VietNamNet Bridge – After the New Year holiday, villages in central Vietnam have become quiet because young people have left home to the north, the south and even overseas to work. In many villages, there are only the elderly and younger kids.

 

After helping his mother prepare the feast for Ram Thang Gieng (15^th day of the first lunar month), Tran Van Nam, 20, in Thanh Long commune, Thanh Chuong district, in the central province of Nghe An arranged his belongings to go to the national highway to catch a coach to the southern province of Binh Duong to work in an industrial zone.

 

Nam’s mother didn’t want her son to go to the south but her family is too poor to not allow her son to seek work. Nam’s father died many years ago, leaving his wife and three children. Graduating from junior high school, Nam’s eldest brother moved to the south and got married there. Two years later, his sister also headed to the south. .

 

“He must go to the south to earn a living. All young people in this village go to the south,” the mother said.

 

Seeing Nam off at National Highway 46, Lan was partly consoled when she saw hundreds of mothers and fathers also seeing their children off to the south.

 

Thanh Chuong is among the poorest districts in Nghe An province. Local people have only one job – growing rice. However, they only earn just enough to live from farm work.

 

Most of young people go to the south to work in industrial zones after graduating from junior high school. Many pupils have to quit school to follow their brothers and sisters.

 

“The youth don’t want to grow rice anymore. They want to seek jobs at factories if they can’t study anymore. The people who have worked in the south call for their relatives to join them. Young people in my commune follow each other to head to the south to earn their living,” said an official of Thanh Tung commune, Thanh Chuong district.

 

Part of the youth in central provinces go to Laos and China to work.

 

On the 18^th day of the first lunar month, a Vinh city (Nghe An) – Mong Cai (Quang Ninh) coach was full. There were 25 Thai ethnic men from Tuong Duong district, Nghe An province on the bus.

 

One of them, Vi Van Cho, 25, said that youngsters in his commune – Nhon Mai – have now chosen China, not southern Vietnam. They go to China through Mong Cai to work at plastic factories.

 

“If we work hard, we can earn VND5-6 million ($250-270) a month, a little more than earning in the south. However, we can save more money because we don’t have to engage in drunken parties. We worked for two years in the south but we didn’t save a penny because of drinking and parties,” Cho said.

 

Other people go to Laos to work in rubber farms owned by Vietnamese.

 

Not only young people but middle-aged men in the central region leave their fields to their wives to go to Laos, Thailand, China, etc.

 

Nghe An province authorities said that after Tet they have to deal with 800 applications for passports a day. Local people need passports to go to Thailand, Laos, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Russia, etc. to work.

 

Leaving home after Tet has been a “whirlwind” in central Vietnam for years. This “whirlwind” has helped change the face of many villages but it also creates an absence of young people in the villages.

 

Coming to central provinces, one will see only women and children working on the fields. Some fields are left fallow because of labor shortages.

 

PV