Grandmother struggles to care for orphaned children

An elderly woman in Gia Lai Province is calling for financial help to support her four small grandchildren after their father died and mother left them.

Le Thi Chi, born in 1954, lives with the constant worry that her grandchildren could be taken away by the child welfare centre in Gia Lai Province.

Misfortune fell on the family last year when Chi's son was carrying three children to a Lunar New Year party at a friend's house. His wife and their baby twins didn't go with them. Chi's son had an accident and were killed with his daughter, while two children were seriously injured.

Chi and two ill grandchildren

The neighbours donated money to help Chi hold funerals for her son and granddaughter, pay hospital charges and raise the baby twins. However, Chi's grandchildren now suffer from mental illness. After the funeral, Chi's daughter-in-law left and hasn't returned, leaving behind four small and ill children.

Chi has two sons and a daughter. She lost both of her sons and her daughter has just graduated from university and doesn't have a job. Chi has already borrowed VND50m (USD2,200) from the bank to start her son's business and pay her daughter's tuition. After the accident, Chi has struggled to raise four children with her coffee bean garden. She also scraps the bark of evergreen trees for VND20,000-30,000 a day.

Le Thi Chi

Not long ago, a man who she thought was the new lover of her daughter-in-law called and said he would take the children away. Since then, she has been living in fear that the man would come and sell her grandchildren into China. She then agreed to give the baby twins to the child welfare centre.

"I don't know when they will come and take them away. It hurts me but there's no other way. I'm getting old and I’m financially unsecure," she said.