Published by L’école des rizières
Journey 2019 – Chapter 14: Our Meeting with Mr. Chao A Tu’s Family
The last family that Bau introduced us to was Mr. Chao A Tu’s family
Mr. Chao suffers from serious health problems that make it impossible for him to work.
So he stays at home to look after his six young children.
His wife works in the rice fields, but her low income is insufficient and the family lives in extreme poverty.
When Bau met them, the house was being eaten by termites but the family had no alternative but to relocate.
So, via Horizon-Vietnam, Bau offered them an unexpected gift:
20,000,000VND (€770) to relocate.
During our stay in Lao in September, we arrived at Mr. Chao’s house with food for the 6 children.
A kind gesture of Bau to help this family in great difficulty.
It was a smiling man, despite his health problems, whom we were lucky enough to meet.
When we left the village in September, the old house was not yet dismantled but the wood for the new one was starting to arrive.
We followed the progress of the construction.
And seven weeks later, the new house is now finished.
To enable the four houses donated by Horizon-Vietnam to be assembled quickly, 70 villagers spontaneously offered their labour.
The construction of each house ended with a huge meal to thank all the people who had worked on the building sites.
What Bau is most proud of today is that he has created a beautiful movement of solidarity in the heart of this village.
He knows that he will be able to continue to count on all the villagers to work on his future construction sites.
He knows that he will also be able to count on the support of the village chief, who, through this solidarity movement, has found a new and humane role among the villagers.
Looking at the photos Bau took on his first trip, and comparing them to the ones we took a month later, what struck us was that the newfound hope had totally changed the facial features of the families he had helped.
More than decent accommodation, it was above all humanity, dignity and the desire to move forward despite the difficulties that these families had found.
