Don’t accept your fate
In a small room filled with handicrafts and cleverly cut scrap pieces of mother-of-pearl mosaic, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong is busy perfecting the products while enthusiastically teaching nearly a dozen workers how to do the job. Her defective legs are gradually shrinking, but they cannot stop this woman’s desire to live.
Not resigned to her fate, Ms. Huong tried her best to practice walking with her own hands. Every time she moves, Ms. Huong pins her hands to the ground to create force and moves around the workshop to complete the work. Sometimes she used her hands to cling to the bed, wooden bars, and objects around the house, dragging her shriveled legs step by step.
It was so difficult, but with the encouragement and help of her family, Ms. Huong overcame her complexes and shortcomings, gradually changing day by day. “Ruined but not useless”, she persevered, learned the local mother-of-pearl inlay craft, opened her own factory, creating jobs and stable income for many local people.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong shared: “I was born in a disadvantaged situation, my legs were shrinking day by day, and my inferiority complex kept growing inside me. I thought I would be stuck with four empty paintings for the rest of my life, but with the great encouragement of my relatives and my own tireless efforts, I overcame everything and became a useful person for the community. …”
Faith ahead
After many years of persistent and painful practice, Ms. Huong can now move fluently with her hands, much to the admiration of everyone around her. Rising up in adversity, Ms. Huong began to try her hand at many professions such as weaving hammocks, selling bread, collecting scraps, then inlaying pearls… to earn every penny to support herself.
Over the past 30 years, Ms. Huong’s handicraft workshop has trained nearly 100 people to study at the workshop, including many unfortunate people with disabilities like hers. Pieces of life from different provinces such as Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Thai Binh… gathered here in this small workshop, they have a strong belief in life.
“The most important thing is to believe in yourself, believe in the future ahead. I am ready to welcome and help people with disabilities who wish to come to me to learn a trade to reduce the burden on their families and society.”, Ms. Huong said.
Talking to Lao Dong, Mr. Hoang Manh Tuyen (born in 1957) – Head of Van Diem village, said that although her legs were disabled and she could not walk normally, with the will to live and relentless determination, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong is one of the bright examples for people and the younger generation to study and follow.
According to Van Diem Village Head, Ms. Huong overcame her life circumstances, overcame pain, opened a workshop to create jobs and stable income for many local workers, which is very valuable.
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