Struggling to raise 4 young children
Disaster struck the family of Mr. Tran Van Thuong (born 1958) and Ms. Nguyen Thi Lieu (born 1963), residing in Dang Tho TDP, Van Phu ward, Lao Cai province, at the end of 2018.
That year, on the way to work through National Highway 2D, passing through Phu Thinh commune (old), the father of the four children, Mr. Tran Van Dung (born 1987), had a serious traffic accident and died.
The event of father's death caused the family to fall into a major shock. The pain had not yet subsided when just three months later, the children's mother also left, leaving behind four lonely young children. At that time, the youngest child was only 11 months old, just taking her first steps.
Feeling sorry for their young grandchild who was early without their parents' arms, the paternal grandparents tried to stand up to take care of and raise all four children. Since then, six people in the small family have lived on precarious hired jobs.
The main source of income for the family depends on Mr. Thuong's hired loading and unloading job. Although he is over 60 years old, he still works as a hired laborer every day. Whoever hires him to load corn, rice or any goods, he tries to accept.
Mr. Thuong said that the work is precarious, some days there is work, some days she has to return empty-handed. The work is mainly calculated by product, each working session costs about 200,000 VND if someone hires her.
People hire me to load bags of corn, bags of rice or whatever goods, I also accept to do it. Many times carrying heavy loads is very tiring, but thinking about the four grandchildren who are still in school, I try again," Mr. Thuong shared.
There were days when he woke up very early, went everywhere looking for work, hoping to earn a few tens of thousands more to take care of meals for the whole family. But there were also days when he returned when it was late afternoon and he had almost no money in his pocket.
And Mrs. Lieu stayed at home, both taking care of her grandchild and taking advantage of wrapping votive paper or going to plant trees for hire, to have a little more money to buy rice.
The old three-compartment house is the living place of the whole family. Inside the house, the most valuable assets are just an old bed, a simple set of tables and chairs, and the altar for the unfortunate son.
Not only lacking material things, the family meals are also very simple. Many days in the meal tray there is only a plate of fried eggs and a bowl of vegetable soup picked from the garden.
We eat whatever we have, as long as the children can go to school, I am happy," Ms. Lieu said.
The dream of 4 young brothers
In their free time after school, the 4 brothers sit on the porch to help grandmother wrap votive paper. The hands are still small but familiar with the meticulous work.
Seeing her do a lot, the children felt very sorry for her, and kept telling them to help her to relieve fatigue. One day, all 4 brothers sat rolling votive paper until late at night before going to study," Ms. Lieu said emotionally.
Currently, the oldest child is Tran Bao Ngoc Duy in 8th grade; Tran Huyen Trang in 6th grade; Tran Khanh Linh in 4th grade and the youngest child Tran Minh Duc in 3rd grade.
Sharing about his situation, Tran Bao Ngoc Duy (8th grade, Yen Binh Secondary School) said softly: "I love my grandparents very much, so I always try to study well so that I can go to work later, help my grandparents and raise my siblings. Every time I miss my father, I feel very sad, but I have to be strong to encourage my siblings.
Although life is still full of hardships, the four siblings still nurture simple dreams. Ngoc Duy hopes to become a police officer in the future to protect everyone and take care of his grandparents. Khanh Linh dreams of becoming a teacher to teach literacy to disadvantaged children.
Huyen Trang cherishes the dream of becoming a doctor, hoping that one day she can treat everyone and take care of her grandparents when they are old and weak. Minh Duc innocently said that later he also wants to be a police officer like his older brother to protect his homeland.
According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Doan - Head of Dang Tho TDP, Mr. Thuong's family is currently a poor household in the ward.
Previously, the family also received support from some philanthropists, so they had some more conditions to cover living expenses. However, recently, the source of support is no longer much, while all living expenses depend on the two of them. Old and having to raise 4 young grandchildren, life is very hard," Mr. Doan said.
According to Mr. Doan, Mr. Thuong's family faces many difficulties when the two elderly grandparents have to raise four young children of school age. Therefore, the locality hopes to receive attention and support from philanthropists so that the children have conditions to continue going to school.
Every evening, in the small house, the 4 brothers sit and study under the yellow lights, next to the altar of their deceased father. The little dreams of the children are still waiting for community sharing so that they can continue their studies and aim for a better future.
All help for life situation LD26064, please send to Tam Long Vang Charity Social Fund - 51 Hang Bo, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. Account number (STK) 113000000758 at Vietinbank Hoan Kiem Branch, Hanoi; Account number: 0021000303088 - at Vietcombank Hanoi Branch; Account number: 12410001122556 - at BIDV Hoan Kiem Branch.
Or contact Mr. Tran Van Thuong directly via phone number: 0347240923.
