I was born in a peaceful mountain province, Kon Tum. It has an inexpensive cost of living, no air pollution and beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers and bridges. I visit my hometown every Tet holiday. I wished to have a high-paid remote job, then leave Sai Gon and return to my hometown. However, after my recent visit this month, I have changed my mind. I am going to share my two main reasons, first, the environment is being destroyed, and second, the economy is dying.
In terms of environmental destruction, green space is decreasing in my hometown. The hill near my home used to be completely covered with trees, but since my last visit, they have burned down and now it is a barren slope. People living there commonly hunt wild animals, like hedgehogs and deer, for food. Now having lived so long in Sai Gon, when a neighbor served me venison on the Tet holiday and its head had become a decoration hanging in their living room, I felt deeply sad. Due to people like him, forests are being silenced.
Likewise, there is destruction of the economy. Despite the GDP growth promoted on TV and social media, I see the purchasing power of people living here is extremely low. Tet market sales were sluggish and not as crowded as in previous years. Most wealthy people are government or bank employees, real estate brokers, several small-scale merchants or a small number of farm owners. A lot of people there do not know how to make a good living, so they tend to open food stores or cafes, despite the high competition and consumers’ poor purchasing power. While I was driving around the city, I saw a huge number of empty or closed stores. There were a significant number of signals showing the bad picture of my country’s economy.
The saddest point for me is that I cannot do anything about it. I have a good income, so I usually overpay for services in my hometown as a way of showing kindness and support, but it is not enough. I still cannot stop thinking about it after returning to Saigon to work. I hope there will be good policies from the Vietnamese government to help my country.