VietNamNet Bridge – The story about a girl in Hue who was abandoned at birth and lived as a street child moved the hearts of millions of audience members of the national television station (VTV), but there is a different truth.

“Luom” in VTV’s show.

Last year a news website organized a writing competition about first love. A woman who named herself as Luom, from the central province of Thua Thien – Hue won the first prize for a story entitled “Unfortunate First Love”.

 

According to the story, which was believed to be true, Luom was abandoned by her mother on a park bench in front of the Hue City High School. An old woman brought up the child and named her “Luom” (meaning that the kid was picked up from street). The kind-hearted woman died in the historical flood in Hue city in 1999 when Luom was 15.

 

Since then, the girl became a street child until she met a young man who taught her to read and write and all good things in the world. Before telling Luom that he was the son of a rich family and was about to leave Vietnam to get a masters degree in the US, this man left Luom with a “living bud”.

The street girl delivered the child and every day, she carried him on her back to sell lottery tickets in Hue.

 

Luom’s story was praised by many newspapers and readers as a true tale about love and a young mother’s sacrifice for her son.

 

Believing that this was a true story, producers of a program entitled “People who build homes” of the national television station VTV made a show about Luom. On January 25 evening and January 26 morning, millions of audiences shed tears when Luom told about her life and saw clips featuring her miserable life in Tu Ha town, Huong Tra district, Thua Thien-Hue province.

 

The truth was exposed by people in Luom’s hometown – Thuan An commune, Phu Vang district, Thua Thien – Hue province.

 

It turns out that “Luom” is Tran Thi Thuy Duong, 28, who was born in Thuan An commune, Phu Vang district, Thua Thien – Hue province. This woman is not an orphan at all.  In fact she has parents, a husband, and a son, and her own house in Hue city.

Duong’s father, Tran Van Thanh, told Tien Phong newspaper: “I am ashamed for my  ancestors. She has parents and ancestors but she denied all of us. She accused her mother of abandoning her at birth.”

 

Le Thi Lieu, Duong’s mother, said: “We brought her up, supported her to graduate high school and until she got married but she told television audiences that she was abandoned and she was a street girl… Wherever I go, people see me and whisper.”

 

At Thuan An market where “Luom” or Duong is a trader, the way Luom used national television has become a hot topic.

 

“She is barefaced. She is a trader at this market but suddenly she was on television, saying that she is jobless and has to do farm-work in Huong Tra district,” said Mrs. Hoa, a fruit seller at the market.

 

Dang Nguyen Anh Tuan, vice chair of Thuan An town, said: “Mrs. Duong told TV audiences that she was arrested for two months. This is completely fabrication. We will ask VTV to make corrections”.

 

In a meeting with Tien Phong Newspaper on March 2, “Luom” cried and said she was very sorry for her act. She said when she took care of her son at hospital, a girl named “Luom” told her this story.

 

“I was very moved with the story so I wrote a story to send to a writing contest to help the girl seek her parents and her boyfriend. I didn’t intent to cheat anybody but I was not brave enough to tell the truth when VTV invited me to tell the story to the audience. I’m wrong!”

 

Duong said that after the show on VTV, she received VND7 million ($350) from a woman named Huong in Hanoi to buy medicines for her son. Recently she refused offers of assistance from benefactors because she regretted that the story went so far and she could not control it.

 

The boy that she brought to VTV studio is the son of her and her husband, not the son between Luom and the generous man as she told the audience.

“Luom’s Story” – occupational accident

Mrs. Hue

“I cannot believe that I was cheated like that. I had pity for her. I told Luom that after the show, I would seek a job for her,” journalist Hoang Le Dung from VTV office in Hue city told Tien Phong Newspaper.

Dung explained that she was assigned to make a documentary at the home of a woman named Hue in Huong Tra district, Thua Thien – Hue province. This woman was believed to save “Luom”.

Dung said before making the documentary, she talked with the woman, who claimed herself as Mrs. Hue and said she didn’t have blood relations with “Luom”. Hue told Dung that she saw “Luom” selling lottery ticket at Dong Ba Market in Hue city. Feeling pity for “Luom” and her child, she allowed “Luom” to stay at her home and treated “Luom” as a relative.

Dung said the responsibility of checking information belongs to the VTV headquarter in Hanoi. Moreover, the story about Luom was published on the Internet for a long time but there was no feedback about its truthfulness.

“Anyway, I have responsibility in this case. I’ve been working as a journalist for tens of years but this is an occupational accident, a big lesson for me,” Dung said.

Millions of audience were moved by “Hue,” the old woman in the short documentary about “Luom”, who whole-heartedly helped the streetgirl. But who is “Hue”?

This woman still denied her blood relations with “Luom” until reporters told her that they had known everything about “Luom” or Duong. She then confessed that she is Duong’s aunt and she agreed to play the role of a good woman who helped “Luom” to help her niece.

Hue said that reporters arranged the scene in which she and “Luom” did field work. “They asked me and Duong go to the field to work to film us. But it was rainy and the field is very far so I refused. Then they told us to work at any field near my home for filming,” Hue said.

On March 3, Tran Thi Thuy Duong wrote a letter to apologize Vietnamese audience and the producers of the show about “Luom”. She said she still keep the cash she got from the show in Hanoi and she would return it to the show producers. She said she was very ashamed and she wished to be forgiven to take care of her sick son.

“I cannot say anything about “Luom” at this moment. I’m very angry right now so I cannot say anything else. We are investigating the case,” said journalist Kim Ngan, the producer of the show.

 

Source: Tien Phong