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For years Bui Van Han has been tormented, since his daughter left home and never returned.
“I couldn't sleep, always wondering where my child is. I’m always sad thinking about that slap,” said the father from Thach Thanh District, the central province of Thanh Hoa.
Back in the 1990s, his family was so poor all his seven children had to drop out. Bui Thi Ha, the fourth child, left school when she was just seven.
One day in 2000, Ha, 18 at the time, and her sister had an argument. Han slapped her and and the family tragedy began.
“That night, she didn’t come back for dinner, so we went looking for her everywhere. I thought she might have been wandering around and she would finally come home,” the 65-year-old man said.
"But one year after another, there hasn't been any sign of my daughter," said the father.
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Bui Van Han in front of his house. Photo by VnExpress/Le Hoang |
A few years after Ha left, her mother passed away.
In May this year, when the family got together for the death anniversary of the mother, Ha's nephew saw a Facebook post that said a Vietnamese woman in China was trying to find her family. There's also a picture of her.
The family reached out to the Facebook user and found out that the woman is Ha, who is now living in China’s southern city of Guilin.
The Facebook user, Vu, said he and his wife met Ha in Guilin during a trip. The woman wanted to return home but did not know how to contact her family.
Returning to Vietnam, Vu posted Ha’s picture and her message on all social networks. In a twist of fate, a family member saw the Facebook post.
“My daughter said that she misses home. She misses the whole family and wants to go home,” Han told VnExpress.
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The image of Ha on Facebook. Photo provided by the family |
During some phone calls with the family, Ha told them that after leaving home, she was cheated and then taken to China by a group of strangers.
The group seized her identification papers and sold her to an old Chinese man in a remote area.
After three years of being mistreated, Ha and her children, one girl and one boy, fled to Guilin. Here she met a kind man and has been with him since.
Ha’s father said that he really wants to see his daughter and grandchildren but he’s too old to travel to China. "We will wait for support from the authorities.”
Local officials have recently sent a request to the Vietnamese Embassy in China, requesting legal papers for Ha so that she can reunite with her family soon.
“I can’t believe my daughter is still alive. This is beyond my wildest dream,” the father said.
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