Apart from attending the same primary school, Quang Trung in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, Dang Bao Ngoc and Nguyen Quoc Viet have another thing in common: a life without at least one of their parents.
Ngoc does not have a father or a mother. She said that her father had left before she was even born.
Without a man in the family, Ngoc’s mother moved from the southern province of Bac Lieu to Ho Chi Minh City in order to make ends meet.
Ngoc’s grandmother was also there to help take care of her.
Unfortunately, Ngoc has had to live without her mother for the past month, after she passed away because of a recent illness.
The girl now lives with her grandmother and an aunt, but without the love of her birth mother.
“I take care of her, take her to school and pick her up every day. I do not have a specific job. I just do what people pay me to do,” said Ngoc’s grandmother.
Ngoc’s tuition fees are paid for by her aunt, who works as a servant at a restaurant earning about VND3 million (US$132) per month.
“I try my best to be a good student so that I can become a doctor when I grow up. I’d love to be a doctor,” Ngoc said.
To do so, the fourth-grader will have to study really hard.
“No one helps me or tells me to study. I study and do all my homework on my own every day.”
Viet, a fifth grader, shares a similar story.
“I am living with my mom and my sister in seventh grade. My dad had a traffic accident and passed away. A container truck ran over him.”
Nguyen Thi Xuan, Viet’s mother, said that her husband and she were from the central province of Quang Nam.
“We have been living in Ho Chi Minh City for about seven years. We sell old clothes to get through each day. It is tiring but we have to do it to make money and take care of our kids. We leave early in the morning and return home at about 10 in the evening.”
Suddenly losing her husband, Xuan said she felt hopeless, but had to keep working for the future of her children.
Xuan now takes her children to school and picks them up herself after she became concerned about traffic following her husband’s tragic accident.
This means Xuan is unable to work the whole day like she used to.
The single mother makes around VND100,000-200,000 ($4-9) each day but has tons of bills to cover, including their rent of VND2 million per month.
“I have to try to help my children get a good education. First they need to finish this school year. If I cannot take care of their studies anymore, we will go back to our hometown. But that will not be easy.”
With his future uncertain, Viet just wants to be a good student.
“I want to be a singer in the future. A singer makes a lot of money. Then I can take care of my mom. I love my mom very much because she has done a lot of things for us.”
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