With the counseling and financial assistance from Tuoi Tre, Nguyen Kim Phung and her two young children, who spent 10 years in destitution, struggling against the sheer devastation of natural catastrophes in the Philippines, particularly the recent Typhoon Haiyan, finally made it home to Vietnam on Feb 16.

Compared to other expat Vietnamese who suffered casualties and huge financial losses from the Super Typhoon Haiyan, which battered the Philippines in Nov 2013, Phung and her kids’ homebound trip was considerably bumpier.

10 years ago, Phung, who was then in her late 20s, fell in love with a poor Filipino lumber worker who was working in Ho Chi Minh City and the couple soon tied the knot.

Despite her apprehension about an uncertain future in the Philippines, she then left HCMC for Cebu City in the country’s central region, her husband’s hometown.

The city is prone to storms and earthquakes all year round. The couple lived in a mosquito-infested slum at the Guizo Starcruz Mandaue in the city’s outskirts. Their “house” was a makeshift shed near a dumping ground, but they were constantly making changes to their home after the numerous calamities.

Phung gave birth to three children, aged 8, 5 and 3, who were all emaciated from poor nutrition. Phung’s husband was constantly out of a job, while she did some peddling in the neighborhood in order to earn money.

Phung’s family could have managed to get by if there hadn’t been a big blaze, which totally consumed 1,500 shabby houses in the slum, including theirs. Typhoons and earthquakes also took their nonstop toll on the poor family’s shed, and their children constantly suffered serious malnutrition along with various other different ailments.

The bumpy trip home

Having lived away from her family for 10 years without a single reunion, Phung was desperate for her home.

Knowing of Phung’s yearning, Tuoi Tre sought ways to bring her and her children home by paying her migration tax of VND50 million (US$2,358) over the years and buying them all air tickets.

However, her hopes of reunion were soon dashed. The Cebu City Immigration Office couldn’t confirm her precise residence length in the Philippines, as her passport had been consumed in the blaze.

Tuoi Tre then sought help from the Vietnam Embassy in Manila and gave Phung some money for traveling and paperwork expenses.

By Dec 2013, the Cebu City government exempted Phung’s family from paying migration tax as hers is a poor household. However, her eldest daughter wouldn’t be able to return to Vietnam this time as the girl doesn’t have her birth certificate.

On the night of Dec 14, 2013, Phung and her two kids flew from Cebu to Manila with the air tickets gifted by Tuoi Tre. The longed-for reunion was again put on halt as the Manila airport staff couldn’t verify information about their tax exemption.

Tuoi Tre then advised her to seek help from the Vietnamese Embassy and the three flew back to Cebu on Tuoi Tre’s expense to wait for the paperwork to be completed.

Phung and her kids had to spend another Tet away from home and suffered another storm.

The embassy’s efforts later paid off. On Feb 16, the elated Phung and her two kids were on their flight home.

Speechless with elation when seeing her parents and relatives again, Phung shared that hurdles remain ahead, as her family is also poor. All she dreams now is to have a stable job to get her husband and eldest daughter to Vietnam for a reunion.