Because he loves Phuong, Phong had to give up the path to becoming a pastor. His performing work, which was earning him money, also ran into trouble.
Deep in a small alley in Linh Tay ward, Thu Duc district, Ho Chi Minh City, there is a 20-square-metre rented room, small but neat and clean. The room’s light is only switched on when the 7-year-old son is at home or when guests come to visit. For many years, this has been the home of the couple with visual impairments Truong Hoang Phong and Truong Thi Truc Phuong
The small family of Phong and Phuong – Photo: K.A
The 26-year-old wife has been blind since childhood. Abandoned by her family because of her illness, she became the adopted daughter of a folk healer in Binh Dinh from the age of 4. Tired of a life spent only doing housework and always being beaten and scolded, at 16 she asked to go to Ho Chi Minh City to study at a school for people with visual impairments in District 10.
The 30-year-old husband’s fate was no less troubled. Taken in and raised by an old man from childhood, Phong was left wandering the streets of Saigon to make a living after the old man died when Phong was 5. By chance, he picked up the wallet of a priest, returned it, got to know the priests, and they sent him to school until he finished grade 12. His eyes had had problems since childhood and grew worse and worse; now he can only see things dimly, can walk on the street by himself, but cannot read.
Knowing how to play music and sing, and having taught music and maths at some schools for people with disabilities, Phong was known to many people with visual impairments. Among them was the young Truc Phuong. From the stories of her roommate, who was a friend of Phong’s, Phuong had secretly admired him.
As if arranged by fate, one day just before Tet in the Year of the Dog, the divorced man dialled his phone to invite a friend for coffee. At the other end of the line was not his familiar friend but a strange Binh Dinh voice. What started as a joke turned real: Phong did not expect Phuong to accept his invitation for coffee, and Phuong could not believe that Phong really came to take her out. The first time they met, she stood in the schoolyard and he stood outside on the street, separated by a fence.
Even now, Phuong still remembers Phong’s first holding of her hand. A worldly man, yet his hand-holding was extremely shy and bashful. Although she could not see anything, and although it was their first meeting, Phuong still felt very at ease. Phong came to her right, took her hand and led her to a nearby veranda. He introduced her as his “girlfriend” to his friends to turn down their calls inviting him out. Being together, the loneliness of Tet for two people without families melted away.
Their love gradually blossomed, bound up with the roommate’s phone. With few chances to meet, they could only call each other to satisfy their longing. Many times, Phong had just topped up his phone credit when the call ended and the phone reported that the money had run out. Phong’s ex-wife could not believe that the woman who had taken her place in his heart was just a blind girl, unsophisticated, with no money and no home, so she did her best to cause trouble. Phuong left school and went to Cu Chi to stay at a pagoda, caring for children with cerebral palsy, to end the love that had just begun.
Calling an old roommate one day, Phuong learned that for the past six months, Phong had cycled everywhere every day looking for her. According to the friend, he had never drunk and got drunk as he did then. He was so haggard and gaunt that everyone felt sorry for him. Heartbroken, he decided to study to become a pastor. The friend advised Phuong to return. After Phuong’s phone call, Phong immediately went to Cu Chi to find her. Phuong did not return, and he promised to come back in 2 weeks.
The second time he returned to fetch Phuong, he stayed overnight. Seeing how Phong protected her and treasured her, Phuong was deeply moved. She realised that this was the man of her life, and she could not lose him again.
Having decided to marry Phuong, Phong was opposed by the priests at the church. Standing before the church, Phong declared that a husband could not be forced to live with a wife who had betrayed him when the two no longer loved each other. He accepted Phuong because she was gentle, understood him and listened to him. His path to becoming a pastor came to an end, and his singing career also paused, because his ex-wife kept causing trouble and music venues did not dare invite Phong.
Phong sold lottery tickets and played music at funerals to support Phuong. The girl wanted to give up, seeing herself as an obstacle, but Phong would not allow it. He has never regretted his decision to stay with Phuong, and he even thinks himself lucky because he can still support himself and his family. He looks after Phuong in every detail. In the early days of living together, Phuong needed Phong wherever she went. To go from the rented room to the toilet, she needed him to lead her. Not only did he guide her around the house, Phong taught Phuong to cook and do housework in their new rented room.
More than a year after they started living together, they had a baby boy. His ex-wife remarried and stopped interfering, and Phong received many invitations to perform again, at tea rooms, weddings, funerals… Family life, with the husband going out to work and the wife staying home to look after the child and do the housework, has also gone through its full range of emotions. There were a few storms when Phong, always charming, caused trouble, but then things settled again. Many small disagreements were quickly resolved by the couple with smiles and jokes.
Regarding her husband as an idol, Phuong feels that meeting Phong was like Cinderella meeting her prince. She admires her husband because he works hard, has no pride, and is ready to do anything for his wife and child. She has promised herself she will follow him for life, as long as he still loves her and still looks after her and their child, whatever happens.
Phong, for his part, believes it is because they know how to indulge each other just enough that they have come this far together. His wife always takes care of the house so that when her husband comes home he does not have to do anything, just rest properly. Her husband, knowing how hard his wife works, as soon as she got a job doing massage, saved money to buy her a washing machine. Occasionally at weekends, he takes his wife and child out to eat, or to the park, to add colour to their lives.
Phong and Phuong take their wedding photos at a mass wedding for 40 couples with disabilities – Photo: Organising Committee.
Understanding his wife’s longing to wear a wedding dress just once, Phong submitted an application to join the mass wedding for 40 couples with disabilities taking place in Ho Chi Minh City on 20 October. Phong and Phuong received 8 invitations for relatives. “With no relatives left, perhaps we will invite a few poor people, those who really need a meal, to celebrate with us”, Phong said.
VnExpress