Community on the Hanoi Red River

This is the home of two girls we teach. They live in a small community on the Hanoi Red River. The families do not have any property rights to the land, so they have built houses on the water. The homes need replacing every 3-4 years due to the poor quality building materials. Before we entered the home, the Vietnamese worker politely asked whether the house would collapse with all four of us in there. When the mother said it would be okay, we walked along the small plank of wood connecting the house to the land. Inside, we sat in the only room of the house, in which both parents and the two sisters sleep. The toilet is a hole in the floor and human waste is disposed of in the river. The house is about 4 metres by 2.5 metres, the size of a typcial Australian bathroom. The mother spoke to the worker about her housing and financial difficulties and they discussed how our organisation could assist with repairs to her home.