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LẠNG SƠN — Nguyễn Thị Thảo (not her real name) from the northern province of Vĩnh Phúc was a victim of human trafficking.

Thanks to the help of Chinese authorities, she has returned to her homeland after 20 years.

However, when she first stepped foot back in Việt Nam on September 23, she had lost all memory of who she was, and had no idea where her hometown was. She cowered all the time, hugging her a two-year-old baby and refusing to talk to anyone.

Thảo is among 50 female patients being treated at the general hospital in northern mountainous Lạng Sơn Province, a hot spot for human trafficking, after they were transferred from Chinese authorities to Việt Nam in February this year. Most of them were trafficked to China and forced to work as prostitutes or to give birth to a baby. Many became victims of domestic violence.

They all show signs of mental illness due to the mental trauma they have suffered, which makes them agitated and panicky. Many are pregnant or raising babies.

As most of them do not remember their origins, doctors at the hospital are not only taking care of their health but also trying to help them find their families.

“In order to find clues about where the patients are from, I carefully record every small detail they share with me. Thanks to that, since February 2020, we have found many of their homes and repatriated many patients,” Lưu Hải Châu, a nurse at the hospital, told Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

Thanks to the help of doctors and nurses, Thảo's memory returned. From snippets of memories about her hometown and relatives combined with a fair amount of guesswork, Châu searched for information online and contacted an official from Tam Hồng Commune’s office in Yên Lạc District, Vĩnh Phúc Province.

“Then I caught up with a girl living in Phù Lưu Village, Tam Hồng Commune. She confirmed with me the picture I sent via messages was her older sister who had been missing for more than 20 years.”

Thảo’s family recalled that she left her home in 1998, met a man and had a baby with him. When her son was one, she was kidnapped by the man and trafficked to China, where she was sold as a wife to another Chinese man.

After she gave birth to a new baby, the husband sold her to another family, Thảo said.

Now she has six children after being sold many times.

Chinese authorities helped her return to Việt Nam after they found out she was living illegally in China and was a victim of human trafficking.

Châu said some of the women who reunited with their families could not remember them.

27-year-old Phạm Thị Thu (not her real name) from the northern city of Hải Phòng was smuggled across the border to China by a person she met on Facebook. In May this year, she was repatriated whilst three months pregnant and suffering from mental illness.

On May 16, her parents visited the hospital to collect her, but she could not remember anyone.

Châu said in order to reduce the number of human trafficking cases, local authorities must spread the word so people knew the tricks traffickers used.

For the doctors and nurses at the general hospital in Lạng Sơn Province, helping victims reunite with their families gives their jobs more meaning.

On the afternoon of October 6, Thảo’s sisters collected her from the hospital to take her home to Vĩnh Phúc. After 20 years apart, they were speechless with happiness, Châu said.

“Our medical team was also happy, and some of us even cried.” — VNS