The Tet holidays of orphans

VietNamNet’s reporters returned to Khen Len in Bac Kan, where the terrified landslide happened in July 2009 killing nine people, to meet the unfortunate young people orphaned by the event.

“Tet is coming. I want to buy new clothes to them but I can’t. Why God didn’t kill me instead of my son and his wife? If I die, who will bring up the kids?” Mrs. May said in tears.

Six months have passed but the bodies of the nine victims have not been found. Local people built three tombs without remains at the foot of the mountain for victims.

After that disaster, 12 families living at the foot of the Khen Len mountain were moved to another site, where their lives became harder.

We went to the new house, built by charity organization, of  Tran Thi May, 85, who escaped from the death in that landscape incident with a broken arm.

“Whenever the weather change, my arm is very painful,” she said.

Before the accident, Mrs. May lived with his son, Trieu Van Nhi and his wife, Trieu Thi Lieu and two grandchildren. The incident killed the couple and left the old woman. She now has to feed two grandchildren.

“Tet is coming. I want to buy new clothes to them but I can’t. Why God didn’t kill me instead of my son and his wife? If I die, who will bring up the kids?” she said in tears.

After moving to the new house, a kid named Tan, an 8^th grader, studies at the Ba Be boarding school. She comes home once a month. Another kid, named Nai, a 4^th grade pupil, studies near her home so she lives with Mrs. May.

“We love my grandmother very much but we can’t help her. We only try to study very well. She cries every night because this Tet we don’t have my father and mother and my brother,” Nai said.

Sisters Ban Thi Pet and Ban Thi Khe also lost their family in that accident. They are living with their poor uncle Ban Van Khe.

Khe said he has to take care of two nieces after their parents died. He loves the kids but he is too poor to well take care of them.

“I want to buy new clothes for them but I can’t afford it,” Khe said.

Ban Thi Pet looks very sad and older than her age. She said after school, she follows her uncle to the field. She also does housework like cooking and cleaning.

Pet said last Tet, her mother led the two sisters to market to buy Tet gifts. This Tet Pet and her sister may not have new clothes because their uncle is very poor and the kids don’t want to be a burden.

Pet’s younger sister, Khe, 10 years old, said: “I dreamed of my parents last night. They said they will buy Tet gifts for me and my sister. My mother said she will buy me a white shirt”.

Saying goodbye to the kids, we only hope to return this land as soon as possible to bring them assistance from benefactors to help them have a normal Tet like other kids.

No Tet for the village without children

I’ve eaten nothing but cassava and wild vegetables for nearly one month to save rice for my daughter, who will return home this Tet,” Phuong said.

After the devastating flood on November 2 2009, Long Nguyen villagers still live in ruined houses. We called on a house, which looked the most intact, to ask the owner about the Tet holidays. Mrs. Vo Thi Phuong, 55, a widow, said: “I’ve just left hospital. I don’t have any money. All assets in the house were swept away by the flood. I don’t want to talk about Tet”.

She only has a pack of rice for Tet, which she received from the local government as food aid.

“I’ve eaten nothing but cassava and wild vegetables for nearly one month to save rice for my daughter, who will return home this Tet,” Phuong said.

Nguyen Khac Diem’s house, 84, was ruined by the flood. It leans on wood pillars and can collapse anytime.

Tet is very near but his house is empty. Diem said he didn’t dare to think about Tet holidays because he there isn’t enough to eat as it is.

Not very far from Mr. Diem’s house is the home of Truong Thi Lai, 60. She said she asked a neighbor to buy some pieces of canvas to stretch around the house to prevent wind. Since November, she has lived in this house which is all that remains of her kitchen. Whenever it rains, she goes to the neighbors’ home.

Markets? What are they?

The road from Long Nguyen village to the nearest market is very far. They are also too poor so they rarely go to the market.

Lai said that to welcome in Tet holiday, she saved some money to buy a kilo of pork.

The home of Mrs. Truong Thi Lai, 60.

Diem said: “This Tet, we will only buy some cakes and flowers to have a little Tet atmosphere”.

The village has no electricity so local residents entertain themselves by listening to music from battery cassette players or radios. In the past, Diem often turned on his old radio to listen to the President’s New Year message at the New Year’s Eve. This year his radio was swept away by flood. He is awaiting a new radio sent from Saigon by his niece.

A local official, Pham Thi Lan Anh, said that Long Nguyen village doesn’t have children because new couples often go to the lowland to live when they have children because this village is very isolated. Most of the people in the village, with 14 houses, are elderly.

Tram Tran – Vu Diep – Le Anh Dung 

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