The Forgotten Lady

In January 2008, when I was at the rice distribution event of HSCV, a local assistant approached me and pointed out to a petite lady as she walked passed the People’s Committee House. She asked if I could pay a visit to this elderly woman’s house as she appeared needy.

For a while, I hesitated. At that time, HSCV already had a long waiting list of poor families seeking sponsorship and financial assistance. Knowing more families in similar plights also meant more pressure on HSCV’s shoulders to lend a helping hand. However, the pained expression on the woman’s face changed my mind. After the rice distribution event, I made my way to her home.

I started the conversation by introducing HSCV and explained the purpose of my visit. The lady, Ms Anh Thi gave a sincere smile and confided her personal difficulties to me. Her family is extremely poor and is in dire circumstances, barely making ends meet. In their bare house, there are no valuables; there was just a simple bed. Anh Thi shared that the bed is made of the remaining planks that could not be used to make a coffin, given by her kind neighbor, a carpenter. The remaining furniture in the house were items that were not in very good shape either, used items they collected from others.

Before 1991, Ms Anh Thi lived alone in a dilapidated state. Nobody really took notice of this poor woman as she does socialize with others and keeps to herself. She was, in a way, sadly, a forgotten lady in the neighborhood. She was almost non-existent, in fact, the head of the hamlet did not even know the whereabouts of her house. The single lady was unable to find a job because the people thought she was too frail to do anything. When she turned 50 years old, she left her home and disappeared. A year later, she returned with a new-born baby. Thang is the name of her child but the father of the child remained a mystery.

The mother and son duo lived in a makeshift tent. Often, they did not even have money for food. A group of elderly soldiers took pity on them and came together to build them a roof for their heads, they called the home the Compassion Home. The soldiers were no experts in building houses. The house soon revealed signs of leakage. Whenever it rains, the roof would leak and rain seeped into every corner of the house. Overtime, the wooden structures and the furniture in the house soon became infested with termites. Life remained miserable and many times, the son and mother were found unconscious in their home, sadly due to fainting from the extreme hunger pangs. From day to day, they survived on left-over food and clothing given by kind people. Both did not have jobs nor farms and their living conditions remained status quo. Anh Thi earned a meager salary of less than 1 USD per day by catching small fish, pulling up the square dipping-net and selling her fish in the market. Many times, her son, Thang contemplated dropping out of school because they were unable to afford the school fees but Ms Thi persisted and forbade her son to do so. Ms Thi borrowed money from others for her son’s education and worked hard to pay off these debts each month. Ms Thi is a hardworking woman who toils from dawn to dust and does any chores that people require to earn money. Once, while she was grazing cows, an unfortunate incident happened and she was towed by one of the cows and dislocated her left arm. She should have gone to the hospital but she did not, as she could not afford a medical check-up.

I asked her why she had never approached the local People’s Committee for assistance. The humble lady gave a waned smile and said that she had tried to manage their lives as best as she could. My heart went out to the elderly lady and I thought to myself, anything would be a treasure to them, be it something as basic as rice or a scholarship to allow her son to study with a peace of mind. Ms Anh Thi is 67 years old this year and she is unable to work hard any more. It is obvious that the feeble lady would need more assistance from others. I thanked her for opening up her life challenges and personal stories with me. I told her honestly that I was unable to promise her anything but that HSCV will try our utmost to render any form of assistance we could gather.

Thankfully, her wait for help was not futile. In two months, we found a kind lady, Ms Mandy Gann who agreed to be the sponsor for Ms Anh Thi for the Rice Distribution program to provide her with a regular supply of rice.

Today, I can still vividly recall her expression, so full of gratitude and thanks when she first received the monthly rice distribution invitation. With tears welled up in her eyes and with a quivering voice, she said, “Thank you.” Her simple words have made my day and I sincerely hope that Ms Anh Thi and her son will never have to suffer from hunger and poverty ever again.


Blogged by Tran N. Lien