61-year-old Dang Thi Chen from Nai Hien Dong Ward, Son Tra District, is shouldering the heavy burden of caring for her 4 orphaned grandchildren.

Mrs Chen and her grandchildren in front of her son’s altar

Mrs Chen earns only a small amount of money from selling ‘xoi’ (steamed glutinous rice) in front of the district’s To Vinh Dien Primary School every morning.  In an attempt to earn more, she also does whatever others hire her to do, such as washing dishes in local eateries and peeling sugarcane for sale.

The poor woman sadly says that, many years ago, her daughter-in-law left her family when the youngest child was only 1 month old because she could not endure the hardships and poverty.   Early last year, Mrs Chen’s life became more miserable when her son died of cancer.

According to Mr Nguyen Trung Tranh, the Chairman of the Nai Hien Dong Ward Association of Charities and Children’s Rights Protection, Mrs Chen’s family is now living below the city’s poverty threshold and therefore she usually receives financial aid from the city budget.

Despite their difficult circumstances, the grandchildren have achieved good academic study results over recent years. 

Most notably, 14-year-old Ngo Thi Thu Thao, one of her grandchildren, has won prizes at many municipal and school-level mathematics contests.

The leaders of the Association recently suggested that Mrs Chen should send one of the children to a local charity shelter, thereby helping to ease her burden in life.  However, with her great love for all her grandchildren, she has opposed this suggestion and decided to continue raising the children regardless of the hardship and financial difficulties.

Mrs Chen has revealed that her greatest wish is that all her grandchildren will continue pursuing their academic dreams in the years ahead.  Therefore, she is still in desperate need of more financial assistance to help to cover her family’s living expenses and the children’s tuition fees for the upcoming academic year.

In order to help the disadvantaged woman overcome her difficulties, donations can be sent to the Da Nang Newspaper, 6 Tran Phu Street, Da Nang (Phone: 0236 3812341 and 0905832222) or to Mrs Chen’s other son, Mr Voi (Phone: 0936225903).