The struggling river boys

If folding a thousand paper cranes can make one’s dream come true, I would definitely spend days and nights folding them for the helpless children of Vietnam to realize my dream. I have had the chance to meet over 200 needy families during the course of my work at HSCV. All these families are in difficult circumstances and are in need of assistance in any form.

Here, I have highlighted some of these families who have left me the deepest impression as their family circumstances are critical and require immediate assistance.

Do Van Thu and his five siblings are born into an extremely poor family where the concept of education and childhood is unheard. For generations, the entire family lived on a small and dilapidated wooden boat.

Having sufficient food to feed the children was the top priority. Often, they had to scramble to find things to feed their starving children. The children could neither read nor write as their parents could barely make ends meet, let alone pay for school fees.

Illiterate as they maybe, these children are experts in fishing and have endless stories about the fishes and the river and clever ways of catching fish using primitive methods. The boat was their home where they live. The only time they ventured beyond their home was in the mornings when they go to the market to sell the fish they caught from the river. The earnings from their catch was meagre, usually no more than 10 USD each month.

The HSCV team members first met them in 2005 and quickly arranged for them to live in a compassion home that was completed in January 2006. In September 2005, the four boys were sent to school. However, three of them dropped out of school as they were unable to bear the constant jeering and teasing from their schoolmates who knew about their family background. HSCV found tutors to teach them in the home but it did not work out. The children who were used to the carefree fishing days found it extremely hard to adapt to the routine of school life and sought refuge along the riverbanks. Their old home, the boat has rotted overtime.

The river, which was once their main source of income, has become depleted of fish because of chemicals. The parents toiled from dawn to dust but their financial condition did not improve. Year after year, the family circumstances worsened, as they did not know how to seek help from the government or other support groups. The oldest son was married but his marriage was short-lived as he was unable to provide shelter or food for his wife. Without education, the children were unable to find proper and stable jobs and could only do manual work or fishing for a living.

The only boy who chose to endure the constant bullying at school to pursue his education is Do Van Thu. Young as he may be, he knows that education is the only way to pull himself out of the poverty cycle. Today, Do Van Thu receives scholarship sponsorship while his family is still in the queue for the rice donation. We hope that more people will lend their helping hands to help “anchor” these siblings and give them a chance to work and study so that they can have a better future.

Blogged by: Tran Ngoc Lien