to help these children. It is known that in the case of Dinh Thi Phuong and her sister, the government is planning to build a Great Unity house for them, but it seems that this is not a measure that can help them stabilize their lives. More than anyone else, these small lives need the care of adults and the opportunity to go to school like their peers.

Huu Vi - Ngoc Lan