Huệ gets a ride to work in Hoi An, Vietnam.

“This is me. I was on my way to work. This is my grab bike dri­ver. He takes me to work in the morn­ing and back at noon every day.”

Huệ is 68 years old and while it isn’t uncom­mon for a Viet­namese woman to be work­ing at this age, she nev­er had kids and so looks after herself.

“I can­not retire yet. I do not have kids. I live alone. If I work, I can earn mon­ey to buy food.”

Huệ works at a small street food stall in an alley of Hoi An, sell­ing Cao lầu, Bún bò Huế and oth­er noo­dle dish­es. As we talked to her the own­er of the stall (her boss who is younger than her) told us: “Every day, she always comes here even it is rainy or sun­ny. She has been work­ing here for 4 or 5 years. She is very sweet. We are like mom and daughter.”

Huệ loved her pho­to and kept show­ing it off to every­one that passed. Beam­ing, she said “Giv­ing me this pic­ture is more mean­ing­ful than giv­ing me mon­ey. It is so beautiful!”

Huệ, 68 years old
Hoi An, Vietnam