A poor man in the southern province of Ben Tre knows that he will soon die because he suffers from liver cancer, but he still worries about his children’s schooling and their future.
Tien's children have to sort palm leaves to earn money to support the family
Nguyen Thanh Tien, 43 years old in Luong Phu Commune, Giong Trom District, Ben Tre Province, worked for Ben Tre Urban Work Company for nearly two years receiving a monthly salary of VND3 million (USD142.8).
Since he contracted the lethal disease, his family has really fallen into the doldrums. He has been at the Ben Tre Tuberculosis Hospital for nearly two weeks.
When they get home from school, his children have to sort palm leaves to earn money to support the family.
Nguyen thi Thanh Xuan, a 9A3 student from Luong Phu Secondary School, said, “My father has been suffering badly for the past two months, but due to financial problems, he insists on staying at home. Two weeks ago, some neighbours lent my family some money, so he agreed to go to the hospital.”
Their ramshackle house holds nothing valuable except for several certificates of merit belonging to the children.
These days, Tien has become even more tired. While talking with the reporters, he vomited a lot of blood.
Tien and his wife at the hospital
Tien said that he and some of his colleagues have not yet been allowed to sign a labour contract with Ben Tre Urban Work Company despite two-years of work. “When we were accepted to work at the company, we were so happy, but we didn't even know anything about social insurance. When I got here the doctors asked me about insurance; so of course I now realise how important insurance is for poor people like us.”
His daily work is collecting rubbish from the roadside and putting it on the truck, dumping it, then returning to the road where they carry on doing the same thing.
Everyday, his wife has to work as a hired labourer, harvesting rice and picking weeds, thus, the family’s expenses mostly depend on his salary. Tien know that the work is very toxic, but he has no other means of earning money to try to ensure his children’s studies continue.
“I am ready for death, but I just worry about my children. They will have no chance to study after I die. I can’t close my eyes when i think about it,” the man said.
Le Van Phet, Deputy Head of Luong Phu Commune People’s Committee, said “The committee has called on local households to help with books and clothes for the children for the new school year. The children’s learning now completely depends on DTiNews readers’ donations.”
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