"Our new house was completed just before the Tet Lunar New Year," Chau Thi Than said happily. "So my two children and I enjoyed Tet more this year."

Than's husband died of a serious disease over 10 years ago when she had just given birth to their second child and the first was only three years old. The poor young widow faced lots of difficulties raising the children as she had no stable job and their house was sold to cover her husband's hospital treatment.

Than has tried to raise the two small children with a modest income from working as a lottery ticket seller. They live in a 10-square-metre room at the old house of her mother-in-law which was also built by donors.

After her story was published in the Dantri/Dtinews Newspaper Than received over VND150 million from readers. She has decided to build a new house which is over 60 square metres and has two bedrooms.

"I never dared to dream about such a large house, but now we have it," Than said. "Now we have a better place of living. I want to send my sincere thanks to Dantri and all the kind donors who have supported us. I will try to work hard to raise my two children so that they can have a better future."