A Call For Help

Two years after their marriage and after being blessed with a baby boy, tragedy hit Mrs Vy’s family. In September 2004, her husband, who was working as an assistant to a lorry driver, met with an accident while on his way to Vung Tau, Vietnam. This accident left him paralyzed from neck-down. Mr Vy was the sole breadwinner for the family. After his accident, the entire burden of meeting the family’s expenses fell on Mrs Vy.

For more than three years, she moved from hospital to hospital trying to get her husband treated, but with very little success. With every new hospital, their debt increased without any improvement in her husband’s condition. What little money she earned everyday by knitting went towards medical treatments for her husband, and food and accommodation.

Seeing her husband lying in bed, with little food or, at times, no food, she had to keep her courage alive. With her income of only 1,000,000 VND per month (45 US$), it wasn’t enough for her family to meet their daily needs.

When her son turned six, she knew he should be in school like other children, but she did not have the money for it. She sent a call-for-help letter to the local TV station. Moved by her plight, and her tireless work to support her family, the SOS Children’s Village’s Family Strengthening Program reached out with support.

After three years in the Family Strengthening Program the family’s situation has improved. Mrs Vy works from home, with a small, but stable, income. The family has a new house and is no longer forced to move continuously from one rented room to another. She can now afford her husband’s medical treatment, and above all, their son goes to school every day.

Mr Vy says, “My greatest happiness is to have a devoted wife who has made many sacrifices for her husband; a son who is a very good boy; and to have a humble house to protect us from the sun and the rain.”

Mrs Vy says, “If someone has the will, she can do everything and can manage even the toughest of situations. But without the support and the sharing of the community, I don’t know how we would be now.”

She adds that her life is rather stable now, but she wishes there were more support for other people with difficult lives.