TUOI
TRE - Born
in a deep forest without any medical support, four children and their parents
have been living in an isolated area in central Vietnam, a five-hour walk
(20km) from the nearest village.
The
50-year-old father has spent 32 years in the forest, at the border of the two
forests Tuy Phong and Song Mao in Binh Thuan Province.
Of the
four siblings, the oldest brother is 16 years old and the youngest sister is
almost three years old.
Since
they have been living in a forest and rarely communicating with people outside
their family, they can barely speak Vietnamese.
They
can only muster a sentence of five or six words although they can understand
the language when they hear it.
It took Tuoi
Tre (Youth) newspaper journalists over ten hours to cross five
mountains on paths through forests, bushes, and steep hills to come to a flat
plot of land about 100 square meters wide.
A house
stands amid huge ancient trees; it is the residence of the family of six in the
deep forest.
Ten
crop seasons and three wives
Their
story began 32 years ago with the man and father of the ‘jungle family,’ A
Sang. He is registered as a regular resident of Hai Thuy Village, Hai Ninh
Commune of Bac Binh District in Binh Thuan.
A Sang
worked as a porter of turpentine oil from forests to local markets. Turpentine
is a fluid made from the distillation of resin obtained from live trees.
When he
was 18 years old, he decided to build his house in a forest, and thus began his
‘jungle life’.
He fell
in love with a woman with the same job and she agreed to stay with him in the
forest.
She
bore him two children but only one of them survived the harsh natural
conditions of the forest. Not long after birthing her second child, she died of
fever.
He
continued working as a porter to raise his child in the forest before he fell
in love with another woman.
The
latter bore him a daughter and became pregnant soon after. Sadly, both the
mother and baby died during the birth of the second child.
The two children A Sang had with his two late wives have since left the forest, opting for a normal life.
The two children A Sang had with his two late wives have since left the forest, opting for a normal life.
The
small man told reporters he is now living with his third wife, Nguyen Thi
Huong, in the forest.
Huong
is the sister of his second wife and thus the aunt of his daughter. Feeling
pity for her niece, she came to the forest to take care of her and gradually
fell in love with A Sang and has been living with him for almost 20 years.
While
living in the forest, Huong gave birth to four children—three boys and a
daughter.
A Sang personally helped his wives deliver all the children, without any medical help.
A Sang personally helped his wives deliver all the children, without any medical help.
They
live in a clean house with a garden, where they keep chickens and cultivate
luffa and vegetables. The house is just like any other houses in the
countryside, except for the fact that it stands alone under ancient trees deep
in the forest.
‘Jungle
boys’
Le Van
Tu, head of the second forest management unit of the Tuy Phong protective
forest, recalled, “We discovered a family living in the forest in early 1990.
Then, the children always ran to hide in the corners in their house whenever
strangers came to visit.”
On the
day they met the Tuoi Tre journalists, Sam Tay, the eldest
son, and his brothers and sister just stood still, smiling shyly.
Since
they have no community, no friends, and have not attended a single day of
school, the ‘jungle boys’ prefer to communicate with their parents in simple
words such as ‘Uh,’ ‘Yes,’ and ‘No’.
“They
speak few words but can understand everything they hear,” A Sang said. “I
always turn on the radio for them to hear programs on Ninh Thuan Radio.”
Once or
twice a month, A Sang collects his forest products and carries them to the
nearest market to sell. He uses the money he makes to buy rice and other
necessities for his family.
“We eat
five kilograms of rice a day, so we have no money to save,” A Sang admitted.
“Some friends have asked me to take them to a village to grow up, but I am so
poor that I can’t afford to buy land or build a house in the village.”
A
Sang’s brother, Gip Nam Sang, 56, said his house is his family’s home, given to
the sons by their parents. However, A Sang wanted to save it for his brother
and left to build his own house in the forest.
“After
seeing my family living in poverty, he refused to share our inheritance so I
could have it all,” Gip Nam Sang admitted.
Ly
Nhan, a neighbor of Gip Nam Sang, said A Sang is officially registered as a
resident of his brother’s house but rarely appears at the address.
“Sometimes
he comes back here to visit his brother’s family. We have never seen his wife
and children. He is so poor that he has to live in the forest with his family,”
said Nhan.
On
hearing of the case of A Sang and his four children, Nguyen Le Thai Dung, the
vice office manager of the People’s Committee of Bac Binh District, said, “We
can’t let them live like that in the forest. We will check on him and call on
people to help build a house for him and his children to live in a village.”
Members
of a group of philanthropists have raised VND25.5 million (US$1,200) to help A
Sang.
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