Scrap Iron - Nghề đồng nát (my second interview for KiemAn project)

"Đồng nát" - Scrap Iron is a job collecting almost everything that people don't want to use anymore such as used papers, empty bottle, broken radio, books, iron, steel....

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Such a hot afternoon !!

I have just finished the lunch with my dad, was holding a bunch of  watermelon peels outside and on my way to find "thùng nước gạo" ( a vessel containing  rotten food, vegetable, peel...for pig) to throw those peels. Accidental, I found her - my "cô đồng nát" :) was fanning herself with "nón" (traditional hat) , sitting in the shadow next to my house.

" Oh !! I need to sell you my stuffs!!!"- I shouted excitingly  - "Could you please wait, I will come back after throwing these peels".

She smiled brightly,quickly run to me and took all the watermelon peels - "Let me do it.. Let me do it..." - she said- "It doesn't matter... It's alright,,,".

She is such a very nice person!! Although her tired eyes and old cloths let you know that she has been having a very hard life, her face still brings you the feeling of happiness and honesty. She is also very shy, she kept hiding her face behind her "no'n" -" Ohh.. Please don't take picture of me !! I'm wearing ugly cloths and my stuffs (dong nat') are very messy. You can go out to take picture of pretty young girl carrying fresh fruits - That's considered pretty..not me!.."- She kept smiling and told me that.

She have been working as scrap iron dealer for 20 years (since 1989). Every time when the farming seasons are gone, she has nothing to earn money in her hometown ( Nam Dinh province, 100km far from Hanoi), she comes to Hanoi to work. Her job basically is to collect everything useless for normal families, carry them to the place gathering all scarp iron stuffs and category them into material group, paper group, electronic group... then sell all for the bigger dealers, who are in charge of sending categorized stuffs to different factories in order to recycle and reuse them. ( It is a very nice job contributing for recycling, saving and preserving resources, right? :D) 

Her job is not an easy one. She has to walk the whole day, suffer the hot, cold or rainy weather, carry heavy stuffs on her shoulder and sometimes no one sells anything for her at all...However, "I have very rare choices for my family", she claimed that, the profits gained from farming work is unstable because of the changing weather, harmful insects, bad seasons...and after harvesting the rice, she has no more work to do while the demand of money for her 2 children and her family is always there. Even though she has to move to the city far away from her children, rent a small shelter to live with other people in Hanoi and work very hard everyday, she is still happy that thanks to this job, she is able to send money back home for her family and does not need to worry about work's capital and loss so much.

In contrast with my previous interview, which was happened in a very serious, quite and mysterious atmosphere, this time interview was very natural, comfortable and open with many smiles, laughs and share...Talking to people doing manual works like "cô đồng nát" makes me realize that whatever job you choose, you won't feel passionate and happy doing it unless you satisfy with it,deeply  understand that it's the best choice for yourself, your family and your kids.


Once you know how to satisfy, life will be much easier !! :)