An Den - the girl telling country stories on TikTok attracts millions of views

An Den's real name is Nguyen Thuy An, born in 1991 - a "countryside storyteller" to nearly 2 million viewers on the TikTok platform. Unlike other popular TikTokers, An's videos are all slow, just like her way of life. Through the camera angle and An's storytelling, viewers can imagine themselves standing in the middle of the Central Highlands village where she lives. An admits that she is a "weak person" - someone who cannot adapt to the glamorous Saigon. As a student, like her friends, she did all kinds of manual jobs to help her parents make ends meet. Washing dishes, scrubbing toilets..., An did not hesitate to do anything. After graduating from university, An struggled in tourism, real estate, office work..., even working as a garment worker to stay in the city. With an income not enough to live comfortably, at night she still dreamed of a distant but familiar place, An left Saigon to return to her hometown to live with her mother. "It's not like following the trend of leaving the city to return to the countryside, I felt that I was not suitable for the city so I just came back, accepting to live a life without a 5-year, 10-year plan...". Luckily, Mrs. Bay - An's mother did not stop her. She said, if you are too tired, then go home! The youngest child goes to school far from home. Sometimes, when dad gets angry with mom, he goes away to play. An comes back to live with mom, it is convenient. The mother and daughter eat whatever they have. The house has pigs, cows, dogs, cats, trees, An conveniently films a few clips and posts them online. Friends like it, and it gets a few hundred likes. An did not know that she could make money from that hobby. "My friends know that my income is from a few durians, a few bunches of bananas, and a few batches of banh tet. My friend told me to do YouTube to make money. I tried it too, and even got Mrs. Bay to do it with me." Mrs. Bay carried a basket and waded through mountains and streams to film with her daughter, pressing the camera to help her. Regardless of who did not understand what crazy thing An was doing, Mrs. Bay still understood. Every night, she smiled when she watched videos of the countryside. Foreign newspapers knew about An, friends thought she was successful, and congratulated her. But who knew that after 3 years of doing YouTube, she had no money. Her income was only over 1 million per month, enough for gas. “I still do it because I like it.” Everyone laughed and said, “Mrs. Bay really spoils her daughter.”

Then, the turning point for An's content production career began after she accidentally watched a video on TikTok. "He just held his phone and panned over some durian trees, but the video had millions of views. I started thinking about switching platforms and how to make content." Her first video on the new platform hit the top trends. After just a few days, it attracted millions of views. From there, An gradually developed her TikTok channel, with the same old content but a new approach. Currently, An has nearly 2 million followers and more than 38 million likes - a dream number for any content creator. With that number, An started to cleverly accept advertising orders in her videos to earn income. “I only accept occasional jobs, only those that are suitable for me. Compared to other TikTokers with the same number of followers, my income is low. But I am satisfied with that. Now I can live comfortably with my needs. When I go to the market to buy fish sauce, salt, food, I don't have to hesitate anymore, I just go and buy. That is enough for me.”

Since having a steady income from the content she produces, An has thought about using her own money to cook for the children. The children around An are mostly from poor families, the children of the Ede and Mong ethnic groups. Their daily meals occasionally include braised meat or braised fish. An spends 3 million or 5 million each time to cook a few dozen meals. The meals are meticulously prepared and stir-fried by her, not too unfamiliar to the children in the city but are a sky full of excitement for the children here. Every time she chooses a village to cook for the children, she is there from 11am. By 4pm the meal will be ready. But from 12pm, the children have come to wait. “All the dishes I cook are strange to them, especially to the Mong people. The children are not picky. If they find something strange and fragrant, they eat it all, as much as an adult’s meal in the city. When asked if it was delicious after eating, they nodded and said ‘delicious’. The smarter ones said ‘thank you, teacher’”. “In the past, my family also lacked rice, borrowed money, and was scolded by the bank. I was also a poor child, so I understand what they like and crave… Squid, shrimp, they have never eaten before… Sometimes when I am cooking, I see the children eating lunch with salt water and still eating it deliciously. So I know how delicious my rice will be when they eat it later”.

Following An's loving meals for the children, donors from all over began to express their desire to join in. From Vietnamese Americans, mothers with babies to children who saved 25 thousand for breakfast... An cherishes everyone. But An has her own principles for charity. She does not keep much money in her account. She only receives enough money to cook for a few months and does not accept more. For each meal, An clearly states which donor sent her money to cook. "If I receive a lot of money, people will be impatient, and then wonder when An will cook their money... and then An will get tired. Many donors want to remain anonymous, but An also explains so that they can understand. They can trust me, but if An just mentions the donor in general, everyone will be suspicious." An continuously records every amount of money sent. An buys cooking oil and fish sauce for each meal and records it in detail. Because she understands the complexity of spending charity money. But that doesn't make her afraid or stop doing it. "If I don't do anything shady, there's nothing to be afraid of." Every now and then, when she encounters poverty, illness, or accidents, An calls for help. But she only calls for enough help. "If I get more than 100 million, I will ask donors to stop. Because too much money can sometimes cause problems for the patient's family." And when giving money, An always carefully records it in pictures. That's how she keeps her peace of mind when doing charity work.

An said that in the past, when she was still in Saigon, she also wore tank tops, high heels, and had short hair like everyone else. But since returning to her hometown, she found that she liked to wear linen, loose clothes, and a bare face without makeup. “Many friends commented, ‘Why don’t you dress up?’. Some people who liked it said, ‘Just be comfortable like that.’ Actually, I’m dressing up in my own way. Every time I appear on camera, I comb my hair, iron my clothes, and take a shower. But maybe it’s because my skin is… dark, so I look dirty or something,” An humorously said. Someone even commented under An’s video: “I know you’re from the countryside, but you need to dress up. Don’t try to act like that.” “No. I don’t intentionally shape my image like that, but I think it’s the most beautiful, the most comfortable, and the most me. That’s all.”

“Once, I was ‘forced’ to wear makeup when attending a wedding. Everyone finished and went out on the street, all looking up radiantly. I was so embarrassed I wanted to die.” As if to ease her “weirdness,” An quickly added: “But I still like lipstick, I still wear lipstick from time to time, it’s just that wearing gorgeous makeup is not me.” However, one day when An put on lipstick to appear on camera, suddenly a man jumped in and commented, “being ugly is also a sin.” “I feel sorry for a soul like that,” An said. At 32 years old and unmarried, An is often urged to get married, “lest she become a woman who has passed her prime.” An said that she really wanted to have her own family, a complete happiness like other women. But she has never pressured herself about this. “Marrying someone who loves you is the right time for you. I think just living happily is enough. I give myself a 7 for happiness. For me, 7 is pretty good.” “I dream of marrying someone who can bring me a bowl of pho when I come home late from work on a rainy day. That’s all it takes. The two of us live together in a small house by the lake, selling agricultural products together every day, and living a little…”