Vo Thi Tu, 79, lives with her younger sister, Vo Thi Nguyet, 72, in Hau hamlet, Tan Thong Hoi commune in Cu Chi district in HCM City in a patchwork house with simple, neatly arranged furnishings.

Tu’s parents had five children, but two died prematurely. The siblings include Tu, her sister and an older brother.

Since their childhood, the two sisters have lived in poverty. To make a living, they had to become independent and work hard as hired workers.

“At that time, we led a poor and miserable life. We just tried to work hard, day and night. We caught fish, picked vegetables and went to work for other people,” Tu recalled.

The time went rapidly. One day, Tu realized that she was 40 years old. In Vietnam, women at the age may not have a chance to get married.

Tu’s sister was the same. “She was busy all the time and had no boyfriend,” Tu said.

Nguyet, listening to Tu’s story, agreed with her older sister. 

“We tried to do anything we were told to do, just to make money to cover our basic needs,” Nguyet said. “We just tried to work and work.”

“If I had realized that I would become alone when I get old, I would have married a worker and had a lot of children,” she said.

But they no longer think of getting married.

Their brother has a wife and children. They have had to work hard, but their income at times was not enough for their meals. However, they managed to set up a house for the two sisters.

As the two women tried to become independent rather than rely on the brother, they tried to work as hard as they could. The income was modest but stable, and they did not worry about food shortage.

However, Tu has become weaker over the last two years. Because of pain, she can no longer hoe land and remove weeds. They have taken a new job – making bamboo blinds.

Because of poor health, they earn only VND10,000 a day each, though the work is not too hard. Their regular food is braised fish which they buy near their house. They worry that they won’t have money for medical examinations and medicine if they fall sick one day.

Ngoc Lai - Le Nhung