Losing her job because of Covid-19, a young mother made an unexpected decision to help her stay healthy during the epidemic

Due to losing her job and not having a stable income, Ms. H. - an airline ticket office worker decided to move back to her hometown and start doing jobs she never thought of. A year has passed, looking back, I see that moving back to my hometown was a right decision.
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Pham Thanh H. said her hometown is Cua Lo (Nghe An). Before the H. epidemic, I lived and worked in Hanoi.

“I work as an airline ticket agent in Hanoi, this is my main job. I raise two young children, they are still young, so they are too busy to do other things” – H. said.

At the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the epidemic, H.'s ticket sales slowed down, and his income gradually became less and less. Life in the city is too expensive while not knowing who to rely on, so in April 2020 H. decided to bring her children back to her hometown.

The young mother decided to return to her hometown, grow vegetables and raise chickens 

“In my hometown, there is a new house built at the end of last year. The newly built house is small but has a large garden and relatives nearby, so I decided to take the children back to my hometown” – H. shared.

According to H.'s share, before there was no epidemic, the income from ticket sales was enough for her mother and daughter to cover. However, the outbreak brought many difficulties, so she actively collected and managed.

When cases of infection appeared in Hanoi and social distancing was implemented, H.'s ticket sales were halted, and his income was significantly affected. Also due to the distance order, H. thought about storing food for the mother and daughter. After once posting to share experiences on how to choose and store dry goods, many women were interested and asked H. to order help. Because of the sophisticated nature and the experience and knowledge of the people of the sea, H. has personally accepted to make dry products to provide to everyone.

Orders made by H. by hand and sent to customers

It is known that H.'s dry food is simple and easy to prepare dishes such as dried fish, dried shrimp, young shrimp, etc., in every season. Occasionally, H. sells more chickens, ducks, eggs, black beans, green beans, peanuts, sesame, etc., so many women order.

Because of the box office, H. is online often to work and take care of customers, so she has many regular customers who are sisters living in big cities.

“I have many customers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City ordered, mainly the sisters were used to it, so I sold it wherever I went” – H. said.

It's also because I made it myself, so the quantity is not much, I can't sell it until I make it

The young mother said that the peak was in the last two summer months (May - June), taking advantage of the sun to dry a lot of shrimp and finished fish. However, I only do it myself, then I close the goods and send them to customers, so on average, the total number of orders is about 200-300 orders per month.

“I sold it very cheaply, but I made it myself, so the profit was not worth much. 1kg of fish I bought fresh, cleaned, dried after deducting all costs, I only made a profit of 10-15 thousand / kg. The amount of temporary interest is enough to cover essential expenses such as electricity, milk, food for children...

In the second half of July, the epidemic was too complicated, the shipping services were overloaded, so I also temporarily stopped selling” – H. added.

Using work as interest, she saves money to pay for essentials for her children

The house has a large garden, with a tendency to work, in addition to making shrimp and dried fish, H. raises a lot of chickens and ducks, grows more vegetables, eggplants, melons, black beans, green beans, peanuts, corn ... for the mother and children make the most of a self-sufficient life.

At this time, we don't sell dry goods anymore, so in addition to the garden of the H. family, we also borrow more land from the abandoned fields of the neighbors to grow corn, beans, peanuts, ....

Sharing with reporters, the mother of two children said: "Really now I find life difficult, fortunately I chose to return to my hometown early. Even though they don't make as much money in the countryside as they do in the city, the cost in return is much lower. In my hometown, I can stay at my house so I don't have to worry about the monthly rent, I have fresh vegetables and fruits in the garden to eat every day. The house is close to the sea, so the food is also a lot, and it's cheap…

That said, because I just finished building a house, I'm still paying the bank a monthly loan of 300 million. Being hard-working and thrifty, the mother and daughter also live well day by day.

Although it is a bit hard, I am satisfied with my current life. Compared to other sisters, I'm probably still better than many people. When the epidemic is under control, life will return to normal, if it's still good, I will continue to work at the box office but will not go to the city anymore but stay in my hometown."