Fifty thousand Vietnam Dong

Seeing me taking picture from a distance, she smiled and said “There is nothing in me for you to take picture.” I told her just smile because she looked beautiful (I meant inner and outer). Then she requested if she could have a copy of the photo…
I came closer to approach her. I asked her where she often worked and touched deeper to her life story. She shared that she had been working on the alley of my house every day for more than 10 years. She was the bread-winner for a family of FOUR kids because her husband was disabled. She could not afford buying a house so her family was leaving in a temporary renting house. Their accommodation changed regularly. For a day she earned about fifty thousand VND to a hundred thousand VND. But sometimes it got hard so she had to borrow money from others. She kept on going her story while my mind was thinking of the way I could help this poor lady. I could not do anything but took out fifty thousand VND and gave her. She shyly looked at me and refused to take it at first. Fifty thousand VND was not a big amount of money for a person like me to eat even for one meal (because things are expensive these days) but it was a profit per day of her; it must have meant a lot. I hoped she was happy…
…
To me, I always give much respect to those who always keep moving forward to resist their hardship without begging for others’ sympathy.