Children’s New Year, mothers take their children to the cemetery (Lesson 1)

Child drowning prevention: Great mourning on Children’s Day

On the night of May 31, when many places, children held cultural programs and distributed happy Children’s New Year gifts, in Binh My village (Cam Tuyen commune, Cam Lo, Quang Tri) it was a “great mourning”. No one thinks about having fun anymore. No one told anyone, from the elderly to children gathered to the house of 2 students Ho Hoang D. (14 years old, 7th grader, Tran Hung Dao School, Cam Lo town) and Duong Cong V. (13) age, 6th grade, Cam Tuyen Primary and Secondary School) drowned at 9:30 am on the same day to offer condolences and comfort to relatives, tears mixed with screams.

Nguyen Thi Hue (born in 1984, Duong Cong V’s mother) fainted because she was so sad.

By this morning (June 1), Ms. Hue was like crazy, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing. After a while, she looked up at the picture of her son and cried, “Children’s Day has come, why did you leave. Go back to your mother, back to your mother.”

V’s relatives said in tears: “On Children’s Day, people receive gifts and cakes, listen to joyful music, but my children and grandchildren listen to funeral music here, no one understands.”

About 100 meters away from V’s house is the funeral of Ho Hoang D. Mrs. Phan Thi Anh, V’s mother can no longer cry, just lying in the middle of the house, next to her son’s soul.

This afternoon, on Children’s Day, D’s coffin will be taken to the cemetery for burial. Surely, no one could hold back the mournful tears.

From now on, those two mothers will not see or hear the laughter of their children.

Nearly a year after the day two unlucky children drowned, Doan Minh Luan and his wife Nguyen Thi Hang (living in Ward 3, Quang Tri town, Quang Tri province) still could not calm down.

The heartbreaking incident happened at around 16:30 on July 18, two sisters TDDN (13 years old) and DTAT (9 years old) and a 7-year-old male friend cycling through Vo Thi Sau urban area in the area. town to play. When they arrived, the three parked their bicycles on the side of the road and walked up the embankment. Suddenly, T slipped and fell into the irrigation canal. Seeing her in trouble, N jumped into the water to save her. However, both were swept away by the water and drowned.

The writer of this article still remembers when T and N died, sitting in front of the photo of two young children, Hang and her husband were like crazy people, only crying and calling their children’s names and crying in everyone’s sobs. Working as carpenters, the husband and wife will keep trying to save enough money to build a new house, hoping for a better place for their children. However, the house was not finished yet, two children died. If only her children knew how to swim, they wouldn’t have to die – anyone who saw and knew what was happening would feel so sorry.

It has been more than 2 years since her son LQH (SN 2006) drowned, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong (SN 1967, resident of Quang Dien village, Trieu Dai commune, Trieu Phong, Quang Tri) is still writhing with nostalgia for her son.

In the afternoon of February 2019, Ms. Huong was working in the fields when her neighbor rushed to report that her son had fallen into the Vinh Dinh River and drowned. Everything around was dark, she couldn’t believe it, her feet rushed to the riverbank. “Son, wake up, baby” – Sister Huong hugged her child and cried, the pain torn her heart, no one could hold back her tears. When he left, H was only in 7th grade.

That afternoon, H asked her mother to practice art. But then, H and 4 friends invited each other to use rafts to cross the Vinh Dinh river, the river in My Loc village, Trieu Dai commune, to pick raspberries to eat. When approaching the shore, the children jumped into the river to bathe, H unfortunately drowned.

Looking down at the kitchen, Ms. Huong bit her lip trying to hold back her tears and said, H is a good child that she loves dearly. Knowing that the family is poor, her mother works hard day and night, so although she is young, H does not go out, but often helps her mother with housework.

“In the winter, when my mother comes home from work, she immediately has a pot of hot water to bathe in. He loves his mother so much. The child is poor, so he has never asked his mother to celebrate his birthday. After his death, his brother dreamed that you asked. The birthday cake should be bought and put on the altar” – here, Huong sobbed.

