Yen’s story
Coming to Tet shop this year on an old motorbike with a broad smile on her face, Yen shared that both she and her grandson are so excited attending the shop for the first time.
For most of Vietnamese people, Tet is an occasion for them to go shopping, decorate houses and cooking delicious traditional meals for their families and friends. However, to Yen, Tet always comes with worries, as she is unable to buy new clothes and cook good food for her two grandchildren and she is sure that this will hurt them when seeing their friends enjoy these things.
Despite turning to 50 years old this year, Yen still has to work hard to support the whole family of five people. She and her husband were farmers who cultivated rice on their little land to raise their daughter and son. However, in 2013, in a storm, her husband climbed on the house’s roof to fix it but he fortunately fell down and passed away in the grief of the family. Since then, Yen has become the breadwinner of the family. Her son was forced to quit schooling when he was in 9th grade as Yen could no longer pay for his tuition fee. Her daughter has mental illness at birth so she wanders along streets every day. Seven years ago, Yen discovered that her daughter was pregnant without knowing the father of the child. Yen was heart-breaking but tried to be strong and keep working. She plants rice but the yield has not been good in the last few years due to the damage caused by mice. She thought that this Tet will be the same like the previous ones, until she received the invitation attending the Tet shop held by Giving It Back To Kids.
She said: “If I had not been invited to be here today, I would have bought some cheap cookies for my grandson and eat the simple food that we eat every day. My son just looked at the toy table when coming here. He really loves a robot minifigure displayed on the table and I am going to buy it for him. He is much disadvantaged compared to other children, so this Tet, I want to give him a little happiness thanks to the help of Giving It Back To Kids. Thank you so much for offering us this great opportunity. We deeply understand how precious and wonderful your help is to us.”
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