Changing lives
“Luckily I survived it, but I struggled. I had support from the project [of CtC and AEPD] and I could receive rice, dried fish, and other essential items. My small rice field can now feed me for 6 months of the year, so I also use the small space in front of my house to grow sweet potatoes. I can sell things from this garden and can earn a further 50,000 Dong [£1.50] each month. My daily meals are always rice and salt. As my living is so poor, I could never afford to rebuild my house. But the project enabled me to have this new, safer house. So I still don’t have enough food, but I do feel secure when the flood season comes.”
Another person benefiting from a new storm-resilient house is Mrs. Tran Thi Thoi, also in Quang Tien Commune. She is 54 years old, and describes her own situation:
“My husband died 9 years ago, and since then I’ve had to raise my six children alone. We lived in a temporary house before the October floods. I did anything, everything, to raise money to support the children. A couple of years ago I worked as a porter of construction materials, carrying bricks and cement on the construction site, earning 17,000 Dong [50p] per day. But since then, my health hasn’t been so good and I couldn’t do more hard manual work. I have no profit from my rice field because I need to sell the rice immediately at harvest time, when the price is low, at only 30,000 Dong [90p] for 10kg.”
“Before the flood, our house was made of lime. It was in poor condition, cracked, with a leaking roof. The children would wake when the rain came in. After the October floods the house was a wreck. If we had tried to repair it ourselves it wouldn’t be safe. So we were so happy to have support from the housing project. It’s made with new techniques, a stronger frame and roof. We know it can withstand strong storms, so we feel safe, whatever the weather forecast.”