To date, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong (residing in Long An ward, Tay Ninh province) has been involved with selling tofu and black bean sweet soup for over 20 years; before that, she made a living collecting scrap metal. Her workday begins at just after 3 a.m. In her small kitchen, she meticulously prepares the ingredients and cooks each pot of soy milk to be ready for sale in the morning. Around 8:30 a.m., she starts pushing her cart to the market area in Ward 2. After selling for a while, she continues her journey through the alleys and streets, sometimes spending more than ten hours a day out on the road.
During the hot season, each of Mrs. Phuong's journeys to earn a living becomes even more arduous. Pushing her heavily loaded cart under the scorching sun, she always carries a bottle of water and a small chair to rest on. She recounts that sometimes, when she's too tired, she'll quickly pull over to any shade along the roadside, sit for a few minutes to regain her strength, and then continue her journey.
"I brought my own lunch, but it was too hot to eat," said Mrs. Phuong. However, the hottest days are when business is slowest, because hot tofu is best enjoyed on cool days or during the rainy season. Therefore, on hot days, she has to walk a lot and call out for a long time to sell her goods.
Despite the hard work, she perseveres. With over 100 portions of tofu and sweet soup sold each day, she earns about 1 million dong, but after deducting expenses, the profit is only a few hundred thousand dong.
Like Mrs. Phuong, Mrs. Ho Thi Huong (residing in Long An ward) still tirelessly travels the streets, inviting customers to buy lottery tickets. From early morning until late at night, Mrs. Huong hardly has a moment's rest. Sometimes, exhausted, she falls asleep right on her motorbike amidst the bustling crowds.
According to Ms. Huong, street vendors only make a profit of 1,000 dong per lottery ticket sold, sometimes even less. On lucky days, she sells a few hundred tickets. The profit from selling 10 tickets is only 10,000 dong, but if 10 tickets remain unsold, she loses 100,000 dong. All the risks fall on the shoulders of the street vendor. Many times, she has to "hold onto" hundreds of unsold lottery tickets, then silently borrow money to pay off debts and make daily installments.
Besides facing harsh weather and the pressures of making a living, elderly and disabled people like Mrs. Huong are also vulnerable to scams. She still hasn't forgotten the time she lost 2 million dong to a trick involving swapping fake lottery tickets.
According to her account, the fraudsters used photocopied winning lottery tickets, taking advantage of crowded situations or pretending to buy tickets from inside the house to distract people before quickly swapping them. By the time they discovered it, it was too late. "Losing 2 million dong means I'd have to sell nearly 2,000 lottery tickets to make up for it," Ms. Huong said.
During the sweltering heat, somewhere on the streets, there are still people silently enduring the harsh weather to continue their struggle for survival. Yet, after all, these lives persevere. Behind these stories steeped in hardship lies a spirit of resilience and perseverance worthy of respect.
Source: https://baotayninh.vn/vat-va-muu-sinh-ngay-nang-nong-145319.html
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