One family. Two painful sufferings

Only Phong and his younger sister, Vo Thi Linh Kieu, were at home. On this scorching hot day, Phong lay asleep in a small bed, his blanket covering his face. Kieu stood away from us, listening to her neighbor talk about her family’s sufferings.

Phong’s small, foul-smelling bed was in a narrow, dark corner. This was understandable since Phong had been bedridden since his traffic accident a year earlier. He had to rely on the help of other people to do his daily activities. Linh Kieu turned on a small electric fan to drive away the smell. We tried to start a conversation, but it proved difficult. Phong was lying there, suffering from illness and injury, and feeling he was becoming redundant, though he was still in his youth.

The neighbor kept telling us about Phong’s family. His 60-year-old parents had to toil in the fields everyday, just to make ends meet. The family had seven people, but no regular income. Insufficient land and poor crops made life even harder for them. Their main income came from the morning glory field. At intervals throughout the working day, his mother had to come home to look after him. This was how they had lived for a long time.

My colleague turned to talk with Linh Kieu. Her question “Where are you studying?” made Kiều burst into tears. It seemed that she tried to hide her feelings for a long time. Through her interrupted answer, we knew she had to leave school several months prior because her family could no longer afford the expense. She wanted to continue her study, but also wanted to stay at home looking after her brother. Her parents had to borrow tens of millions of VND to cover Phong’s treatment. However, his sickness would be difficult to cure without a marrow transplant. This posed yet another dilemma for his family.

We gave Linh Kieu an application form for the ITA-s Fund scholarship “For the Future” and encouraged them in their struggle to overcome their difficulties. For the first time, we saw their eyes brighten with hope. We hope to have a chance to visit them again, in a better situation than this.