VietNamNet Bridge – For decades, a family including four children, have been living in the forest, isolated from the outside world because of poverty.

The so-called "house" of Mr. A Sang is located in the jungle in Bac Binh district, in the central province of Binh Thuan, at an altitude of 800 m above sea level.

To reach this area, we had to walk through the jungle for one day and climb over five mountains.

The hut is made of bamboo, covered with canvas. A Sang and his wife were not at home. Their four children nestled at the bamboo door and looked at us, the strangers.

All of them were small and looked very naive. Mr. Nguyen Dau, our guide, said that the kids run into the woods to hide whenever they see strangers.

With no communication and no education, the kids’ outside world were a few locals who only rarely dropped by at their house to ask for fresh water.

The two oldest kids once a month carry oily resin of the “dau rai” (Dipterocarpus alatus) trees to the forest gate where they exchange oily resin for food.

Their friends are a cat and two dogs, including one dog that lost one leg because of a trap.

A Sang’s real name is Gip A Duong, a native of the village of Hai Thuy, in Hai Ninh commune, Bac Binh district, Binh Thuan province. He is 50 years old but he has been living in the jungle for 32 years.

Born to a very poor family, A Sang earned his living by going to the forest to seek dau rai resin when he was a boy.

Initially, every week he returned home once a week, then once a month and once several months to sell resin. Since 1982, he has stayed in the forest.

Sad life

To reach A Sang’s hut, correspondents had to walk entire one day.

A Sang fell in love with a girl who worked as a hired porter of resin. They returned to A Sang’s home in Hai Ninh and had a child named Gip A Moi.

A Sang still travelled to the woods to seek resin and returned home to sell resin to support his family. A few years later, his wife became sick and died.

Afterwards, A Sang has stayed in the deep forest, with a monkey. Sometimes he met several people who went to the forest to collect resin.

Once again, he met a hired porter of resin named Nguyen Thi Quang and they lived together. A Sang took his child he had with the first wife, who was now aged 5 or 6, to the forest.  

A Sang knows a little about using herbs as medicine and midwifery techniques from his mother.

He carried out deliveries for his wife in the forest. They had two children, a girl and a boy. However, the boy died from a fever at the age of one.

In her third labor, A Sang’s wife died and the baby also died. A Sang took his two children, A Moi and A Nhi, to a higher mountain, near the site where he collected resin. It was a dry summer day 17 years ago.

The younger sister of A Sang’s second wife, Nguyen Thi Lam Tuyen, who was also a resin carrier, sometimes visited his brother-in-law and nephew and niece and brought essential goods for them. They then lived together in the forest.

Tuyen was pregnant and A Sang again became a “midwife” for his wife. They have four children, named : Gip Sam Tay, Gip A Long, Gip A Dau and Gip Linh Chi.

Dream to have a house

The dinner of A Sang’s family.

A Sang’s oldest son – Gip A Moi, 20, once told his father: “It is very miserable here, I want to return to the village”.

One day, the boy carried resin to the forest gate to exchange for food and did not return to the hut.

He sent a message to his father, through a resin worker, that he went to town to work. The second daughter, Gip A Nhi, also left the hut to Lien Huong with her brother.

Now, Gip Sam Tay, 16 and Gip A Long, 10, replace their brother and sister to carry resin to the forest gate.

The kids just want to live in the village as normal kids. Their parents also want a house in the village as ordinary people.

A Sang said he was sleepless for many nights thinking about his wife’s question: “When will we return to the village?"

PLTPHCM