Published by L’école des rizières
Vietnam 2019 – Chapter 15: Our meeting with Mr and Mrs Trung Xuan
After visiting the 4 families that Bau was relocating, we walked back to the village chief’s house, in front of which our vehicle was parked. As we walked, our attention was drawn to a group of people working on a construction site. We approached to talk and learned that the house of an elderly couple had just collapsed. |
Since they had no home, Mr Trung Xuan and his wife had been living in a small tent until they were relocated.
Their children, who were working on the site, told us that they had collected wood from the forest and that within a few weeks the new frame would be erected.
Understanding the poverty in the village, Bau asked the family if they had enough money to pay for the sheet metal and other materials to complete the construction.
Lacking money, the elderly couple planned to settle for a simple tarpaulin to cover the frame that their children were making.
After a long discussion with the family, Bau calculated that €350 would be enough to provide the couple with a comfortable home.
Bau had already distributed all the money he had brought to advance his work.
So he asked us if he could borrow some until we returned to Hanoi and he would pay us back.
We gave him all the money we had left and told him that it was a donation to support his projects and that he would not have to pay us back.
The building contract was signed and on his return to Hanoi, Bau transferred the missing funds to complete the project.
We followed the construction site and the couple’s house is now finished.
