Amidst the disasters and tragedies Vietnam suffered, 2019 also had stories that redeemed faith and rekindled hopes in humanity. 

Lost son found after 26 years

Doctor Pham Hong Thai (R) reminds Dong to take medicines every day after
returning homewhen Dong reunites with his family on February 27, 2019,
in Quang Nam Province. Photo by VnExpress/Phuong Linh. 

Dong, a native in the central province of Quang Nam, suffered from a mental illness when he was at 12. At 25, he left his house and got lost. He ended up in a market in the neighboring province of Quang Ngai, around 150 kilometers away from home, unable to remember even his family name. He was hungry, but did not even know to beg for food.

A man who saw Dong in the market was moved by his flight and took him home, hoping to take care of him and help him find his parents and other relatives.

It was no easy task to look after a mental patient. The family had a lot of trouble with Dong in the first days that they took him in. He would go crazy and chase them and even their neighbors.

But the family persevered and continued to take care of Dong. The son of the kind-hearted man who took him home became a doctor and embarked on a personal quest to treat Dong's illness.

Doctor Pham Hong Thai helped Dong control his mind and based on very meager scraps of memory, repeatedly took him to Quang Nam and Da Nang to try and find his relatives. But all his efforts were in vain.

Meanwhile, at his home, Dong's family had searched high and low for him, posted information in newspapers and other media outlets, but their efforts also went in vain. Grief-stricken, the family assumed he was dead and set up an altar to burn incense for him everyday.

Doctor Thai did not give up. He continued to care for Dong, whose health improved slowly. In late 2018, during a talk with Thai, Dong accidentally mentioned the names of his relatives. Thai shared the information and the story of Dong on social media, seeking help to find his relatives. 

On February 20, Thai received a call from Dong's relatives. The next day, they traveled more than 150 kilometers from home to Binh Chau District to see Dong after 26 years. 

Vi Quyet Chien sits by his mother and younger brother at Vietnam National
Children's Hospital in Hanoi on March 25, 2019. Photo by VnExpress.

When Vi Quyet Chien in the northern highlands province of Son La learnt that his two-month-old brother was hospitalized in Hanoi and could die, he could not bear his grief. He wanted to see his brother. In March this year, just 13, he took off for the capital city, 103 kilometers away, on his bicycle.

The boy did not tell anyone about his plan and chose a roundabout route to get out of his village to avoid being seen by his neighbors. He had no idea where Hanoi was or how to get there, so he kept asking people on the way for directions after he got to the national highway.

Since the bicycle’s brakes were broken, Chien had to use his feet to break on some downhill sections. He did not have anything with him, not a bottle of water, not a morsel of food, not a single cent in his pocket.  

When he reached Hoa Binh Province, halfway between Son La and Hanoi, he was exhausted and lay down on the road with his bicycle.

The crew of a passenger bus going to Hanoi saw him. They gave him food and gave him a ride to the city.

They also helped Chien contact his mother who was with his father at the hospital. Chien's youngest brother died in early April.

The bicycle with broken brakes that the boy rode to see his brother for the last time was auctioned for $4,400.

Vietnamese fishermen save lives of 22 Filipino brethren

Filipino fishermen whose boat was sunk by a Chinese vessel reunite with
their families at the port of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, June 14, 2019.
Photo by ABS-CBN News/Jeff Canoy.

A Vietnamese fishing boat from the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang made world headlines this year for rescuing 22 Filipino fishermen near the Reed Bank, which belongs to Vietnam’s Spratly (Truong Sa) Archipelago in the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea.

On June 10, when the Vietnamese boat was anchored and all the 10 crew members on board were asleep, they were awakened by the voices of foreigners. Using a flashlight, the captain discovered two small boats without lights approaching his boat. Two men in the boats were waving their hands and speaking in a foreign language, seeking assistance.

Upon being towed to the Vietnamese boat, the two foreigners continued to connect his index fingers to demonstrate 'Vietnam. Philippines. Friends' and point in the direction of Reed Bank.

Understanding just those three words, the captain decided to take the risk and decided to help. The Vietnamese boat headed out to the direction indicated by the men. It took the Vietnamese boat around one hour to get to the scene, around five sea miles away.

The Vietnamese crew found a group of 20 Filipino fishermen wearing life jackets clinging on to plastic barrels and pieces of wood from their boat sunk by a Chinese vessel. They were tired, hungry and cold when the Vietnamese vessel found them.

The Vietnamese fishermen took the Filipinos on board, fed them rice and instant noodles, and helped them get warm after they’d spent many hours struggling in the sea for their lives. Around 12 hours later, the abandoned fishermen were picked up by another Filipino boat.

Speaking at the 29th Meeting of States Parties to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr thanked Vietnam for rescuing 22 Filipino fishing crew left in the water.

"We are eternally in debt to our strategic partner, Vietnam, for this act of mercy and decency," he said.

Saigon teacher, students cycle across the country to protect the environment

Nguyen Thanh Tuan Anh (L) and his students clean up trash wherever they went.
Photo courtesy of Nguyen Thanh Tuan Anh.

