Tran Thi Lung (born in 1973) and her daughter (born in 2007) are living in a small poorly-furnished house in Dong 3 Hamlet, Dien Dien Commune, Dien Khanh District, Khanh Hoa.
Tran Thi Lung (born in 1973) and her daughter (born in 2007) are living in a small poorly-furnished house in Dong 3 Hamlet, Dien Dien Commune, Dien Khanh District, Khanh Hoa.
Lung’s husband, Huynh Van Liem (born in 1963), died of cancer in late November 2017. Since then, Lung and her daughter have been living with many difficulties. As said by Lung, she and her husband are from poor families with many siblings. Lung is illiterate; therefore, she is only able to do manual labor like growing rice or harvesting rice for other people. Liem was a mason with an income of around VND150 thousand per day but was often jobless in rainy season. Since giving birth to Huynh Mai Phuong in 2007, Lung has stayed at home to take care of her child and do housework. About two years ago, Lung started to experience tightness in her left side of chest and stomach ulcer; however, their family could not afford to get treatment.
Since Liem was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2017, their family has become destitute striving to afford the treatment for Liem. Their relatives are also poor so they could not help much. Thanks to the support from the neighbors and borrowed money, Lung brought her husband to Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital (Ho Chi Minh City). However, they did not have enough money to pay for treatment and accommodation and had to return home. Liem afterwards was treated at Khanh Hoa Provincial General Hospital but also left the hospital after around five weeks later due to financial difficulty. Liem died on November 30, 2017.
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Phuong is now a fifth grade pupil at Dien Dien Primary School. After school time, Phuong helps her mother to do housework because her mother gets sick often. Phuong said that she wished to be able to continue her studying to university so that she could find a job and help her mother to have proper treatment. Lung also said that she only wished to become healthier in order to find a job and look after her daughter.
Reportedly, a parent of Phuong’s classmate felt sympathy with the difficulties of Phuong and her mother and called for support to help them. Doan Van Tin, Head of Dong 3 Hamlet, Dien Dien Commune, said that he was making a list of poor households in the hamlet to submit to the local authorities for appropriate support.
Readers can give direct support to Tran Thi Lung (0168.7597160) or to the charity box of Khanh Hoa Newspaper office at 77 Yersin St., Nha Trang City (02583.822019), or Khanh Hoa Newspaper’s bank account at Vietcombank Nha Trang (account number 0581000765262).
B.K.H
Translated by H.N
