Nguyen Thao Van is now the director of the Living with Determination Centre, which regularly welcomes and teaches trades to people with disabilities.
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Nguyen Thao Van (born 1987) is from a poor rural area in Nghi Loc District, Nghe An. She is the younger sister of IT “knight” Nguyen Cong Hung (deceased). When she was born, Thao Van was a completely normal little girl, but as she grew up her body gradually withered. Refusing to surrender to fate, Thao Van has always tried hard and helped many less fortunate people in life.
Thao Van always keeps a bright smile on her lips
Do not let your dreams have a disability
Also a person with a disability, Thao Van understands the psychology of people in the same situation. From that, Van and her elder brother opened the Living with Determination Centre, welcoming and teaching trades to people with disabilities, helping them access information technology so they can talk, exchange ideas and be closer to other people.
Thao Van shared: “People with disabilities are often shy, self-conscious, lacking in confidence, and afraid of contact and communication, so they often withdraw from the outside world. I see that information technology has many useful things, and computing is also a good trade, so I teach them this trade to help them overcome their own self-consciousness”.
Thao Van received the Women’s Vision award
She received the Blue Ribbon award
In addition, Thao Van also takes part in talks with people with disabilities, sharing her own outlook on life with them, giving them more will to live and to overcome fate, for less fortunate people.
Thao Van confided: “Born as a human being, if you lack legs, you can go by wheelchair. If you lose your eyes, you can use a cane to feel your way. What matters is that you must have dreams and never stop hoping. Your body may have a disability, but your dreams do not. To be born and to live in this world is already a happiness!”.
Devoted to the path of charity
Although her body is not intact, Thao Van still regularly spends a lot of time doing charity work and taking part in volunteering programmes. Her example has given much more faith to people with disabilities as well as to other young people.
Thao Van on a charity trip to the highlands
Having volunteered since 2003, Van has enthusiastically taken part in activities: helping students at the Centre, visiting and giving gifts to people in difficult circumstances, organising the “My Project” project to help people with disabilities overcome fear and self-consciousness about differences in their bodies, calling for support for flood victims,… and many other volunteer activities.
Telling of a memory from a charity trip, Thao Van shared with a bright smile: “On a trip giving Christmas gifts to homeless people and elderly people, I was hugged and had my hair stroked by people when they saw a small person with a disability bringing them gifts. The next day, when I got home, I heard that one of the elderly women who had received a gift had died. It was the first time she had received a Christmas gift, and before she died she still kept that gift as a keepsake. That story has stayed deeply in my mind, and I told myself I must try to help even more people”.
Creating jobs for people with disabilities
In 2008, Van, together with her elder brother Nguyen Cong Hung and a group of friends, opened the Living with Determination Centre in Hanoi to introduce, guide and provide free training for people with disabilities, mainly in information technology and foreign languages.
When her elder brother died, Van continued to run the centre in his place. The centre has helped more than 500 students, 65% of whom have found jobs. This is the shared home of people with disabilities, where they share and help each other with the difficulties of life.
Qigong class for students at the Living with Determination Centre
For this determined girl, what she is doing is a joy. Thao Van added: “I see what I am doing as a puzzle, and I am the one solving it. I sow seeds that are not good, tend them so they grow, and from that I see my own success. Life is a game; each person must overcome challenges to reach the goal. On that challenging road, I must be brave and use knowledge to overcome them, only then can I succeed”.
In the time ahead, Thao Van will launch the Centre’s online curriculum project for information technology training for people with disabilities. The project will help people with disabilities who cannot come to study to learn at home by themselves.
Some of Thao Van’s notable awards:
In 2008: The “Vietnamese Talent” award. In 2009: One of 20 outstanding individuals in the “Swallow Competition 2009”
In 2011: The “Blue Ribbon” award, presented by the Vietnam Association for Assisting People with Disabilities and several other organisations.
In 2012: The “Women’s Vision” award, presented by the International Women’s Club in Hanoi.
In 2013: One of 20 outstanding individuals in the “Swallow Competition 2013”
Outstanding volunteer award in 2013.
A message to young people: “Whatever you do, you need real passion and love, not just following a trend. You should look at everything simply; helping someone should only be seen as something normal”.
Some of Thao Van’s notable awards:
In 2008: The “Vietnamese Talent” award. In 2009: One of 20 outstanding individuals in the “Swallow Competition 2009”
In 2011: The “Blue Ribbon” award, presented by the Vietnam Association for Assisting People with Disabilities and several other organisations.
In 2012: The “Women’s Vision” award, presented by the International Women’s Club in Hanoi.
In 2013: One of 20 outstanding individuals in the “Swallow Competition 2013”
Outstanding volunteer award in 2013.
A message to young people: “Whatever you do, you need real passion and love, not just following a trend. You should look at everything simply; helping someone should only be seen as something normal”.
Some of Thao Van’s notable awards:
In 2008: The “Vietnamese Talent” award. In 2009: One of 20 outstanding individuals in the “Swallow Competition 2009”
In 2011: The “Blue Ribbon” award, presented by the Vietnam Association for Assisting People with Disabilities and several other organisations.
In 2012: The “Women’s Vision” award, presented by the International Women’s Club in Hanoi.
In 2013: One of 20 outstanding individuals in the “Swallow Competition 2013”
Outstanding volunteer award in 2013.
A message to young people: “Whatever you do, you need real passion and love, not just following a trend. You should look at everything simply; helping someone should only be seen as something normal”.
Source: http://tiin.vn