Huong said that if H could swim, it wouldn’t have been so bad.

March 2020 is the great mourning of the people of Quarter 2, Ward 4, Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province because up to 2 young children drowned.

Sitting in front of the altar, Mr. Tran Xuan Dong (36 years old) sadly recounted, on the afternoon of March 11, 2020, he was loading rented cement in Hai Quy commune (Hai Lang) when he was shocked to hear the journalist believed his son. drowning.

At 14:00 that day, his ill-fated son TBQ (SN 2011, grade 3), NVM (SN 2009, grade 5, same Primary and Secondary School ward 4) and friends finished playing football. to the lake near the house to bathe.

Unfortunately, both collapsed into a deep ditch. The friend who was with him saw the danger and ran home to call for help but could not make it in time. Two children drowned to death.

“The kid who studies well, is quick, everyone loves him, but he left me first. If only my son could swim, he wouldn’t have drowned” – after saying that, Mr. Dong lit his son’s altar and whispered: “I’m sorry daddy.”

Child drowning prevention: Studying well is only one part

Up to now, the people of Thuy Ba Dong village, Vinh Thuy commune, Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province have not ceased to be shocked and mourn the sudden passing of two 9th grade students in the village.

NTP, the son of husband and wife Nguyen Thi Thuy (38 years old), Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong (42 years old) and TTT’s son Tran Thanh Minh (48 years old) – Ms. Vo Thi Le Thuy (47 years old) are close friends from When I was naked, I showered in the rain.

On the afternoon of June 16, 2021, P and T and some children went to La Nga Irrigation Lake (Vinh Thuy Commune) to bathe. P and T unfortunately slipped into the deep water and drowned.

Ms. Thuy said that T was P who was born in 2006. The family was in trouble. T understood the situation, so he always cared about helping and supporting his parents.

Thuy and her husband are busy with farming all day, so the housework is left to TTT’s son to take care of. T doesn’t mind anything, from looking after her, keeping her grandchildren until midday when the sun is 40 degrees Celsius with her mother drying rice for rent…

And P is a good boy, 1.72 meters tall, good at volleyball and soccer. Both are the family’s hope.

“When I lost my son, I realized that not only my family but many other families give their children a proper education, with the hope that they can become professors, doctorates or at least have some achievements… but That’s not enough. The most important thing is to let our children learn how to protect their own lives. For my family, for my children not to know how to swim is a big mistake that cannot be repaired” – Ms. Thuy Tam the.

Explaining the above sentence, Ms. Thuy said that in the countryside, farming and making a living from morning to night was not free, so she did not have time to teach her children how to swim. She once thought about sending her children to swim lessons, but the swimming pool was too far from home to go. Procrastinating until the day something painful happens.

“If only there was a swimming pool, teaching swimming right in the school would be better for the children,” Thuy said.

Lighting a candle for her grandchild, Mrs. Hoang Thi Tuyet (71 years old) – the grandmother of NTP (the son of Nguyen Van Phuong) lamented: “I never expected that the silver-headed person would see the green-headed person off. My nephew was just about to enter. It’s only 10th grade, bitter, bitter. Where it sinks is a deep abyss, about 3 meters wide. If only it could swim, it could save itself. Besides, it can’t swim, it’s like a rock. fell into the water”.

According to data published by the Central Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs at the workshop “Strengthening solutions to guide children’s drowning prevention” held on the morning of the 15th. As of December 2020, every year in Vietnam, about 2,000 children die from drowning. Vietnam is one of the countries with a higher child mortality rate from drowning than other countries in Southeast Asia and 10 times higher than developed countries.

As for Quang Tri, Mr. Hoang Nam – Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee said that from 2016 to 2020, there were many drowning cases in Quang Tri, causing death for 63 children. This is not only the pain and loss of families with children dying, but also worries the whole society. The main reason is that children do not know how to swim.

(To be continued)