Over the last seven years, 48-year-old Nguyen Thanh Son has helped the poor by worrying about burial observances for their dead relatives in Phuoc Thoi Ward, O Mon District in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho.

Son, owner of Thanh Son coffin shop, has thoughtfully helped those who are too poor to pay for a coffin to shroud and bury their dead relatives.

At noon, when Tuoi Tre reporters came, they saw Son covered in sweat, saying he had returned from the adjacent hamlet, where a person had just passed away. He went to see if the family of the dead needed any help.

Son has quietly given the coffins away to penniless families and helped them bury their relatives for the last seven years. Sometimes, he gives five to six coffins a month, worth VND3 million (US$144) each.

Despite doing a lot of charity work, Son’s family lives in a simple house.

When Son was young, he had various kinds of jobs but his earnings were only enough to get by in Ho Chi Minh City. In 1990, he returned to Can Tho and set up his business with his bare hands.

He first started with silk-screen printing and then changed to selling burial articles. After earning some capital, he sold coffins and opened the coffin-building shop where he works now.

“I transport coffins to customers’ houses, and when I see that they are poor, I give them the coffins free of charge,” he said. Gradually, it has become his custom to sponsor poor families in mourning.

He said, “two or three million dong is nothing to many people but a big problem to the poor. When I give them coffins and help bury their relatives, several people hold my hand to thank me and do not let me go home.

I am so happy to do very meaningful work for the poor that does not cost a large amount of money,” he said.