Keep moving forward

Part IV:

KEEP

MOVING FORWARD

Scroll

Eight months later…

Over the past eight months since his wife died, he has offered incense to his wife every day.

Mr. Hai had sold his small house in the alley in order to pay off his debts.

He temporarily rented a lodging room and registered to take care of chickens of one of his close relatives as he attempted to make ends meet.

The chicken farm is also situated within the alley.

"I tell myself that I can’t be sad forever. Time heals all wounds. I have to live on".

His dog just gave birth to a new litter of puppies.

On September 30, 2021, Ho Chi Minh City officially eased four-month social distancing measures that had been put in place. Life gradually returned to a new normal, with all daily routines getting up and running once again. The iron fence blocking the alley was also removed.

As of June, 99.7% of the Vietnamese population had received at least a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Mrs. Hau passed by the house and greeted Mr. Hai. She just returned from the market to buy things for her granddaughter. ‘The row of the pig houses’, as local people have dubbed the area, is filled with the sound of people and the baby.

Mrs. Hau’s family has just welcomed a new member to the family. Na is Mrs. Tien’s granddaughter. When eight family members tested positive and were transferred to the concentrated isolation facility, Mrs. Tien’s daughter was three months pregnant.

Local people still remember how quiet the house was left when Mrs. Tien, who is Na’s grandmother, died of COVID-19 - the first death in the small alley.

Now the baby strangely resembles her.

Ho Chi Minh City is about to celebrate the 47th anniversary of Southern Liberation and National Reunification Day on April 30. Together with May Day, local people will have four days off work.

This is Quan’s second holiday away from home, but this time he would go without his father.

The COVID-19 outbreak has been brought under control. Quan goes back to school, but he chooses to attend a vocational school rather than a high school like many of his peers.

For the coming holiday, Quan want to go back to Vung Tau, to the beach where he used to walk with his father.