VIETNAM | Sunday, 17 October 2010 | Views [408]
I took this picture of my grandma during the winter of 2007 in Hue (Vietnam). She was sitting on a chair with her legs parallel to each other and resting her arms around them. It’s a very typical way of sitting among people her age in Vietnam. My grandma has always been a little tiny lady with unbelievable strength. When she was young, people carried their products to the street market by a yoke. It is a thick bamboo stick which is strong enough to lift up two heavy baskets. The vendors put it over the shoulders and carried it miles and miles to the market. It was a common way for the vendors to bring food to the market. For more than 15 years, my grandma carried her products this way and her hands became very calloused. She traveled through a dangerous zone to sell the food to the troops from Vietnam and American war. It was a dangerous job and a bullet could hit you anytime. The strain on her back and shoulders from carrying such heavy loads (enough to sell to a group of 20 people) still bothers her. With a 3rd grade education, she had very few choices to made and she did what was necessary to keep her children alive. When I flew home, I showed my mother the picture and she started to cry. I know it was the emotion touched our heart deeply.It's like a feeling that it might be the last time you can see your grandma as she might not around the next time you come.
Tags: travel photography scholarship 2010, #2010wnphoto
