Old age doesn’t stop this Vietnamese octogenarian from keeping his city clean

An 82-year-old resident of Phu Yen Province in south-central Vietnam spends every morning, rain or shine, cycling five kilometers to Phu Dong Beach in Tuy Hoa City to pick up trash.

Nguyen Sen, known by locals as Bay Sen, hopes that keeping the beach clean is his way of encouraging his neighbors to come out for a swim and lead healthier lifestyles.

“I need to clean quickly so animals don’t get hurt [by the garbage],” Sen shared one morning as he pulled a torn-up raincoat from the surf at Phu Dong Beach.

Sen takes extreme pride in the work he does to help keep the beach clean, so much so that he refuses to accept help. 

Even when neighbors offered to give him a vehicle so he could transport the garbage from the beach, Sen refused, claiming carrying the garbage himself was great exercise. 

On the rare occasion that he has accepted gifts, he has wound up passing them off to those in greater need.

Pointing to a row of plastic baskets near the beach, Nguyen Hoai Son, a resident of Phu Dong Ward, Tuy Hoa City, said that “[Sen] brings trash baskets to the beach and leaves a note asking people to use them, but they are often stolen.”

Son also shared that seeing a man in his eighties cleaning trash has inspired him to make sure he also keeps the beach clean. Other residents of Tuy Hoa City, the capital of Phu Yen, have similar stories of inspiration.

According to neighbors, Sen’s wife spent a good chunk of their life together, leaving the old man to take care of their seven children. 

Still, despite his misfortune, he refuses to accept gifts from others and is extremely proud that all seven of his children have been able to graduate from university.

During the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday in January, Sen had to be taken to the hospital following a traffic accident. 

When he was offered compensation from the driver who hit him, Sen rejected it, saying that it was an accident and merely asking the driver to be more careful.  

Sen is also a vegetarian and does his best to treat animals with the same respect he treats other humans.

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