We had our summer vacation in a resort just near the sea. Early one morning, I walked along the seashore and inhaled deeply the fresh air from the sea. The tide was very far away. The sea was alight with silver color. The wind flowed gently. Everything was so calm until I saw an old lady raking on the wet sand. With curiosity, I came close to her just to see what she was doing. She had a net bag of seashells hanging loosely on a bamboo rod. It was not difficult to start a conversation with her. I asked her permission to take her photo and she smiled to indicate her agreement.



I took many photos but this is the one that I like best. I didn't ask how her life was. But her wrinkles on her face and hands and her clothes told me many things that I wanted to know about her. The number of seashells was also the times that she had to bend to pick them up. She took them one by one. She rakes this seashore everyday from the very early morning to around 10 a.m when the sun becomes too hot and burns her back. Then she brings the seashells to the local market and sells THEM for just only 70.000 VND (less than 4 dollars). Only old women now rake the seashells. For many years, she worked on this seashore to earn a living. She said that this was the gift of Nature to give her seashells everyday.

As a person spending their vacation in a villa, how can I understand that they can live the whole day on less than 4 dollars. Telling myself that everything is available here, fish in the sea, vegetables in the garden, eggs produced by raising hens. How about the education of their children or healthcare services? Not at all. Life is hard, so hard that they accept their circumstance without complaining. They do what they get used to doing to live day by day, no big dreams, not much hope and no clear idea of their future.

I was there with her until around 8 a.m. She took down the conical hat from the top of the bamboo rod and wore it to avoid the sun burning her face. She smiled to see I was around her, taking photos of everything. Maybe she thought I was just like a kid that saw everything as being very strange.



People in this fishing village are similar to the morning glory on the sand that I saw. On the barren sand, this vegetable is still green and gives beautiful flowers on earth. Their lives exemplify the struggle to live in difficult situations. I couldn't do anything for her but write these things down. That is not useless, I hope. It really helps if my story can touch the heart of somebody.

@edited by Mr. Ned Kingcott, a person who loves Viet Nam so much