On a weekend afternoon, L.N.H.M, 26, from district 5, HCM City, was seen quietly parking her motorbike and walking up the old stairs to enter a small, pretty coffee shop. Choosing a piece of paper, M. sat down to write down her thoughts that she did not want to share with anyone.

M is a regular client of ‘Om mot cai’ (Give a hug) station, located in district 1, HCM City, where people can share their feelings and thoughts through written letters.

'Give a hug' was established by Nguyen Vu My Hanh, 30, from Long An, one year ago.

At that moment, Hanh felt tired and hope was gone. To heal herself, Hanh created a bike laden with flowers. On the bike, Hanh wrote, “Today, if you are happy, drop into the station to write down some thoughts. If you feel sad, receive a branch of flower, and we’ll give a hug to each other”.

And she later realized that many other young people also have thoughts and feelings that they cannot share with anyone.

Then Hanh decided to open a small café, a place for those who are meeting difficulties in their lives, to express their feelings and heal themselves by writing. And she called it ‘Tram Om Mot Cai’ (Give a hug station).

“When you feel fatigue, despair and deadlock, you sometime just need a hug to find joy and to feel the warmth from other people. Therefore, I named the café ‘Tram Om Mot Cai’,” she explained.

Visitors to the station can write letters to express their feelings or respond to any letters they have read. They can also find pen friends who could become close friends.

After finishing writing letters, clients can take the letters with themselves and leave, or they can leave the letters at the station, and ask for the station’s help by sending the letters to recipients they designate.

The letters are managed by Hanh with CRM system (customer relationship management). Every letter has a code to define the time and senders. There is also a notebook for visitors to write down their feelings and allow others to read.

Hanh feels happy as her café can give support to those who need sympathy. When reading one letter, she found that a schoolboy had negative feelings and therefore, she asked a teacher to help him escape the difficulties. One couple got married after they meet each other at the station.

Ha Nguyen