LookAtVietnam – Duong Thi Minh Huyen, a 27-year-old resident in Thanh Khe district, central Da Nang city, whose husband went missing after a typhoon three years ago,

Tran Thi Tuyet’s family makes shoes for sale from a loan for poor women in Hoa Xuan ward in the central city of Da Nang.

She spent days on the beach watching the shoreline for sight of him. But after weeks of waiting fruitlessly, the young wife made an empty tomb and altar to worship her husband, she recalled.

She was left with two young sons and her elderly mother-in-law to support.

Huyen felt helpless. Her sons, now in nursery school and first grade, can’t remember their father’s face, she says.

But buoyed by the encouragement and support of local government and neighbours, she took odd jobs and work at a nearby garment factory, for which she is paid VND800,000 a month. Additional monthly support of VND300,000 from the local government and women’s association has helped the two women and two children persevere.

Huyen is one of nine wives in her village who lost their husbands in the 2006 Chanchu Typhoon, and one of countless unlucky widows in Da Nang city’s Xuan Ha and Thanh Khe Dong wards, which have the most people living off fishing careers in the city and the highest number of fishing-related fatalities.

It’s usually the men who die, and the women and children left to suffer. No surprise, then, that the city has nearly 5,000 families living under the poverty line. But the local government and private benefactors are stepping in to help.

Da Nang has 4,804 families living under the poverty line and 210 households living in very difficult situations, according to Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, deputy head of the city’s Women’s Association.

Luckily, every year sees the launch of more support programmes for poor families.

On the occasion of the 2009 National Day, for example, the district’s authority and Agriculture and Rural Development Bank in Da Nang city and Thanh Khe district’s Father Land Front Committee have given five houses, each worth VND20 million, to disadvantaged women in the district.

Last month, a group of benefactors from HCM City donated gifts and money for household business to 40 women who lost their husbands at sea under the programme “1.000 Co Hoi Cho Phu Nu Kem May Man” (1,000 opportunities for disadvantaged women). Donations to the project, run by Dai Viet International Communication Company, totaled VND70 million – including two houses that were given to the pair of poorest women.

Meanwhile, Thanh Khe district’s Father Land Front Committee continues to organise Ngay vi nguoi ngheo (Day for the poor), a charitable venture that has raised more than VND4 billion from the public since 2000, said committee head Le Thi Nho.

“There are still many poor families living in degraded houses and slums. The committee and associations try to support them to revamp and build new houses or provide them fund assistance,” Nho said, adding that 100 per cent of the donations go to good-works. Therefore, she said, before granting donations to the disadvantaged, the committee carefully evaluates their family situation.

In 2008, the district received VND800 million in donations, which it used to revamp 56 houses and build 41 new houses, among other efforts. During the first six months of this year, the committee spent VND169 million to build and revamp more than 20 houses in the district.

The VND1.1 million that widow Huyen takes home each month is barely enough to support her four-person family. Like her vigil for her husband, she holds out hope that a caring public will be able to give her more help.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News