Two young men who have been paralysed since childhood studied at the same school and, after graduating, decided to stay in Ho Chi Minh City to make a living. Their electronics repair shop, run by the “couple with disabilities”, has now been around for almost ten years, earning the admiration of many. The two “special bosses” are Chiem Van Chi and Huynh Duy Tan (both born in 1981, owners of an electrical appliance shop on Do Xuan Hop Street, Phuoc Long B Ward, District 9).
Growing up with the wish to learn a trade to support themselves
The Van Tien electronics repair shop on Do Xuan Hop Street has long been familiar to local people. The shop is called special because its owners are two young men with disabilities born in the 1980s. With a friendly face, Chi leans over and drags himself to a chair to talk to customers.
Chi opened up about being the youngest child in a family of six siblings, from Kien Giang province. At the age of eight, he suddenly caught a life-threatening fever. As a result, his two legs gradually became thin and wasted. Although his family took him for treatment at many health centres and hospitals, his legs never recovered. From then on, the boy had to lie paralysed in one place. The young man with a disability said that at the time he felt extremely depressed. Thanks to his family’s encouragement, he practised diligently, but could only walk on wooden crutches.
Although he has a disability, Chi was blessed with intelligence, quickness and a mature mind from a young age. Deep down, Chi always told himself to try hard to study well, at least so that he could later have a trade to support himself: “In primary school, the school was near home, so getting there was easy. But in secondary and high school I had to travel far from home, which was very hard. Some days my parents took me, and other days I hitched a ride with friends. Seeing how keen I was to study, my family hired a motorbike taxi driver from the same hamlet to take me to and from school. He took pity on my situation and charged a discounted price. The hardest days were rainy days, when I travelled on crutches and got soaked all over, and my books were ruined too”, Chi recalled the past.
Even so, through persistence and a love of learning, Chi always achieved good academic results. After graduating from high school, while his friends were excitedly choosing one school or another, Chi still could not find a field of study that suited him. Then, by chance, he read an admissions notice from Ky Nghe 2 vocational school (now Ho Chi Minh City College of Technology), and Chi found a way out of his deadlock.
He said that right then he asked a relative to take him to register, and Chi chose household electronics because: “I thought that, as I have difficulty moving around, only electronics repair work would be the most convenient”. In early 2001, the young man became a freshman at Ky Nghe 2 school.
Admitting he had much in common with his colleague, Huynh Duy Tan said he came from Cai Be district, Tien Giang province, and was also the fifth child in a family of six siblings. From the age of two, Tan had lost the ability to walk after a fever lasting more than a week. However, luckier than Chi, Tan could walk short distances on his own: “Moving around a small room is easier because I can hold on to things. Whenever I cannot take a step, I squat down on a chair”, Tan said with humour.
Another coincidence was that Tan shared the same “aspiration” as Chi: to find a job so he could support himself. The young man from Tien Giang was honoured to put on a student’s uniform at Ky Nghe school after graduating from high school. At the new school, Chi and Tan were luckily placed in the same class and shared a room. Their shared sympathy for each other’s circumstances made the friendship between the two young men with disabilities even closer.
Sharing the secret of how they have grown as they have, Tan revealed: “We both realised that we were at a disadvantage compared with our able-bodied friends, so we focused on learning. Outside class hours, Chi and I asked to work in electronics repair shops to hone our skills”.
The special repair shop of two special young men
At the end of 2003, the two students with disabilities, Chi – Tan, were honoured to receive their graduation certificates with distinction and leave school. They said that at the time, most of their friends returned to their hometowns to find suitable work. Only the two friends with disabilities thought quite the opposite: “Life in our hometowns is still poor, and people rarely use electronic devices. If we went home, could we make a living from the trade we learned?”, Chi shared his view.
From that assessment, Chi and Tan were determined to stay in the city. First of all, the city was the place where they could put their skills to use and where there were opportunities to develop their trade. Thanks to their basic skills and their hard-working, diligent nature, both were taken on by the owner of an electrical appliance shop on Do Xuan Hop Street. Although their wages were only enough to live on, and their relatives urged them to return home to make a living near their families, both Chi and Tan firmly refused. The two young friends believed that, having spent years and money on their studies, they could not continue to depend on their families.
Speaking of how they became shop owners as they are now, Chi cheerfully recounted that at the end of 2004, the owner of the shop where they worked retired and moved to Binh Duong to live. Before leaving, the owner saw the ability of his two apprentices and offered to transfer the shop to them at a “sell-and-give” price: “We had no capital, so we hesitated and did not dare to accept right away. After thinking it over for a long time, we both agreed to try our luck. Having thought it through, we both pooled our money and borrowed more from friends to pay for the transfer of the shop. It has now been almost 9 years”, Chi shared warmly.
As the two friends with disabilities shared, at first the shop’s entire assets consisted of just three basic items: a soldering iron, a roll of solder and an electrical meter, given by the former owner. With the motto of working while building up the business, the two workers with disabilities “toiled” at their work, and going to bed at 1–2 a.m. was a daily occurrence. Once they had built a reputation, more and more customers came to the shop. Adding to his friend’s words, Tan proudly said that their customers are not only from nearby. Many “regular customers” living in central Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai never mind the long distance when they need something and come to the shop.
Revealing their secret for “keeping customers”, the two young owners said that, besides their warm and welcoming attitude, the shop has a principle of never “overcharging” strangers, and prices must be reasonable. In addition, all equipment repaired at the shop comes with a long-term warranty. For simple “problems”, the owners are ready to waive the labour charge: “Now we can say the shop is basically stable. Besides stabilising our own lives, each of us saves a little capital in case of illness”, Tan said confidently.
Besides repairing electronic equipment, Chi and Tan have also taught themselves to repair mobile phones. With some capital, the two friends with disabilities born in the 1980s discussed buying damaged electronic equipment, repairing it and selling it cheaply to increase their income. A distinctive feature that has long become the “trademark” of the Van Tien electronics repair shop is that customers who come to the shop have to serve the owners in return.
Explaining this, Tan and Chi smiled and said that because they have difficulty walking, whenever customers come they ask them to help carry goods: “Those two do honest business and are gentle-natured, so everyone loves them. Other shops have few customers, but their shop is busy with customers all year round”, Mrs. Phi, who sells drinks opposite the Van Tien electrical appliance shop, commented.
Quang Thanh – http://www.phapluatvn.vn
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