Unfortunate child crying for help

Pham Dinh Thanh, a 16-month old boy from the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, has had an extremely unlucky life.

Thanh in his mourning clothes

Their simple house

Too young to comprehend

Thanh’s mother left home when he was just one year old and after that he lived with his farther, Pham Dinh Truong.

After being abandoned by his mother, the 27-year old father worked very hard to take care of his son. Tragically, the father died in a recent accident.

Truong used to take his son to his mother’s house in the daytime so that he could go to work. Then he would pick Thanh up every evening, taking him back to their modest hillside house.

Truong died tragically on January 30. Having just come home from work, intending to pick up a few items for his son for Tet, he noticed there was a problem with the water pump. When he waded into the lake to check the pump and then was electrocuted. His body was found in the river an hour later.

Due to the difficult situation, neighbours pitched in to pay for Truong’s funeral, said Pham Dinh Quang, Truong’s father.

Many funeral attendees found it difficult to hold back their emotions; sympathy for the father and son, as well as anger at the mother who’d abandoned them.

“It’s normal for a husband and wife to have problems sometimes, but when she left her husband she also left behind a small child. She was informed of her husband’s funeral and chose not to attend. That is unacceptable,” said Do Thi Huong, 48, a neighbour.

Thanh’s grandmother Vu Thi Huong added, “After Truong died, the boy often wakes up in the night, crying uncontrollably when he doesn’t see his father. He wants to be carried on his father’s shoulders again.”

The boy is now being taken care of by his paternal grandparents. Still life is difficult for them, thus, Mr Quang and one of his sons have to travel far to work.

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