Thao Van: Dynamic director
Nguyen Thao Van was born in a poor rural area of Nghe An province; she is the younger sister of IT knight Nguyen Cong Hung (deceased). Sharing the same fate as her brother, the older Van grew, the more her body shrank, her legs grew smaller and weaker, until she could no longer move. Van and her brother Cong Hung had to struggle hard to get to school regularly every day, and won impressive academic achievements: in grade 9 Van won first prize in chess, in grade 10 she won first prize in Chinese chess at provincial level for high schools, and in 2003 she was an excellent student in English…
Thao Van is now the director of the Will to Live Centre
Thao Van on a charity trip in Ha Giang
When her brother died, Thao Van took over from him in running the Will to Live Centre. Many difficulties came her way, and day by day she had to get used to managing the company. At present, the students of the Will to Live Centre are young people with disabilities from all over the country. They come here with 100% of their tuition fees waived, paying only one million VND a month for food and accommodation. Every day, Van and the volunteers spend a lot of time teaching IT, English and creative subjects free of charge, and organising soft skills programmes for the students.
Although her body is not intact, Thao Van often takes the time to do charity work and take part in volunteer programmes. Her example has become an idol for many young people to follow.
Linh Chi: Vietnam's “Nick Vujicic”
Nguyen Linh Chi (Yen Bai) is a special girl who appeared at the event when Nick Vujicic came to Vietnam. Many people have called her by the special name “Nick Vujicic” of Vietnam.
From the moment she was born, Linh Chi was affected by Agent Orange and was born without arms or legs. From an early age, Linh Chi soon recognised that she was different and felt sad when her friends teased her. Rising above her pain and fate, and feeling the love of everyone in her family for her, Linh Chi tried very hard to become independent in everything in her life.
Linh Chi on the walk for people with disabilities
The girl taught herself to write
Although she has no arms or legs, Linh Chi has learned to walk on two stainless steel tubes, and can hold objects, pour herself a drink and offer it to guests. Chi has also learned to read and to practise writing by holding a pen in her chin, although she writes more slowly than her friends. Besides enjoying singing and dancing with her friends, Chi also loves reading poetry and drawing. She is now studying at Nguyen Thai Hoc Primary School, and thanks to the devoted teaching of her teachers, in the past two years Linh Chi has learned to read and write. Although she has no healthy hands, she still writes quite beautifully and neatly.
Tra My: Writer of resilience
Tran Tra My – a familiar pen to many readers through her short story collections Love… on Every Fingertip, Dream of Angel Legs, We Are Spring… She is one of the brave young faces familiar to readers of Tiin.vn.
Tra My at the launch of Love… on Every Fingertip
Unfortunately, her legs are paralysed and her speech is not clear or fluent. Fate took away her legs and her voice, but it could not take away her love of literature and her extraordinary resilience.
Tra My has worked hard at her studies, pursued her passion and has no small number of admiring readers. Her works are all full of love for life and strong faith in the future. She once said: “Sometimes a disability is also a blessing. Young people should be allowed to experience things and given opportunities. No one is entirely bad and no one is entirely good. We need to look at both sides, to love life and love people more, don't you think?”
Besides her daily work and time spent writing, Tra My often takes part in volunteering. For Tra My, fate has always been kind to her; that kindness is that life has given her a loving heart, full of passion and incomparable resilience.
Son Lam: Director fluent in three foreign languages
Nguyen Son Lam, from Quang Ninh, was affected by Agent Orange from birth and had a skeletal deformity, with weak arms and legs; whenever he tried to stand up, he fell flat, leaving his head and face constantly grazed and sometimes bleeding.
Son Lam on Vietnam Idol
At the age of five, while his friends went to kindergarten and learned their letters, Lam had to stay at home because his arms and legs were underdeveloped, and his teeth kept growing and falling out, making pronunciation very difficult. Seeing her son's sad eyes, his mother could not hold back. She tried to collect books and newspapers about role models who overcame hardship, and every night told them to him, hoping to dispel Lam's sense of inferiority about his disability. Son Lam gained a strong love of life from this. In grade 12, Lam was admitted to two universities at once: Hanoi University of Foreign Languages (English Department) and Phuong Dong Private University (Japanese Department). Passionate about foreign languages, Lam also learned French.
After graduating, Lam worked with quite a few newspapers and dreamed of opening his own company. He is now the director of a large company and always tries to improve himself further to become a famous speaker.
Weighing less than 27 kg and about 90 cm tall, Son Lam has conquered the roof of Indochina – Fansipan peak – and is confident he can conquer many more peaks in life.
According to Tiin