In late January, Nguyen Thi Thai, 43, residing in Ba Xuyen Ward, had just finished her shift when she received a video link from an acquaintance. In the video, a woman identifying herself as Nguyen Thanh Truc, living in China, sought to find her family in Vietnam. Truc's memory only held two names: her father Nguyen Duc Khanh and her youngest sister Nguyen Thi Thai.

"Just by looking at her face, I immediately recognized her as my older sister", Thai said.

Thai and her father (top) in a video call with her sister Thuy (bottom left) and Truc (middle) after more than 30 years of separation. Photo excerpt from video

Nguyen Thanh Truc, 51, is the third child of Nguyen Duc Khanh, 78, and Nguyen Thi Thi, 74, who live in group 2, Mo Che Ward, Song Cong City (now Ba Xuyen Ward).

Through an interpreter, Truc recounted that in the summer of 1993, while working at a brick kiln, she was enticed by a woman to take a high-paying job. The 18-year-old girl was then taken to live with a mentally unwell man in Guangdong province, China. Every day, she had to go to the mountains to pick herbs to sell. With no money, no knowledge of the local language, and no means of communication, she was stranded in a foreign land.

Life gradually stabilized after Truc married her second husband. With the development of social media, she asked a Vietnamese student in China to record a video and post it on social networks in Vietnam to find her relatives. After 33 years, she had forgotten most of her Vietnamese, remembering only her father's and younger sister's names.

Two days after the video was posted, Truc connected with her family. Meeting her parents and younger sister through the screen, she initially did not recognize them. Only when old memories were recalled did she burst into tears.

The discovery of Truc brought an end to a nearly 40-year ordeal for Khanh's family.

Thai with her mother during a Lunar New Year longevity celebration in 2023. Family photo

The family's tragedy began in 1987 when Thi showed signs of mental instability and left home. Unable to find his wife, Khanh remarried over a year later.

In 1989, their daughter Nguyen Thi Thuy went missing. In 1993, Nguyen Thanh Truc also disappeared, just like her mother and older sister.

During those years, Khanh could only report to the authorities and ask for public announcements, but there were no results.

In 2005, after 16 years of lost contact, the family received a letter from Thuy, sent from China, telling them she had been sold to be a wife to a man there. Two years later, she brought her husband and children to Vietnam to visit her family.

In 2017, two years after Khanh's second wife passed away, the family received news that the police had found Thi at the Lang Son border gate. She still remembered her husband's name, her four children, and her maternal family's address, so she was brought home. Returning after 30 years, Thi's hair was completely white, and she was sometimes lucid, sometimes confused. She recounted being taken by a group of people across the border and forced to collect scrap for her owner.

Currently, Thi's life depends on her husband and children. During the day, Khanh prepares meals; in the evening, Thai comes over to help bathe her mother, chat, and comfort her.

Duong Thuy Hang, head of residential group 2, Ba Xuyen Ward, stated that Khanh and his wife currently live in a temporary house, relying on Khanh's disability allowance and Thi's disability benefits. "Thi returned but her mind is not clear; she sometimes wanders off to pick up trash. Fortunately, the couple has a son and a daughter living nearby who regularly visit and care for them", Hang said.

During a video call with Truc in early February, Thai and her parents also connected with Thuy. For the first time in 39 years, the family saw all members together.

"Our parents are old now; please arrange to visit them", Thai told her sisters, receiving a nod in response.

Having grown up without the love and care of their birth mother, her return in old age and illness is still a blessing for Thai and her siblings. "Mother may not have raised us, but she gave birth to us. For me, having parents to care for is a joy and happiness", she shared.

Khanh expressed that he had carried a lifelong burden of guilt for losing his wife and two children who disappeared without a trace. Now, with his children reconnected and Thi found, his old age feels complete.

This year, Thai's sisters are both planning to visit their parents in Vietnam. At that time, the extended family "will be able to embrace each other, in flesh and blood".

Pham Nga