DONG NAI (VIET NAM)-Seeing that many old people no longer have relatives to take care of Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong, 54 years old in Phu Huu commune, Nhon Trach district welcomed home, free care until the end of life.
At 4:00 pm, when the sun was calm at the end of the day, the large courtyard in front of Ms. Hong's house in Rach Seven hamlet, Phu Huu commune, Nhon Trach district, appeared more than 40 old men constantly pulling each other out to sit. Each one of them a stone bench, grandparents, grandmothers told each other headless stories. They all have no relatives, some have accidents, are mentally ill, have unstable nerves... from many places taken care of by Ms. Hong.
"Time to drink milk and eat cake. I'm used to it so it's time for the instruments to wait in the seats, no one tells anyone," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Be (light colored shirt), 70 years old, native of Can Tho is the most intelligent of the 76 people who are staying at the shelter. Mrs. Be has only one grandson married in Nha Trang. Three years ago she broke her leg, her nephew couldn't take care of her grandmother so sent her into the shelter. Mrs. Hong has been out of contact with her nephew for about a year. Photo: Ip Phan.
For nearly 15 years, her home has been known to locals as "Ms. Hong's home" - home to hundreds of homeless elderly people until they take their last breath. Currently, the shelter is raising 76 people, including 32 people with accidents located in just one place. Each of them came to the shelter with their own story, but there was something in common that they did not have any relatives to rely on.
"One year just finished three days of Tet, in the morning opened the gate, saw an old woman crawling from the street, asking questions, he did not remember anything about personal information but just said 'come stay with Ms. Hong'," the 54-year-old woman said.
15 years of "worrying about how much copper" so the people of Rach Seven hamlet almost forgot about Ms. Hong and her husband used to work in the petroleum trade for the waistlines on the river. She said that when she was in the trade with her husband, she encountered many circumstances but the most obsessive is the image of skinny old men, trembling to pick up bottles, sell lottery tickets while they should be rested, cared for and supported by their children and grandchildren. Many times she said to her husband: "I wish later when children grow up, have spacious houses will definitely welcome the tools to feed" Her husband, Mr. Tran Thanh Thuan, then protested immediately: "She loves people, sends money to the shelters where there are caregivers, but the elderly are sick, sick how can she handle"
In 2004, she and her husband built a house. With the money accumulated after many years, she told her husband to make the largest home possible with "intentions" to make room for the elderly homeless. But, of course, she didn't say that thought to her husband.
A year later, Hong went to Bien Hoa to visit her two children who were in school. That time, she saw an old lady sitting by the river hugging her crying face. Asked again, the old woman said she had no husband and children, long lost relatives. When I was young to work as a maid but now over 70 years old, my health is weak, no one rents me, no accommodation, I do not know where to go in the last days of my life, so I cried. After hearing the story, Ms. Hong said: "If she has nowhere to go, go home to her children, adopt her to the end of her life. But at home you have to be vegetarian, can you eat?". She replied, "I can eat anything, as long as there is a place to hide in the rain."
So Mrs. Hong took her home. Along the way, she secretly prayed for her husband not to protest too harshly, afraid to hurt the old woman. But when he came home, Thuan agreed. Breathless, but also surprised with her husband's attitude, she asked: Why don't you object?. Thuan replied, "I was going to protest for fear of your suffering, but I can't tell you."
So the old woman lived with Mrs. Hong and her husband. Every day, she and her husband went down the Saigon River to trade, dark about sleeping mats outside the living room to give way to the room and bed for the tools.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Seven (in a wheelchair), 40 years old, mentally ill, is a person in Nhon Trach district who lives wandering the streets from childhood to adulting, who gives something to eat. Sister Seven has a father but he is also taking care of his elderly mother. Three years ago, Ms. Hong adopted. Every time you get into a fight, you run away. This year's Covid-19 epidemic, Ms. Hong repaired the fence firmly, picking her up for care for fear of her going out on the streets more susceptible to infection. Photo: Ip Phan.
10 years ago, Ms. Hong heard that her grandfather was in a hostel in Saigon, living on a cyclo bike. After an accident, the old man lay in one place. The innkeeper did not know how to ask Ms. Hong for help. The house has no space, the old man is accident so the care is very inconvenient so Mrs. Hong discussed with her husband to build another house on the vacant land next to the house, divided in two. One side makes a sleeping place for 4 instruments, one side is empty "every time I go to take care of the tools, I rest". Mr. Thuan listened to his wife, set up the leafy house for 3 days, on the 4th day Ms. Hong sent the owner to bring him home.
"At that time I realized, her intention to stop the house in two is to make room for the old man who suffered this accident," Thuan said. In the same year, Ms. Hong decided to stay at home to take care of her sick mother and take care of her grandparents, not to trade with her husband.
Ms. Hong not only "pulled" her husband to accompany her but some siblings and neighbors also came to her to take care of the tools. Mr. Nguyen Van Loi, 42, houses about 100 meters away from the shelter every 2:00am every day to Ms. Hong's house to cook." I see that the elderly are many but the caregivers are few, I have health, I only help. I often cook and make milk because the tools get up very early, go back to work in the morning, just like that for decades," Mr. Loi said.
Mr. Thuan has also taken a break from trading for his wife to take care of the tools. He replaced her with bathing the instruments every day because Ms. Hong's back pain could no longer hold. "Taking care of the instruments is the greatest wish of my wife, I want to carry out that biggest wish with my wife," Thuan said. Photo: Ip Phan.
To feed the tools, Ms. Hong initially used personal money, but the family's savings had been running out for a long time, five acres of land of her husband and wife were also sold gradually, taking money to cover the shelter. For five years now, her home is more well known so rice or diapers used for paralyzed tools are the two most necessary things are also supported by many strong military.
Mrs. Hong, she still wears only three brown clothes all year round. Since welcoming the elderly homeless to feed, she and her husband have not had a trip or dining outside. "In the past, sometimes the house bought durian "eat to" a meal. But now, whatever they eat," she said.
Mr. Vo Thanh Hoang, Vice Chairman of Phu Huu commune added: "Ms. Hong not only helps the elderly in the district but also in many other places. Every Tet holiday, she also mobilizes gifts from the military to give more to the poor in remote areas. The tools at the shelter are supported by the locality as insurance, temporary residence, when they die, they make death notices."
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