Forty houses for poverty-stricken locals, 100 bridges and tens of kilometers of roads in three districts Thot Not, Co Do and Vinh Thanh in Can Tho City have been built by Nguyen Thanh Dien, who has donated not only his effort but also his own money, with the help of other local people that he mobilized, over the past ten years.

Le Thanh Tung, vice president of the Trung Kien Ward People’s Committee in Can Tho, confirmed the information.

The image of a man, living in Thot Not’s Lan Thanh Hamlet in Can Tho and driving around on his old motorcycle with a variety of equipment to build and repair roads, has become familiar to local people in the districts.

Sometimes, he was seen filling potholes under the Can Tho Be Bridge on Highway 91. Sometimes, he has been heard to be warning boats steersmen, “The roads by the riverbank here are becoming narrower for land erosion. So please don’t turn your screw-propeller on near the shore to avoid further erosion.”

Dien shared, “This work was started by my grandfather, who used to go around sweeping and fixing damaged roads with a broom and a hoe. Later, my father also did the same thing while growing rice like other farmers to earn our living. And now, I continue their work. It is our tradition”.

Wherever the roads are damaged is where people see him. If the road is not seriously damaged, he spends his own money and repairs it. Otherwise, he calls for money from the authorities and mobilizes locals to help repair them. In some cases, they have reduced a big cost of labor since hundreds of people have joined in.

“Thanks to Dien, we have bridges and roads to use here”, said Le Van Tao Em, vice president of the Trung Kien Ward Fatherland Front Committee.

In addition, almost a billion dong was mobilized for the recent construction of the concrete road linking Can Tho Be and Ca Chat, the Bac Duong Bridge crossing Can Tho Be Canal, and the new embankment in Trung Kien Ward, which were inaugurated in April.

Dien is the ‘builder’ of not only his hometown but also in nearby locations.

According to Phan Van Hoa, a local from Trung Thanh Commune in Co Do District in Can Tho, although Dien does not live in this hamlet, he has enthusiastically helped them build roads and houses for poor people.

Selling land to build roads

Dien’s family used to own several hectares of paddy fields, which gave them a plentiful life. However, when Thot Not District was developed and the population grew, they contributed part of their land to build a market, while the rest was separated into approximately 185 lots of land for house building, 60 plots of which belong to Dien and his wife.

Every plot was sold for seven taels of gold, 30 percent of which was donated to charity, such as building roads and bridges.

When asked about the exact amount of gold he has donated, Dien said, “Doing charity shouldn’t be remembered and calculated. To me, the important things are to have a job to support my family and to help others”.