Gold found among recyclables

At her home at the end of a narrow alley off Street 38 in Hiep Binh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Thi Mui greets visitors with a smile. She is hard of hearing, so visitors need to speak loudly to have a conversation with her.

Mui, who makes extra income by collecting recyclable materials, was recently commended by Hiep Binh Ward Police for returning a large amount of gold jewelry she had found.

According to local police, at around 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 8, Mui came across a paper bag while collecting recyclables. Inside were several boxes containing gold jewelry, including 15 rings, two necklaces, a bracelet and a pendant.

Mui later took the jewelry to Hiep Binh Ward Police and reported her discovery. She asked officers to help identify its owner and return the property.

Police investigated and determined that the jewelry belonged to Tran Thi Thuy Van, 34, a resident of Hiep Binh Ward.

Van had accidentally thrown the jewelry into the trash while cleaning her home.

After being informed that someone had found it, Van went to the police station and recovered all of her belongings.

Recalling the discovery, Mui said she had been making her usual rounds collecting recyclables when she spotted a paper bag in a garbage bin. She noticed boxes inside that she thought could be sold as recyclable material, so she took the bag home.

Two days later, while sorting through what she had collected before selling it, Mui discovered that the boxes contained numerous pieces of yellow-colored jewelry.

“At first, my daughter and I thought it was fake gold because we couldn’t imagine anyone throwing that much real gold into the trash,” Mui said.

After taking a closer look, however, they realized the jewelry could be genuine and decided to contact the authorities so it could be returned to its owner.

“We were very worried because we had never seen that much gold before,” she said. “We also thought about how sad and anxious the person who lost it must have been. It was a valuable amount of property, and they must have been desperately searching for it. So we quickly reported it to the authorities so they could find the owner and return it.”

Happy simply to receive a thank-you

Van was delighted to recover the belongings she thought she had lost and thanked Mui for returning them.

To recognize and promote Mui’s act, representatives of Hiep Binh Ward Police and Van visited her and presented her with gifts worth VND10 million ($380) and 10 kilograms of rice.

When Mui finally met the owner of the jewelry she had inadvertently collected, she said she felt happy, relieved and at peace.

“When I found the gold, all I thought about was finding its owner and returning it,” Mui said. “To me, that amount of gold was extremely valuable, so I could only feel relieved once we had found the person who lost it. “After getting her jewelry back, Van came to visit me and brought me a gift. I was very happy just to receive her thanks.”

Mui is originally from the former Binh Phuoc Province and has four children, all of whom are married and have families of their own.

Around 2018, after her husband died, she moved to Ho Chi Minh City, bought a small house and began living with her youngest daughter, Pham Thi Hong, 47.

During her first years in the city, Mui stayed home, cooking and taking care of household chores while her daughter went to work and her grandchild attended school.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, Mui began collecting recyclables to earn additional income and help her daughter cover household expenses.

In recent years, pain in her legs has limited how far she can go, so she now collects recyclable materials only around her neighborhood.

Hong said she previously worked as a factory worker but, as her mother grew older, began looking for work she could do from home so she could earn a living while taking care of her.

“I’ve asked her many times to stop and rest because her legs hurt, but she still doesn’t want to,” Hong said. “My mother is gentle and kind. Even though life is still difficult, she would never take anything that belongs to someone else. That’s why people around here love her.”

Ha Nguyen