Once a tradition, now an opportunity
In today's busy and hurried life, many people simply do not have the time to clean the graves of their relatives. This has turned into an opportunity for people facing poverty.
Traditionally in Vietnam, when a new year is coming, people often clean, paint or repair the graves of their relatives.
Visiting a cemetery at Hoa Son Commune, Hoa Vang, Da Nang City, I saw that a lot of children were busy cleaning and painting graves. Most of them are living in poverty. They are forced to do this work in order to help support their parents.
“My family is living in poverty. My parents don’t have enough money to buy me any new clothes or shoes whereas all of my friends have these things already. I can clean 15-20 graves per day if I work hard for the whole day. They pay me VND10,000-15,000 ($0.5-0.8) per unit,” said Nguyen Truong Chan, a pupil of Tran Quang Khai Secondary School at Hoa Son, Hoa Vang. “I can save some money and give some to my parents. I just keep a little bit for myself.”
“In recent years, I often do this job when I am off from school to help my parents. I have gotten used to this job, I don’t feel tired at all,” said Nguyen Chien Cong, a 9th grade pupil.
“Children here often clean the graves and adults will paint them. We can work on two or three graves per day. They pay me VND60,000 ($3.2) per grave. We do this job with all our enthusiasm because they are houses of the dead,” said one man.
