Picking water spinach for hire from dawn to noon, people in the boarding house near Go Dua canal, Thu Duc city, earn about 100,000 VND.
The "Morning glory village" near Go Dua canal, Thu Duc city, has been established for nearly 20 years, mainly by workers from the Western provinces. The bundles of vegetables are brought by traders from Thu Duc city, Hoc Mon district, Go Vap district... to the village to pick the leaves and take the stems to make salad for restaurants.
"There's nothing to do in the countryside, and I'm old and no one will hire me, so I chose this job to make a living," said Tran Thi Mai (right corner), 54 years old.
Waking up at 4am, Mrs. Tran Thi Tuoi (65 years old) said that every day she picks about 40 kg of vegetables, earning 100,000 VND. "The rent and electricity and water bills are 1.5 million VND per month. Life is difficult," said the woman from Soc Trang .
To avoid getting their hands wet, the pickers must wear gloves. The water spinach leaves will be removed, leaving only the stems. Traders pay 2,500 VND for each kilogram of finished vegetables. It takes about 5 minutes to pick one kilogram of vegetables.
The ten-room boarding house does not have enough space to pick vegetables, so many people set up temporary tents in the alley to do so. Currently, there are about 20 people making a living from this profession.
While waiting for the traders to bring vegetables to the boarding house, Mr. Vo Van Kich and his wife rowed a boat on the Go Dua canal near their house to pick more vegetables to sell.
He said that this field spinach was grown, cared for, and then cut and sold gradually by his family. "Each bunch of vegetables is about 5 kg, I earn 10,000 VND. Every day I cut a few dozen kg, but some days I can sell it, some days I can't," he said.
Mr. Kích, 75 years old, from Thanh Tri district (Soc Trang), has 5 hectares of land but due to crop failure, he went to Saigon to pick vegetables for 6 years now.
"My wife and I pick vegetables in the morning and collect scrap metal in the afternoon to make enough money to live," he said.
Mrs. Cuong watered the bunch of water spinach she had picked while waiting for the traders to come and pick it up. She said that each day her family picked about 50 kg of vegetables, earning 125,000 VND.
At noon, Mrs. Cuong's family took a break and had lunch.
"This job is a day-to-day job, it's not going to make much money," said Ms. Cuong, adding that her husband has to work as a construction worker to earn extra money to raise their children.
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