The pain of Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh (Cai Lay District, Tien Giang Province)

The family of Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh (born 1948) and Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang (born 1955) live in My Phu hamlet, My Hanh Dong commune, Cai Lay town, Tien Giang province. It was a special family, because all 4 their children are seriously mentally ill, with many symptoms like mad people. Therefore, his house is nothing more than a “mental hospital”. Mr. Thanh sadly said: “When they were young, we could still hold them, now that they have grown up (the first one is 51 years old, the youngest one is 45 years old) we can\'t control them all day. We usually have to apologise to our neighbours for their actions. As parents but we still have to beg them because they keep quarrelling and fighting all day long. We, even, have been beaten by them many times. Our bodies are full of scars now. We are now exhausted, and afraid of not being able to raise 4 children who just eat and destroy. We can’t do anything else with such four children. Our life is so terrible!”

Enlisted in 1967, after the country’s reunification, Mr. Thanh was demobilised, so he isn’t entitled to monthly allowance; his life is therefore extremely difficult. Without land for cultivation or houses, the whole family live together in a small hut on a mound in the middle of the field. They earn their living as freelance labourers. There is no valuable asset in the hut but rickety bamboo beds, torn blankets, and crumpled clothes hanging everywhere. All 6 people daily live in a narrow, short hut with just over 20 square metres and a roof of just above a human-head height. In a family of 6, up to 5 people are victims of Agent Orange. Indeed, there is no such pain! Ms. Hoang was also exposed to toxic chemicals, but because she was just a field labourer, she was not recognized as a victim. In fact, all 6 out of 6 people in their family are victims. For many years now, their family was filled with bitter, traumatic, and painful days in constant difficulties and hardships. Because the couple have to care and look after their 4 children all day, they have little time to work to earn extra income.

Through this report, we hope that social community and philanthropists will join hands and contribute to improve the life of Mr. Thanh\'s family.

For any help or support, please contact: Charity - Social Group of Ap Bac Newspaper, No. 289 - Tet Mau Than Road, Ward 4, My Tho City, Tieng Giang province; Or Office of Tieng Giang Provincial Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, No. 6 - Giong Dua street, Ward 7, My Tho city;

Or the Vietnam Orange Magazine, account number: 0031116222666, opened at: Military Joint Stock Commercial Bank, Thanh Xuan branch, Hanoi.