Her whole family lives on the corner of a road and Nguyen Thi Nga, 41, struggles to try to save money so that her children can go to school.
Shedding tears, she spoke with us recently saying, “I have no otherchoice, I haveto send my little child to an acquaintance. They will helpmeto take care of him. My son is only 10 months old and can not bearstaying at the corner ofastreet like this. When he becomes a grown-up, I will take him back.”
After spending the entire site clearance compensation from the government when they tore down her home to build a new road, she now doesn't have a penny left and has gone back to the very road that was once her home. She lives on the corner with no roof and sleeps under a small vending store once it has closed. In the early morning when the store is opened again, they return to the corner. If there is rain, they huddle together in rain-coats and wait for it to pass.
Nguyen collects waste in an effort to make some money. Her husband is a hired labour worker.Her four children left school to work. They also collect waste and sell lottery tickets to earn money.
Overview of Nga’s place.
10 month child of a homeless family
When I visited her family again recently, I discovered that her little son has been kept in an acquaintance’s house. She said, “My little son got a fever for several days because he was kept outsidefor such a long time. My poor son! That house is not so far away from here but I cannot go there daily tobreast-feed him. I try not to buy food and save moneytobuy milk for him, but the price of milk is so expensive!”
“Why don’t you send him to a nearer place?” I asked. “Because nobody near here agrees to take care of him for free. I have to pay for everything including bathing, toilet, washing clothes, cleaning water.”
Her son,10, takes bath at road side
A while back, herchildrenattendedacharity classbutafter a hard working day, theywere too tired to learn and eventually quit the course. “We tried to borrow some money to open asmallvending store but were unable to. I wish to have a successful businessso that my children can have the opportunityto go to school again.” said Nga.
For information on how to contribute, please see below:
Charitable donations please send to: 1. Nguyen Thi Nga: Ho Chi Minh City representative office of Dan Tri Newspaper: 40/17/16 Nguyen Van Dau, Ward 6, Binh Thanh Dist, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: 08. 35107. 331 (Her permanent residence address at 188/137C, Doan Van Bo Road has lost due to site clearance). 2. Compassionate Hearts Charity Fund – Dan Tri Newspaper (Hanoi) No. 2/48 Giang Vo Str., Dong Da Dist., Hanoi (beside Kim Ma petrol station) * Vietnam Dong Account information: Account holder: Bao Khuyen hoc & Dan tri Account number: 10 201 0000 220 639 With Bank: Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade – Hoan Kiem Branch
Account holder: Bao Khuyen hoc & Dan tri Account number: 10 202 0000 004346 SWIFT Code: ICBVVNVX106 With Bank: Hanoi Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade 2. Representative Offices: Ha Tinh representative office: 46 Nguyen Cong Tru, Tan Giang Ward, Ha Tinh City. Tel: 039.3.857.122 Da Nang representative office: 25 Nguyen Tri Phuong, Thanh Khe Dist., Da Nang City. Tel: 0511.3653.725
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