Tag: loc hung vegetable garden

The Story of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, Part 3: “We just want to find a solution”

Posted on by cswpress in Asia, Vietnam

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at the story of the expropriation of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. The operation took place in January 2019 and saw the forcible eviction of thousands of residents and the destruction of over 500 homes. Today, nearly two years later the residents of Loc Hung continue to await justice.

Last week we heard from a 13-year-old resident of the garden who faced harassment at school. This week we are talking to Tran Minh-Thi, a local music teacher, who shares about her own experiences and reflects on the broader situation for children from the garden.

What is your connection with the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden case?

I was born and grew up in the vegetable garden and have lived here for over 40 years. My paternal grandparents migrated south to live and farm on the land. They passed it down to my parents, and myself and all my siblings all worked on the land as well until January 2019, when the demolition happened. My nieces and nephews also live and work on this land, so it has been in my family for four generations now. There are a lot of us – more than 70 in total – my grandparents had five children and my parents had 11, so with extended family it’s almost like one hundred.

Continue reading “The Story of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, Part 3: “We just want to find a solution”” →

The Story of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, Part 2: “Even though I was scared, I didn’t comply”

Posted on by cswpress in Asia, Vietnam

Last week we published the first instalment in our series looking at the story of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden in Vietnam, in which we interviewed Cao Ha Truc about his experiences. For the second instalment we spoke to a child from the community who told us about his experiences of harassment at his school.

How old are you?

I am 13 years old.

Continue reading “The Story of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, Part 2: “Even though I was scared, I didn’t comply”” →

The Story of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, Part 1: “Their whole world collapsed around them”

Posted on by cswpress in Asia, Vietnam

In January 2019 Vietnamese authorities carried out a massive operation in the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, which saw the forcible eviction of thousands of residents and the destruction of over 500 homes. Today, nearly two years later the residents of Loc Hung continue to await justice.

Over the next few weeks, CSW will be telling the story of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden through a series of interviews with those who lived there. For our first instalment, we spoke to Cao Ha Truc, one of those leading efforts for the residents to receive some form of compensation.

How long have you lived in the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden and how did you come to live there?

My family have lived here for four generations, ever since my grandparents and parents heeded the call from President Ngo Dinh Diem to migrate from the north to the south after the Geneva Accords of 1954. I was born here and so were my children. I farmed on the land here from the day I got married until the day it was taken from my family.

Initially my family made a living from farming vegetables in the garden, but as we grew in size we needed to expand our living space so we built more houses on the land – some to live in and a few more to rent out to subsidise the income from the vegetable garden.

Continue reading “The Story of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, Part 1: “Their whole world collapsed around them”” →