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Vietnamese octogenarian collects scrap to support mentally-challenged children

Vietnamese octogenarian collects scrap to support mentally-challenged children

Tuesday, March 14, 2017, 10:17 GMT+7

For the past few years, a woman in her mid-80s has moved around on a sled pulled by one of her three mentally-impaired children to pick up scrap for a living.

The paths leading to a hamlet in My Duc Dong Commune, located in Cai Be District in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang, have been a witness to the creaky sound of a homemade sled twice a day for the past six years. 

Due to her poor health condition and weakened legs, Ho Thi Nga, 86, also known as Hai Dong, has moved around on the sled, pulled along by her youngest son, 43-year-old Nguyen Thanh Phuong, who suffers from a mental illness.

The mother and son duo, who are a regular sight in the neighborhood, travel this way every day to scavenge for scrap and clear orchards of weeds to make a scant living.

The taxing routine earns them merely VND10,000-20,000 (US$ 0.4) per day, which is barely enough to support them.

Observers can tell how much the pair earn per day by seeing the pace at which the sled is pulled and overhearing the son’s chatter.

“My son is thrilled on good days when we earn enough and pulls the sled so fast that I have to cling on. He slows on bad days and doesn’t talk at all,” Nga explained.

Nga’s husband left her for good shortly after she gave birth to Phuong.

She toiled hard on her own for dozens of years to provide for their eight children alone.

Five of her healthy children are married and live far away from her.

They struggle to eke out a meager living themselves and cannot afford to visit their aging mother.

Nga currently lives with Phuong and her two other children, Nguyen Van Manh, 63, and Nguyen Thi My Dung, 44, in a house funded by philanthropists. 

Like Phuong, Manh suffers a mental illness and can only work as a porter on days when he is alert.

Dung also has poor memory and is affected by other ailments.

Nga and her three sickly children do various menial jobs as allowances from the local government are only enough for her and the two sons’ medication.

The ailing mother is deeply worried about whether her family will have enough food on days when she is too ill to work.

Her worst fear is that she will pass away, leaving her mentally ill children behind.

Once, their sled was hit by a three-wheeled cart while Phuong was dragging it along National Highway 1, knocking both mother and son onto the road.

Nga slowly crawled up to her son, mumbling in tears: “If I die, no one will care for you and Manh. I have to live to see you all grow old and die. Only then can I rest in peace.”    

In addition to their hard-earned pennies, these unfortunate people have scraped by on the mercy of some kind-hearted neighbors who sometimes give them food.

Phung Thanh Nghiem, a grassroots official, said Nga’s family, who have been living under the poverty line for many years now, are always first in line for gifts and philanthropists’ monetary donations.

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