Two hundred less-fortunate households from different districts of Quang Nam and Da Nang provinces happily joined our Tet store today. This event has its own features that are different from others'. Instead of proving them with free presents of clothes, watermelon seeds, cakes or toys, GIBTKs supports 90% the price of each present. And the families invited to our Tet store will cover the rest. What we really desire to do is not only offering "gift", but also building "good family values". Two hundred (200) families came to our Tet store to purchase things, not to receive free things for Tet. We strongly believe that if the parents pay for the items by using their own money, they will be definitely proud of themselves. Besides, what is more beautiful than the image that they come back of home with a full bag of goods and confidently say to their children "I bought them for you, dear!"
There are some stories that I would like to share with you today. The first one is about Tran Thi Yen. Despite turning to 50 years old this year, Yen still has to work hard to support the whole family of five people: her daughter, her son, two grandchildren (one boy and one girl) and her. She and her husband were farmers who cultivated rice on their little land to raise their daughter and son. However, in 2013, in a storm, her husband climbed on the house's roof to fix it but he fortunately fell down and passed away in the grief of the family. Since then, Yen has become the breadwinner of the family. Her son was forced to quit schooling when he was in 9th grade as Yen could no longer pay for his school fee.
Her daughter has mental illness at birth so she wanders along the streets every day. Seven years ago, Yen discovered that her daughter was pregnant without knowing the father of the child and a little boy was born. Yen was heart-breaking but tried to be strong and keep working. She plants rice but the yield has not been good in the last few years due to the damage caused by mice. Meanwhile, her son can no longer work as a bricklayer because he is suffering from a terrible backache due to the arduous work that he had done. Once again, Yen was shocked when her daughter got pregnant for the second time and then gave birth to a girl who is 15 months old now.
For these reasons, Tet always comes with worries, as she is unable to buy new clothes and cook good food for her two grandchildren and she is sure that this will hurt them when seeing their friends enjoy these things. However, this year is a different Tet for her when she received the invitation attending the Tet store organized by GIBTKs. Thanks to that, her family will welcome the warmest Tet ever.
Yen said: "If I had not been invited to be here today, I would have bought some cheap cookies for my grandson and would eat the simple food that we eat every day. My grandson just looked at the toy table when coming here. He really loves a robot minifigure displayed on the table and I am going to buy it for him. He is much less-fortunate compared to other children, so this Tet, I want to give him a little happiness thanks to the help of GIBTKs. Thank you so much for offering us this great opportunity. We deeply understand how precious and wonderful your help is to us."
The second story is about a man named Dao Thang with a big smile holding his daughter's hand tightly sitting on chair and waiting for his turn to shop. As shared by Thang, he had to get up early to move to Da Nang and I can see the tiredness on the daughter's face after one hour sitting on the bus. His wife left him a very long time ago so he is now a single father of three children. Working as a builder, he brings up his children who are in grade 8, grade 6 and grade 1. With a low salary, he just wants to be healthy to take care of the kids and send them to school for a better future. Understanding the father's hardship, all the kids are aware of taking care of each other and focusing on their studying. He slowly shared with me with high pride about his eldest daughter: "She plays a role as a mother in my family and makes me feel secure because she can do the household chores and take good care of her younger sister and brother."
In the past, he welcomed Tet with some candies and a bag of rice given by other neighbors and philanthropists. "That's why I am very excited to be here today and do shopping with other people. I also take my daughter along with me so that she can feel the kindness of people around her and have a chance to hand-pick whatever she likes. I am sure that my children will be very cheerful to enjoy Tet with their friends. Tet is mainly for the children, not for myself", he shared in happiness. I asked his daughter about her feeling when attending this Tet store and which items she would buy for her? Her answer touched my heart: "I could not sleep last night because this is the first time, I have a chance to purchase something for my younger sister and brother."
I have joined the Tet store four times and each time left a deep mark on me. Seeing parents take their children to buy goods and catching beautiful smiles inspired me a great deal. They give me motivation to keeping doing what I am doing. There were tears happily rolling down people's faces as well as "thank-you" words given to each other. Although Tet store was over, I believe that the value it brings to 200 households will last forever.
Thank you GIBTKs for holding this meaningful event!
