Market for the poor to shop for Tet without spending money

Chợ phiên cho người nghèo sắm Tết không mất tiền - Ảnh 1. — Children can “buy” toys, school supplies, milk… for 0 VND – Photo: VU TUAN

Shop for Tet with all the essentials for 0 VND

This is a program organized by the People's Committee of Nam Po district in coordination with the Sun For Life Volunteer Group on January 12. At this year-end market, thousands of poor people came to the market to receive coupons and shop for Tet without spending money.

The special Tet market was named “Zero-VND Hanh Thuong Spring Market”, 3,000 poor and near-poor households, policy families, 1,000 disadvantaged women and nearly 2,000 children were given free shopping vouchers.

Người nghèo biên giới Điện Biên đi chợ phiên sắp Tết không mất tiền - Ảnh 2. — Free farm tools and household items are selling like hotcakes at the “Hanh Thuong” market in Nam Po – Photo: VU TUAN

Tet gifts for people are "sold" from cosmetics, essential foods, Tet spices, dried fish, vegetables, clothes... to even farming tools and breeding animals for people to produce. The special thing about these items is that they are not only essential goods but also many specialties sent from the South. The total value of the goods is up to more than 11 billion VND.

Chợ phiên cho người nghèo sắm Tết không mất tiền - Ảnh 3. — Poor people in the border area shop for Tet without spending money at the zero-dong market – Photo: VU TUAN

Ms. Phung Vu Uyen, representative of Sun For Life group, said that when implementing this program, the group wanted to both help people with less difficulty in life and send the warm feelings of the people of the South towards their compatriots in the North.

“We hope that the meaning of the program does not stop at a charity activity. We want people to feel the affection of our compatriots in the Central and Southern regions through gifts that are not available in the North,” said Ms. Uyen.

Người nghèo biên giới Điện Biên đi chợ phiên sắp Tết không mất tiền - Ảnh 4. — Exchange coupons for spices at the Tet booth – Photo: VU TUAN

Expensive cosmetics as Tet gifts for women

The young couple Oang Khai Soan and Ngai Trang San have been married for just over a week. Soan wore a traditional Thai dress to the market, her husband held his wife's hand with one hand, and with the other hand, he was carrying cooking oil, spices, dried fish, Tet jam, and even a big bag of cosmetics for his wife.

Chợ phiên cho người nghèo sắm Tết không mất tiền - Ảnh 5. — Expensive cosmetic gifts sent to women in the border area – Photo: VU TUAN

Soan was both surprised and happy with the expensive cosmetic bag. The cosmetic gift bag contained shampoo, shower gel, facial cleanser… worth nearly 2 million VND, equivalent to nearly 1 ton of cassava that the couple worked hard for a whole year to earn.

Mr. Len Van Cu, from Chan Nuoi village, Phin Ho commune, Nam Po district, came to the market early in the morning. His socks were wet from the frost, and grass clung to his pants. He said that this Tet, his family only had one buffalo that was the most valuable, but he did not dare to sell it. The most valuable buffalo in the herd was pregnant, so the family did not dare to sell it. The other buffaloes were still growing up, and if they were sold, it would be a waste of time and effort to take care of them.

Người nghèo biên giới Điện Biên đi chợ phiên sắp Tết không mất tiền - Ảnh 6. — Children and people coming to the market get free pho – Photo: VU TUAN

The couple did not know what to buy to have a warm Tet holiday to welcome their children and grandchildren back home. At the market, which was as joyful as going to a festival, Mr. Cu was given 13 coupons to buy all kinds of goods: from farming tools, rice, fish sauce, salt, clothes to even toys to give as New Year gifts to his grandchildren.

He struggled to fill a sack, this Tet, it seemed like he didn’t have to buy anything. There was a pig and more than a dozen chickens on the farm, vegetables were available in the garden… “Now we can rest assured!” – Mr. Len Van Cu smiled – My husband and I only need this, when the children come over, we can catch chickens, cook sticky rice and we have Tet!”