Orphans’ alley

Armed with incense sticks, lottery tickets, newspapers and shoe-shining equipment, the youths gather near the alley’s entrance to receive free breakfasts from several street food vendors on alley No. 115.

Over their meal, they discuss and outline the day’s plan with one another among the members of this “surrogate family.”

“Ty is sick today and cannot work, so we should sell her goods for her,” a 10-year-old tells his incense-selling group.

The incense sticks that Ty is supposed to sell for that day are subsequently shared among the group’s members.

Another boy, who is about 11 years old, says that a boy named Teo in his lottery ticket-selling group was robbed of a pack of tickets last night.

“So each of us will try to sell as much as possible to give him some money to return to his dealer,” he said.

With many of their parents either dead or imprisoned for being involved with drugs years ago, alley No. 115 has been dubbed “the alley of orphans” where dozens of children between 8 and 12 years of age call home.

Some longtime residents say the orphans are the result of this alley being a former hotspot for drug addicts and other social problems.

Poverty led their parents, who often migrated from other provinces, to commit crimes, end up in jail and leave behind a cluster of unsupported offspring.

Now 10 years old, V. works in a noodle shop in the alley to provide for her and her grandmother’s daily meals.

Having started working at the age of 6, she usually is able to save half of the VND20,000 (US$1.21) she earns every day for her parents who are both incarcerated.

Xuan, a resident in the alley, said though these children grew up without their parents, most are still well-behaved.

“They live and work together like siblings,” she said.

The children often remind each other not to pickpocket, swear or play truant, as they all have classes in the afternoon.

“Why skip classes? You want to sell incense sticks your whole life?” Den asked his friend, who didn’t go to school the day before. “Go to school today and I’ll give you my notes for Sunday’s lesson.”

Xuan said the children have become almost like kin of families in the neighborhood.

“We’re all poor so we try to give them what we have such as a meal, some clothes and teach them to be courteous and honest,” she said.

Some neighbors even buy the children books, school uniforms, and campaign schools to exempt them from tuition fees.

Being a noodle soup vendor, Xuan said she often treats the children to a beef noodle soup party on the weekend if they behave well.

Adopted “mother”

Trinh Thi Hue Lan, a local teacher, is known to the children here as “mother Lan.”

For more than 20 years, she has been teaching hundreds of children in her 10-squaremeter room to help out those who cannot afford to attend regular schools or those who cannot keep up with their classmates.

Lan said she has witnessed generations of children growing up without their parents in the alley and she wanted to offer free classes for them.

“Anyone who lives here will feel compassion toward these children,” Lan said.

Lan also registered birth certificates and permanent residence applications for many of the children. She has made some of them her adopted children and helped send them to public schools.

“The children study very well both at school and in my classes,” Lan said. “Some of them even win honors as good students over the years.”

A child, known as K.N., has been selling incense sticks every day to feed herself and her sick grandmother.

Her father was jailed for selling drugs, while her mother left to marry another man.

“Of course I am sad sometimes, but I don’t feel self-pity since people in this alley accept me as if I were their own children,” she said.

Source: Tuoi Tre