In her youth, Hua Thi Nhung, born in 1957, married into a poor family on Trung Nu Vuong Street in central HCMC. After a few happy years, the marriage began to break down after her husband’s repeated legal troubles.

After giving birth to four children - Tuan, Dung, Thu, and Cu Ly (real name Tran Anh Cuong, born 1986)—Nhung left the family to seek a new life.

In 1994, Tran Ngoc Loi, born in 1956, Nhung’s husband, died from a drug overdose.

With their father dead and mother gone, Tuan voluntarily entered an orphanage. Dung (nicknamed Do) and Thu lived with their paternal grandmother, selling lottery tickets and shining shoes to survive.

Cuong, only eight at the time, followed an uncle named Tuan to HCMC while the uncle sought medical treatment. Cuong never imagined that the departure would mark the beginning of decades of hardship.

After a few months in the hospital, Cuong and his uncle moved out. To buy a wheelchair for his uncle and return to their hometown, Cuong started selling lottery tickets.

However, he frequently lost the tickets and was scolded harshly. One day, after losing tickets again, he was too afraid to return and began wandering the streets, eventually getting lost and forgetting the way back.

To survive, he collected scrap. During this time, he met Nhanh, a woman who also lived off collecting recyclables. Seeing the young boy alone and without any identification, she took him in and let him live with her in a small house near Nhieu Loc Canal (Xuan Hoa Ward, HCMC).

After living with Nhanh for 3-4 years, Cuong was adopted by a couple who gave him the name Tieu Cat so he could attend school.

However, once the couple had children of their own, they quietly moved away, abandoning him. At 14, Cuong joined a group of street kids at Cau Muoi Market.

“The hardest time was during Tet. Seeing families gather happily was so painful. I would sit near lively homes just to feel the warmth. Sometimes kind people gave me food,” he recounted.

The reunion

In 2014, Cuong was admitted to the Bu Gia Map Social Protection Center in Binh Phuoc province. Three years later, he was hospitalized after an accident at a facility for patients with criminal histories, HIV/AIDS, and other severe conditions.

After being discharged, Cuong returned to HCMC to live as a homeless man with no identity or family.

To make a living, he worked as an unregistered construction worker and took on other grueling jobs because of the lack of papers. Despite the hardships, he always carried the pain of being separated, and burned with the desire to find his family.

He once traveled to Dak Lak, believing he might have relatives there, and visited Nha Trang, remembering a beach from childhood. But attempts to reconnect with family led to scams. He was tricked into sending money for fake leads.

In 2021, during the peak of the pandemic, Cuong lived under a bridge near Chantarangsay Pagoda and Phap Hoa Pagoda (Xuan Hoa Ward, HCMC). There, he met a man named Tai, and together they worked transporting the bodies of Covid-19 victims to be cremated.

After the outbreak eased, Cuong reconnected with Nhanh and took a job to survive. Despite the tough life, he never turned to crime.

“If I couldn’t find job, I’d collect scrap. If I couldn’t afford rice, I’d go to temples for vegetarian meals. That’s how I survived. As long as I can live this way, I don’t need to do anything illegal,” he explained.

Meanwhile, back in his hometown, his siblings’ lives had taken different paths. Tuan struggled after leaving the orphanage but tried to rebuild his life after marrying and having children.

Dung’s life was more stable, having inherited a piece of land from their grandmother. Thu, however, passed away at 33.

In 2018, missing his lost brother, Dung submitted information to various search efforts. Years passed without news, until the program ‘Nhu Chua He Co Cuoc Chia Ly’ (As if we never said goodbye) began investigating.

After thorough verification, the show successfully located Cuong’s family. On the day of the reunion, Nhung and Cuong embraced tightly, overwhelmed with emotion.

When Nhung met Nhanh, the woman who had raised her son through decades of hardship, she fell to her knees in gratitude.

Ha Nguyen