The Van Kieu people, an ethnic minority group who lives in Cu Pua Village, Dakrong Commune, in the central province of Quang Tri, used to endanger their lives every time they cross a rapid-flowing stream on just two cables. A Vietnamese philanthropist got hold of their daily struggle through a newspaper which published their story and immediately decided to help build a bridge for them.

When Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper featured the sad story of the Van Kieu people, the philanthropist right away went to the village leader Ho Van Phoi and offered to build them a bridge to make their lives better. Since he was not really a wealthy man and just wanted to help, he made a deal with Phoi that he will provide the cement and steel with his VND30 million ($1,323) and the villagers themselves will construct the bridge. Two members of each of the 26 households were required to work on the construction, while the philanthropist even brought a mechanical engineer and a civil engineer, both his friends, to ensure the technical stability and safety of the bridge. The structure is ten metres long and two metres wide.

Although the village heads feared there would be problems with the paper works and other legal matters and that the process would take a long time, if approved at all, everything went surprisingly smooth and construction began on January 5, 2016. The bridge was finished just a week later and officially opened in the middle of January. The philanthropist didn’t want to be named for his charitable work and only wanted to be called Teo, a very common Vietnamese pet name. So the villagers decided to name the bridge “Anh Teo Sa Gon” (Bro Teo from Saigon) in honor of the good-hearted stranger who came to their village and offered them a selfless act.

The Vietnamese philanthropist is in his 40s, heavily built and is said to have a kind face. Only the chairman of the Dakrong Commune People’s Committee knows his true identity, but he has vowed to keep it as he promised to the philanthropist. The bridge looks like any other regular, even ordinary, structure, but the convenience and joy it has brought to the Van Kieu people elevates it to the highest form of immortality that will forever stay in their hearts.