In the middle of Dien Bien mountain town (Noong Bua village, Noong Bua ward, Dien Bien Phu city) is a poor boarding house, which many people still call “dialysis ward”. This place is not only a poor boarding house but also a second home for kidney failure patients.
During the days leading up to Tet, when everyone is gathering with their families, dialysis patients still have to stay in the poor neighborhood. Regularly 3 times a week, they have to go to Dien Bien General Hospital for dialysis to filter their blood to maintain life.
Bringing carefully prepared ingredients, Ms. Nong Thi Thu Thuy (Him Lam Ward, Dien Bien Phu City) was present at the dialysis village to join everyone in wrapping banh chung. Since 2019, by chance knowing about the dialysis village, Ms. Thuy has continuously connected with benefactors to help the difficult circumstances here.
“Every month, I visit and support the patients here with rice, food and other necessities. This year, I mobilized donations of ingredients to make double the amount of banh chung (square glutinous rice cakes) last year, helping poor patients have a more complete Tet,” said Ms. Thuy.
In a small room in a rented house, Mr. Lo Van Pieng - a patient who has been attached to a dialysis machine for the past 11 years - said that the terrible disease not only eroded his health but also took away his vision, causing him to live in the dark for the past 3 years.
"Every time I go to the hospital for dialysis, I have to ask my daughter to take me there. My daughter is also unlucky because she is mentally disabled," said Mr. Pieng.
Although the bustling atmosphere was spreading in the poor neighborhood with the billowing smoke from the pot of banh chung filled with warm human affection, Mr. Pieng still couldn't help but feel sad when thinking about his fate.
“When I got sick, my wife left me and my daughter to depend on each other. The small house that the government supported to build in Na Tau commune is still locked even though it has been completed because I cannot stop receiving treatment for even a few days,” Pieng added.
Although life is still full of difficulties, but besides the sad moments, the patients in the dialysis village still have an optimistic spirit and hope. As a person who has been on dialysis for 13 years, Mr. Lo Van Quyen (Muong Muon commune, Muong Cha district) said: "Every Tet holiday, everyone wants to go home to their family, but here, thanks to everyone's sharing and help, I also feel warmer."
In the simple rented room, Mr. Lo Van Bich (father of patient Lo Van Quyen) could not help but feel sad when he and his wife had sold all their cattle to pay for their son’s treatment. The heavy debt weighed heavily on the father’s thin shoulders.
Mr. Bich recalls that when his son was only 13 years old, he had to go to Hanoi for 5 months of kidney treatment, then moved to Dien Bien. Since then, the family's life has been turned upside down. Every week, he and his wife go to the hospital with their son for dialysis three times.
Ms. Lo Thi Dinh, the owner of the boarding house and also the person who helps and shares a lot with the poor patients here, said that near Tet, some agencies, organizations and benefactors also visited and supported the dialysis patients here with cash and necessities.
“However, what worries me the most is that after Tet this boarding house will be cleared to implement the project. At that time, dozens of dialysis patients living here will not know where to go,” said Ms. Dinh.
