Kind strangers beside the 'unknown' mother and children

Five mother and children of Ms. Miep in a small rented room

That single mother is Ms. Thi Miep (S'Tieng ethnic group), from a border commune of Binh Phuoc province, who came to Da Nang with her children and was taken care of by the kind people there.

Kind strangers

Ms. D. ( Da Nang ) shared that when she knew Ms. Miep's situation was so pitiful, she helped her with some food, utensils, and introduced a place to wash dishes for hire...

When she learned that the mother and her five children had no identification papers, Ms. Miep was illiterate, and her health was "problematic", Ms. D. was very worried. "Without papers, and without children, the mother and her five children were like anonymous people," Ms. D. confided.

Ms. D. shared those concerns with the lawyer couple Chau Viet Vuong - Mai Quoc Viet (Da Nang Bar Association) to join hands.

Ms. D.'s family opened their arms to let Ms. Miep move into their home, which provided a basis for her to get a citizen ID card. Lawyer Vuong and his wife wrote the relevant documents and took Ms. Miep to get a citizen ID card.

After Ms. Miep got her citizen ID card, the Vietnamese lawyer couple went to the ward to get birth certificates for the children. But only two children were able to get them. The other two children were stuck because they did not have birth certificates or the birth certificates had the wrong mother's name.

Lawyer Viet was instructed to return to Binh Phuoc to complete the procedures to reissue the correct information... "With the situation of the mother and five children like this, going back to the hometown is almost impossible," said lawyer Viet, and he wrote a petition to the authorities to request guidance on making birth certificates for the two children.

Lawyer Viet and his wife also sent a document to Ms. Miep's hometown to verify the children's birth certificates.

For nearly a year, lawyer Viet and his wife have been trying to find ways to help the single mother and her four children. The day they received instructions from the Da Nang Department of Justice, Viet and his wife rode their motorbike to the rented room to tell the good news and make an appointment with Ms. Miep to go to the ward. On the morning of June 15, Viet and his wife took Ms. Miep to the ward to complete the final procedures to issue birth certificates for the children.

Mr. Dinh Huu Phuc, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoa Minh Ward (Lien Chieu District), said that he has completed the procedures for issuing birth certificates for Ms. Miep's children and is waiting for the ministry to issue identification codes to sign the birth certificates. Mr. Nguyen Ha Bac, Secretary of the Lien Chieu District Party Committee, also affirmed: "The children will definitely be able to go to school."

Mr. Viet and his wife volunteered to be witnesses to make birth certificates for the children - Photo: DOAN CUONG

Passionate about the disadvantaged

We arrived at the office while lawyer Vuong was reviewing the documents related to Ms. Miep and her children. "Ms. Miep's health is like that, so we have to temporarily preserve her and her children's documents," said lawyer Vuong.

Meanwhile, lawyer Viet and lawyer Mai Duy Phuoc are busy working on free legal aid for two children in a lawsuit.

"These two children are in very difficult circumstances. Their father just passed away and their mother has remarried. Their property, the house, is being held by relatives, mortgaged and they owe money to the bank. We are trying our best to help them regain their legitimate and legal rights," said lawyer Phuoc.

Resting their hands, both lawyers Viet and Phuoc shared that there are people who come to their law office in extremely pitiful situations.

Taking a sip of water, lawyer Viet recalled the case of Mr. A. that two lawyers Viet and Phuoc had assisted for free for almost a year. At that time, Mr. A. was an employee of a bank. Just to help his cousin, they borrowed some money together. But the borrower then ran away, Mr. A. and his cousin were accused by the creditor. Although he did not take any money, Mr. A. had to sell a plot of land to remedy the consequences.

"Mr. A's father suffered a stroke. His wife just gave birth to a baby. The couple has three children, but one of them is mentally retarded. Mr. A is the main breadwinner, but since he got involved in the incident, he had to quit his job. The whole family is in turmoil," lawyer Viet recalled.

When the court ruled that Mr. A. would receive a suspended sentence, lawyer Viet and lawyer Phuoc still remembered the image of their client with tears streaming down his face.

Sharing about the Vietnamese lawyer couple, lawyer Le Cao - director of FDVN Law Firm, Da Nang City Bar Association - also said: "The Vietnamese couple are always very enthusiastic in supporting the disadvantaged. They are lawyers who have demonstrated the mission of the profession".

Just 4 children go to school

One eye is damaged, hard life has made Ms. Miep look older than her 36 years.

Family life was not happy, so Ms. Miep took the children and went to Da Nang to earn a living. The first days were extremely difficult because of the strange land, strange people and especially because she had no identity papers, no one would accept her for work.

Amidst those hardships, Ms. Miep and her five children were taken in by strangers.

I asked her what her dream was, and Ms. Miep said: "No dream, just want my four children to go to school. As long as I'm healthy, I can still work."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhung-nguoi-dung-tot-bung-ben-canh-5-me-con-vo-danh-20240617101448237.htm