However, Tet is still the most joyful time, welcoming spring in their homeland, receiving love from the compatriots, for many years now, the New Year of the village is somewhat warmer than before.
Mr. Huynh Cong Tru, Team Leader of Group 67, Quarter 6, Ward 8, District 8 shared that people in the neighborhood receive a lot of attention, in addition to help from the community, the Fatherland Front of the district sends gifts every year. Tet for poor households. Although they do not have a household registration, the local authorities always sympathize and agree to allow them to stay and create conditions for identification and health insurance.
Wishing for warmth
On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the village still keeps the custom of “crushing the land” but gathers together and gathers at Mrs. Tu Mai’s boat to wish each other a new year with less hardship and a more stable life. No bustle, no apricots, peaches, kumquats, and no tables, Tet on the boats of the people here is something both unique and strange…
Like many families here, Mrs. Ba earns a living by picking up scraps, breaking wild morning glory on the river bed and selling it to earn a living. Life passed quietly, until the high tide last year caused Ba’s 20-year-old boat to sink deep under the water, all possessions drifted along the river, Ba had to live on Hai’s boat. . I thought I had to go to celebrate Tet this year, but fortunately, a few days before Tet, someone knew about Mrs. Ba’s sad story, so they gave her another boat. Although it is just an old boat, no longer in operation, it can be used as a shelter from the rain and sun, as a “roof” to protect Ba’s life in the following days.
Mrs. Ba confided: “The moment I saw the boat being pulled to the neighborhood, I was so happy I cried because I was happy, I couldn’t say a word. In my life, that’s more than enough. This year, perhaps the happiest spring of my life. I”.
Sitting contemplatively by the door of the boat in the late afternoon, Mr. Nguyen Van Phat, 63, and his wife, Nguyen Thi Ngan, 57, said, more than 10 years ago, there were about 18 households on this same river. Time and the rigors of floating life have caused many people to leave, while others have found a way to settle down at work and raise their children’s educational dreams. The poor village is becoming more and more lonely and lonely. Currently, the village has only seven “roof boats” with more than a dozen people, mainly the elderly and children.
They have no other choice, even though everyone has dreamed of changing their lives. For these people, the current life is still safe and much better than the years of poverty in the country. Outsiders look at it and feel sad, but the “Viet Kieu” neighbors think differently, their life is not quite like that. With distant eyes looking out at the spring sky in front of the boat, Mr. Phat confided: “A lot of people, when crossing this river, think that I am poor and have difficulties to live life on the boat. They don’t know that , I myself chose this place as a refuge. I have been ashore, I can’t stand the couple taking each other off the boat. I’m used to being on the boat, touching everywhere when I go ashore. there, and then fall. How can you leave it at the end of your life.”
When Tet comes to the village, the people still keep their familiar routine, it’s just that they won’t go to earn a living during the three days of Tet. They will stay on the boat to rest, cook nutritious meals for Tet and stop by the neighbor’s boat to talk and wish each other Happy New Year.
Children like An Nhien probably don’t know what Tet is, nor can they imagine what it will be like, how brilliant the lights will be. Their childhood is not as bright as other peers, but they are bright rays of hope of grandparents and parents for a better tomorrow. As Mrs. Mai shared, no matter how difficult it is, she still tries to let An Nhien grow up to go to school. An Nhien will refine the first words of his life on a white sheet of paper, then his life will really turn to a new, brighter page.