Amidst the bustling pace of urban life, every night, on the long routes from National Highway 3 to Dong Anh Industrial Park, from Nhat Tan Bridge along Vo Chi Cong Street and back to the inner city districts, people are used to the image of a small woman, quietly driving an old motorbike with a magnet. That is Ms. Nguyen Thanh Thu (born in 1974, Vinh Thanh commune, Hanoi), who diligently picked up each nail to protect the safety of road users.
Ms. Thu said that she is a single mother, taking on the job of cooking for a group of construction workers. Life is not abundant, but those hardships make her more appreciative of humanity, developing a group in her to want to contribute a small part to the community.
Moreover, due to the nature of her work, having to leave early and return late, she has witnessed many scenes of people crossing the road because of the right nail rolling and scattering scattered on the road. Those images haunted her forever, making her always think of ways to help people. Then, she thought about going to remove nails to clean the roads.
Ms. Thu started picking up nails in 2019. At that time, she came up with the idea of making a nail suction device, but it was not until 2024 that the first nail suction truck took shape. That is the result of many months of Q&A, Q&A, and going to mechanics in Ho Chi Minh City to get a design. 6 workers refused because of the complicated structure, it was not until the 7th worker accepted the job.
The cost of this special car is up to nearly ten million VND. This is not a small amount of money compared to the income of a hired cook, but she is still determined to do it: "It is a worthy investment for the safety of many people and for herself. It's worth it."
Ms. Thu's nail suction truck is an old motorbike with a strong magnet attached at the back. Just run through, nails, screws and broken iron pieces are immediately sucked back. One day, she collects more than 3 kg of nails of all kinds. One day, after a few hours of driving, the car had sucked up hundreds of nails, screws, and scrap iron.
That silent work does not bring any income, on the contrary, it also costs money for gasoline and money to repair the car every time it breaks down. But for Ms. Thu, the biggest reward is the image of cleaner and safer roads. "Seeing that road users are no longer worried about having flat tires, I feel very happy. That's enough."
Not only does Thu's car suck nails, it is also jokingly called by locals as a "mobile rescue station". The vehicle always has ropes, fuel hoses, steam pumps, water bottles... to help people in distress. If anyone ran out of gas, she divided the gas. If someone breaks the tire, she drags the car to the shop. In an accident, she did not hesitate to take the victim to the hospital, even paying the hospital fees in advance many times.
Once, she took a boy in Tuyen Quang who had an accident to the hospital and paid all the costs before his family could get out. "I will help anyone I can help, I don't wait until they pay," she said gently.
Those who live along the road she often goes to are used to the image of that small woman. Many times, there are benefactors who stop the car to ask for support for money to fill up the gasoline on the nail suction truck, but only occasionally does she accept it, but most of them refuse, because she does this for joy and passion.
To raise public awareness, Ms. Thu also shared the "successful" of sucking nails every night on social media as a warning. The images of the full nail buckets make many people admire the dangers of spreading nails and appreciate her silent work more.
In a city with millions of people, Ms. Thu's work may be small, but the impact is extremely meaningful. Amidst the chaos of life, her silent actions have planted in many people's hearts the belief in kindness, which is a strong "magnet" no less than the one on her motorbike, enough to attract attention and spread humanity in real life.
