Celebrating Tet with the family and observing related rituals of worship is a cornerstone of Vietnamese life, and people from all over the world do their best to make it home for the Lunar New Year.

There are others who do not live too far away from their native places, but find it much more difficult to make it home for Tet.

Many residents of Alley No. 121 off Hanoi’s Le Thanh Nghi Street are poor and scraping together a living just to keep themselves or their loved one alive, literally. These families are here because one of their loved ones has suffered kidney failure and need regular dialysis, an expensive treatment they can barely afford.

“I’m determined to return home for two days to light incense and pay respect to our ancestors,” said Tran Thi Hoa, who came to reside in the alley with her sick husband four years ago from Ba Vi District, which is some 53 kilometers from the capital’s center.

The woman in her sixties said that over the past four years, they were only able to visit home for Tet in the first year. Even then, they couldn’t spend the whole holiday with their family, as her husband’s health conditions worsened on the second day, making them return to the hospital right away.

Since then they have been busy earning a living, mainly by trading in scrap, to pay for the long-lasting, costly treatment.

“For four years we haven’t had a Tet at home,” Hoa said.

However, as her husband seemed to be doing well recently, the couple plan to go home to spend Tet with their families for a couple of days.

Hoa said they would buy two or three kilograms of meat together with some rice to celebrate Tet.

“Due to my husband’s health condition, we cannot buy more. But the happiest thing is that we can celebrate Tet at home this year.”

Many other residents of the alley, known also as the “hamlet of kidney dialysis patients,” are also looking forward to returning home for the festival.

Mai, who has lived in the alley for nearly five years, said she and her eldest son did many odd jobs including polishing shoes to earn some money and return home to be together with three other children.

Not everyone in the alley can make it home for the festival.

Sitting on his bed, Tran Vu Quang, who has spent Tet away from home for six years, said he wasn’t going to return home in the northern province of Nam Dinh this year as well.

He said a couple of days earlier, like everyone else, he was also looking forward to returning home.

Quang was determined to make the trip even if his wife and children begged him not to do so.

“However, when the weather became bitterly cold a few days ago, I became weak and fainted, and my wife and children had to rush me to the hospital.

I lost my chance to go back home this year,” the old man said.

Quang said that towards the end of the lunar year, there were very few families staying back in the hamlet, including his own.

Hoc, who has resided in the alley for about six years, also said it was very likely that he would stay on in the capital city for Tet because of his health.

He recalled that last year, his parents allowed him to come back home as he was very determined to do so.

“Right on New Year’s Eve, my health got worse so I was rushed to the hospital in Hanoi from my hometown in Nam Dinh province […]. When we arrived at the hospital, the New Year had come,” he said.

While feeling sad about not being able to go back home, Hoc said he and others in the same situation would still find  ways to celebrate Tet like making banh chung – a traditional cake, together.

“Although we are away from home, we feel less self-pity as we can lean on each other,” he said.