Meaningful gifts for the cold winter drawing near have just been given to two elderly blind women who catch crabs and snails to make a living in Ninh Binh on 7 October. The two toothless elderly women were moved to tears…
Pham Thi Thu Ngoc, representative of the Compassionate Arms Fund (right), and a representative of the local authorities (left) present gifts to Hoang Thi The and Hoang Thi Soi.
These two elderly women in such unfortunate circumstances are Hoang Thi The, 85, who is blind in both eyes, and her younger sister Hoang Thi Soi, 80 this year. The two were orphaned as children and have no husband, no children and almost no close relatives left. Soi is small and frail, and all year round wears only a single pair of patched trousers rolled up to her thighs, her whole body smeared with mud. Their daily meal is just a little vegetables and fish sauce. And days when they even have rice to eat are already lucky for the two of them; on many days, with no rice left in the house, they have to go out to the garden to dig up potatoes to boil and eat to get through the day.
Every day, Soi still goes out alone, groping her way to dig up pennywort, Eclipta prostrata and water spinach growing on ditch banks and hedges, to sell at a corner of the market for one or two thousand dong a day. But she digs them all up eventually, and on days of heavy rain and strong wind, the two lie hungry at home, hugging each other while illness torments them.
The pitiful circumstances of the two elderly women, nearing the end of their lives, were published by the Compassionate Arms Fund on Giadinh.net.vn – the online newspaper of Gia Dinh va Xa Hoi (Family and Society) – and received much sharing, both spiritual and material, from kind readers across the country.
Earlier, on 30 March 2013, representatives of the Compassionate Arms Fund visited them in person, gave them gifts and handed over nearly 20 million VND. Thanks to the readers’ donations, the two women were able to pay off all their debts from years of illness and sickness.
On the afternoon of 23 April 2013, Vu Manh Cuong, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Gia Dinh va Xa Hoi, handed over a second donation of 12 million VND to the two elderly women, witnessed by representatives of the local authorities.
On 7 October 2013, Pham Thi Thu Ngoc, representative of the Compassionate Arms Fund, continued to pass on readers’ kind sharing to the two women.
Warm coats, thick socks and daily necessities were delivered to them in person.
Every day, the pennywort Soi gathers along ditch banks and field edges… to sell at the market for a few thousand dong is the only thing keeping the two of them alive from day to day.
As for The, she is blind and sits in one place every day, not daring to go anywhere, because if she were unlucky enough to fall, the two of them would have no money for treatment.
Hoang Thi The and Hoang Thi Soi could not hide their emotion, tears welling up, as they said: “From the day I was born until now, only this year, now that I am old and weak, have I received so much help from everyone. The money readers donated, which the newspaper handed over on two previous occasions, helped me pay off all my debts, with a little left over for when I fall ill. Now I am receiving help from everyone again; I don’t know what to say, I just thank so much all the brothers and sisters who have helped us, and thank the newspaper…”
And so, in their dilapidated house in the mountain hamlet, in the cold of the winter fast approaching, the two unfortunate elderly women now have warm coats and thick socks… their hearts warmed by the boundless warmth of human kindness.
Thu Ngoc – La Xua – http://giadinh.net.vn