tragedy in the midst of the rushing water
The morning after the burial of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang - a female worker swept away by floodwaters on her way to work, the rain in Da Nang was still pouring. Ms. Trang's biological mother's level 4 house in An Khe ward still has a smell of incense. The two children sat hugging each other next to the photo, sometimes the 3-year-old boy would call me occasionally: "Mom, come home to buy milk for me...".
At the altar in a hurry, Mrs. Ho Thi Quy (Trang's biological mother) collapsed: "Hopefully, I will get married, also in this house... Now I will bring it back to sleep here". Everything happened too quickly after the fierce flood.
Ms. Trang was born in 2000, married and moved to live with her paternal grandfather. Her husband - Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia - works as a carpenter for hire, and has money every day he has a job. She works as a worker at Hoa Cam Industrial Park, and only has enough to pay for milk and school fees for her children every month when she "bits her teeth" overtime.
"Workers' salary is 5-6 million, if you are broke, you can only get 7 million. If you take a day off, you will miss the end of the month, Mr. Nghia said, holding a blanket to his youngest son who was playing on his thighs.
Early in the morning of October 28, she rushed to An Trach to visit her child, bought a box of milk for her child and returned to the company.
"I told you to stay, the water is very big, the children are at home, don't go", Ms. Pham Thi Thu Phuong, her mother-in-law's voice was choked up. But the young mother still wade through the familiar canal, then stumbled at the mouth of the rushing sewer. When the rescue boat found her, she was a long distance from the accident site.
8-year-old Nguyen Kim Gia Han is now quiet and sitting khucking around the photo frame. 3-year-old Nguyen Hoang Quan, who did not fully understand, immediately turned to the door: "Mom, I told you to go to work to buy milk for me, but why is it so long...". Mr. Nghia did not dare to watch his children for too long.
I am a man, I only know how to work at night. Before, his mother was in charge, but now he is afraid when he looks at his children. At home, we don't have money, when we go to work, we don't take care of everyone...", Mr. Nghia said every time he says a sentence.
"Mom is far away, Mom doesn't come back anymore..."
For workers, the specialized point is the indispensable amount of money. Ms. Trang is just a young mother like many other mothers: After work, she thinks about her child's milk, her wardrobe for her shift, and some snacks that little Han likes. Those small worries were all stopped by the violent water.
The funeral had to be held at her parents' house because her family was still surrounded by water. When the neighbors heard the news, the tenants, the hot pot cookers, and the others quietly clung to Mr. Nghia's hand for hundreds of thousands: "To buy milk for the little ones". Local authorities, trade unions... also visited, provided emergency support, and told the family to report everything they needed.
"So tomorrow I have to go to work, we have to send the grandparents and grandmothers to take turns", Mr. Nghia looked away at the leaky corrugated iron roof. What was before was obvious - a meal with a mother's voice, a child's voice, a uniform drying in the porch - now transformed into space.
Late in the afternoon, the youngest child woke up, looked up at the altar and whispered: "Mom, come back...".little Han drags him into her heart: "Mom, I'm far away, little brother".The eight-year-old child's words sound like an adult's, but the small roles are still shaking.
