Luckily, my parents are still healthy
These days, life in the workers' dormitory near Yen Nghia industrial park is still normal. The motel rooms are still closed during business hours and are bustling at dinner time. Mr. Le Thanh Hai, from Hai Duong, is working for a foreign-invested enterprise and said he will visit his parents on August 17 - 18. Mr. Hai said that every year, whether he works far or near, he returns home on the full moon day of the seventh month .
"Fortunately this year, the Full Moon falls on the weekend so we don't have to ask for leave like other years" - Mr. Hai said. Mr. Hai is the eldest son in the family, with two younger siblings under him still going to school. He went to Hanoi to work as a worker to take care of himself and help his parents take care of his two younger siblings. Mr. Hai has a wish that the two of them will study at university. Since working far away, there have been two occasions when Mr. Le Thanh Hai was never absent from home. Those are the Lunar New Year and the 7th lunar month. Usually, in July, Mr. Hai will visit his parents on the full moon day. For him, the most important and fortunate thing is that his parents are both healthy, so "for me, every month is Vu Lan month to take care of my parents."
Being away from father and mother is something no one wants, but because of circumstances, many people go to the city to work. In Hanoi alone, the total number of workers working in Hanoi's industrial and export processing zones is about 167,000 people (including about 1,270 foreign workers) with the average income of Vietnamese workers over 6 million VND/person/month. Most of these are young people. They come to Hanoi to work in hopes of having income to help their families and save money for themselves in the future. During the years away from home, they accept many disadvantages, one of which is the lack of affection from parents and siblings. Many of them do not know about the Vu Lan festival. They only know how to work hard, work hard and even manage to have a stable job and monthly income. Part of it is sent back home to help my parents.
Vu Quang Anh, from Thai Binh, staying in Dong Anh said: Recently reading online and watching TV, I learned that there is Vu Lan festival in July. It is also known that Vu Lan is an opportunity for children to express their filial piety and gratitude for their parents' contributions to giving birth and raising them, and is a time for children to remember their parents' love. But I think, for workers who leave their families early and go to work far away like us, not only July is Vu Lan because we always miss our parents far away and also hope our parents are always healthy.
"Where the previous wave falls, the next wave will fall."
Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai, a worker at an electronic components manufacturing company, staying in Vong La, confided that every year, in the 7th lunar month, she misses her mother. On this occasion, Ms. Mai took advantage of her day off to go to the temple to burn incense to commemorate her mother. Her mother passed away during the COVID-19 epidemic. At that time, due to social isolation, she was staying at a boarding house and could not go home to Tuyen Quang to mourn. That sadness has followed her all these years. Now, with all the love she has for her parents, Mai gives it all to her father. During Vu Lan season, when she couldn't go home, she bought white roses and put them on her shirt to remember her mother. She said there were times when she secretly cried because she missed her mother, especially when she was tired after a shift and returned to her room alone.
In Ms. Mai's neighborhood, there are workers whose parents have both passed away. On the full moon day of the 7th month, they and the innkeeper went to the pagoda to burn incense and pay tribute. What's special is that in worker families with young children, the story of the Vu Lan festival and the gratitude of parents for their birth and upbringing are taught to their children.
Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, who lives in the room next to Ms. Mai, has two children in grades 5 and 7, said that they still teach their children to be polite to elders, to love their parents, especially to love them. paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents in the countryside. To make the children aware of this, Mr. Nam and his wife divide household chores between their two children, ensuring that it does not affect their studies but is very fair and shared. If there is something delicious or beautiful, the first thing you say is "If only my grandparents were here"; Every time they prepare to return home, they also take their children shopping for gifts for their grandparents. Mr. Nam and his wife believe that "where the previous wave falls, the next wave will fall" so they always practice good family ethics for their children to follow.
The concept of Vu Lan festival is not completely the same for each person, although the common point is still to remember and be grateful to the birth parents. For workers, those who are busy with shift work, everything seems more simple. Because every day they try to work hard to have money to help their families and parents. As a worker who just came to Hanoi to work said: "Being able to take care of yourself and live well is also a form of gratitude to your parents."