Nguyen Thanh Tuan Anh, a physical education teacher in HCMC, and two of his students walked for 48 days across the country, collecting trash, cleaning up beaches and raising awareness of the need to protect the nation's deteriorating environment.

They left home on June 24 and reached Hanoi on August 16. From Hanoi, they continued bicycling a further 400 kilometers to the northern province of Lao Cai, home to the famous resort town of Sa Pa, and climbed up Mount Fansipan, known as the roof of Indochina.

On the way they collected every piece of trash that they saw and undertook activities for the benefit of the local community.

With very little money in their pockets, they walked 30-100 kilometers daily and got unexpected support from kind people all over the country.

During the trek, the trio joined locals to clean up tourist beaches in Nha Trang, a famous beach town in central Vietnam and Da Nang City.  

Trash is a major problem at many tourist attractions in Vietnam. Mass tourism has brought great benefits to the country, but education and littering laws have had little impact on tourists’ dirty habit. As educators and lawmakers continue their search for a solution, mountains and beaches remain covered in trash, and volunteers like Anh and his students have their work cut out for them.

Mother gets to see daughter after 40 long years

Leigh Boughton Small hugs her mother Nguyen Thi Dep as she enters
the hotel suite on their reunion day after 44 years apart, in Ho Chi Minh City
on November 17, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Yen Duong.

An American woman who was among 3,000 infants airlifted to the U.S. in ‘Operation Babylift’ at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 reunited with her biological mother last month in Saigon.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Mai, or Leigh Mai Boughton Small, was born to Vietnamese radio operator Nguyen Thi Dep and G.I. Joe O’Neal during the Vietnam War. But they lost touch some time after he returned to the U.S.

Like thousands of other mothers fearful for their mixed child's future after the war was over, Dep left her 3-year-old daughter at an orphanage to be taken by Operation Babylift, a controversial mass evacuation of "orphans" from South Vietnam to America and other countries ordered by the then U.S. President Gerald Ford.

Mai was adopted by an American family and had a happy childhood.

In 2000, when Small turned 27, she decided to go looking for her mother, but failed to find her.

Almost 20 years after her Vietnam visit, Small received an email from a total stranger who said she was likely her half-sibling. The stranger also told Small that her Vietnamese mother has been looking for her for years.

It turned out that a Vietnamese man who read Dep’s story of looking for her long lost daughter decided to help her. He discovered Small's half-sister, Bonnie, by following up on a 2011 obituary of an American war veteran, Small's biological father. He reached out to Bonnie and told her about Dep's search for her daughter.

On November 16, Small, her husband and children took a flight from the U.S. to Vietnam. Mother and daughter were reunited for a new relationship to begin after four decades of separation.

Disabled weightlifter auctions Paralympics gold medal for neighbor with cancer

Le Van Cong celebrates after setting a new world record in the men's 49kg
class in 2016. Photo by Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino.

Vietnam's first Paralympic gold medalist Le Van Cong won the hearts of millions of Vietnamese people after he decided to auction his 2016 Rio Paralympics Games weightlifting gold medal last October to raise money for his neighbor's daughter to fight liver cancer.

The entire money raised from auctioning the power-lifting gold medal, VND125 million ($5,396), was given to Doan Thi Bich Huong, who was diagnosed with liver cancer in July this year. The 11th grader’s health had deteriorated and she was not able to move around with comfort.

Her family runs a product packaging service at home, earning around VND100,000 ($4.32) a day.

Living just a few blocks away, Vietnam's first Paralympic gold medalist was moved by her plight and discussed with his wife ways to support Huong’s family, who also hail from his native Ha Tinh Province in central Vietnam.

Cong, born with deformed legs, set a new world record in the men's 49kg class by lifting 183kg at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, then broke it again at the 2017 Mexico World Para Powerlifting in the same category by lifting 183.5kg. He is still the world record holder in the event.

‘Mobile traffic cops’

A video capturing some Vietnamese drivers willing to get out of their cars to help an ambulance go through a jammed road on the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway went viral on social media earlier this month, with many Vietnamese online users hailing the act as 'beautiful and rare' in the country. 

On December 1, long lines of cars and trucks were stuck for many hours on the expressway that connects the southern metropolis with the neighboring provinces of Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau after a deadly road crash, making it almost impossible for an ambulance to get through. 

Some drivers then got out of their cars and joined hands to turn into 'mobile traffic cops,' directing traffic to clear the way for the emergency vehicle. 

Many netizens compared the act to Japan, a country famous for its civilized traffic culture and community awareness, and called for the 'beautiful image' should be spread across the country. The event was a contrast to reports of truck and car drivers refusing to make way for emergency vehicles.

Vietnam imposes cash fines of VND500,000-1.2 million ($22-53) on drivers who refuse to make way for emergency vehicles, but the law is rarely enforced.

Many argue that during traffic jams, there's simply no space to give way to ambulances.