As the aircraft was about to take off, she let out a loud cry. Her caregiver was a young man aged about 25 to 27 who tried his best to tend to her by carrying her around or using a pacifier. However, she continued crying.

At the time, the flight attendants were serving lunch to passengers, so the best they could do was offer him advice in soothing her. However, after they finished serving lunch and all passengers were sleeping, her cries grew even louder.

Female flight attendants couldn’t help themselves but sympathizing with the young man as he struggles to change the baby’s diaper. Flight attendant Thuc Trinh offers him her help without any hesitation. (Cre: Bui Le Uyen).

Upon seeing the baby crying for her mother’s milk and warmth, female flight attendants couldn’t help themselves but sympathizing with the young man as he struggled to change the baby’s diaper. Flight attendant Thuc Trinh offered him her help without any hesitation.

After talking to him, we learned that he was a friend of the young girl’s parents. They used to work together in Korea. However, because of the Covid-19 outbreak and canceled orders from China, the factory where they were working had to cut down on its workforce. He took the time to return home and see his family as well as help his friends to bring their child home for her grandparents’ care.

Working on numerous flights from Korea to Vietnam, we often see cases of babies sent home for their grandparents’ care. Those whom the parents entrust with their children are often young people without any parenting experience. Therefore, they usually face difficulties in taking care of babies – such as soothing and singing them to sleep.

As the aircraft descends, the babies form “a symphony of cries” because their ears are hurt by the differential air pressure. Female flight attendants understand this better than anyone because many of them are mothers who have to leave their children at home to go to work, so they deeply sympathize with anyone in this situation.

When the baby was crying despite the young man’s efforts to soothe her, I remembered a song called “the lullaby for babies growing up on their mothers’ back” (by Nguyen Khoa Diem).

Having bid farewell to the lovely young man and the little passenger, we did not forget to give him a few pieces of advice before he entered the airport. We suggested that he should wear face masks for himself and the baby when visiting crowded places as well as tell her relatives to take extra care of her amid the dangerous Covid-19 outbreak.

Nguyen Mai Huong-COMM