“He wanted to become a president. Since the arrest and detention of his father, he no longer talked about his dreams. As a mom, far from expecting a high status he can achieve, I only hope he will grow up kind and responsible,” Mrs. Na talks about her eldest son’s dream.
Mr. Lê Trọng Hùng has two sons, 11-year-old Bi and 4-year-old Ti. Since he was arrested, Mrs. Na, his wife, has had a lot on her shoulders. Being visually impaired, she is burdened by double concerns to handle the situation in the family. Nevertheless, however efforts to compensate have been made, the arrest of their father still hit two young boys’ physical and mental development badly.
To Bi, Daddy is a big bosom friend and even his whole world. Bi is passionate about history and loves books. He would always chat with Daddy and drag him into every story he was reading. For days after Daddy left, Bi has gradually become so reserved that he rarely shares personal stuff with his mother in daily life, except for days when he can go visit Dad in prison. “I just need a quiet corner to read,” Bi often says.
“He wanted to become a president. Since the arrest and detention of his father, he no longer talked about his dreams. As a mom, far from expecting a high status my son can achieve, I only hope he will grow up being kind and responsible,” Mrs. Na talks about her eldest son’s dream.
Even more deprived than Bi, Ti just turned 3 when Daddy was arrested, too young to have a clear conscience. Mrs. Na understands that, although his intellectual growth, at such an age, requires learning through images and gathering information from the surrounding world, this is out of her reach since her physical condition doesn’t receive sufficient support.
Being a young kid, Ti loves toys and family-outings. He often feels sorry for himself when neighbor kids have fathers to pick them up and buy candies afterschool. Ti admires them. His frequent question is when Daddy will come back home so that he becomes one of the kids.
On the day Daddy Hùng comes back, Bi will be in high school and Ti will finish elementary school soon. After all these longing years, nothing can be more emotional than the whole family reunion moment. Then, in case parks don’t excite them as much, the family can go to the supermarket together to pick every member’s favorite items. What a joyful delight that will be!
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Lê Trọng Hùng is a citizen journalist. Before his arrest, Mr. Hùng had spent a long time supporting victims of land loss. He was one of the few candidates running independently in the National Assembly 2021 election. On March 27, 2021, he was arrested for charges of “making, storing, and disseminating information, documents, items, and publications with contents against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under article 117 of the Penal Code 2015. On April 19, 2022, his appellate trial took place without being informed to his family and legal representative. After the trial, he was transferred to detention center no.6 in Nghe An, 330 km from his family.
