“The dance of life” in the wheelchair
Can you imagine a girl in a wheelchair who is vivacious, always smiles and dances flash mob? That is Nguyen Thi Ai Thanh! She said: “Now I know how to be determined and take responsibility for my own life!”
Initiating a conversation, always smiling with a beautiful, tinkling laugh, but her eyes are always sad, Nguyen Thi Ai Thanh makes people think that she is carrying a hidden spiritual power inside her small, folded and immovable body. Ai Thanh shared that formerly her sole purpose upon approaching DRD was to look for a scholarship to pay for her difficult student life.
Born in a poor family, her siblings went to university simultaneously, therefore Thanh had to interrupt her studying for 3 consecutive years (5th grade to 6th grade) to give the opportunities to her siblings. She asked her parents to let her go to high school which was far from home and live independently with a wheelchair. Nevertheless her path to university was not supported, because Thanh is disabled! She said those were her saddest years. She cried almost every day. To convince her parents and siblings to let her go to school in Sai Gon, Thanh accepted living in lodgings, not staying with her siblings although they were in the same city, the total sum of money supported for her schooling is only 1 million VND/month. Yet this Phan Rang girl still withstood difficulties in Saigon. However, Thanh did not know what to do besides studying. Her life was enclosed with anxieties and uncertainty about her future.
“But only after 4 times joining activities at DRD, not for the scholarship anymore, I felt an urge to look for something for my life, but did not know exactly what it was”, Thanh recalled. Since then she has been to DRD more frequently although she had to pay 100,000 VND for the transportation fee, which was not a small amount in comparison with the total 1 million VND/month. She was also “hard-headed” to accept other people’s prejudice that “what does that disabled girl keep going there (DRD) for?”…
“In fact, I did not realize any change in myself until hearing what the people who used to hold prejudice surprisingly told me that I became vigorous, open and humorous,” Thanh smiled brightly.
Currently, this young girl is in charge of SEO Master and Online Marketing for a private IT company. She got the job right after graduating because the director was convinced by her proactiveness, openness and self-confidence. More significantly, although she still needs a PA or someone else in society to carry her, Thanh has made her parents and relatives rest assure, feel proud and even encourage her to go out more. The key is very simple: when we are happy and candid with other people, which can spread through the society, we will receive wholehearted support in return!
“The dance of life” in the wheelchair
Can you imagine a girl in a wheelchair who is vivacious, always smiles and dances flash mob? That is Nguyen Thi Ai Thanh! She said: “Now I know how to be determined and take responsibility for my own life!”
Initiating a conversation, always smiling with a beautiful, tinkling laugh, but her eyes are always sad, Nguyen Thi Ai Thanh makes people think that she is carrying a hidden spiritual power inside her small, folded and immovable body. Ai Thanh shared that formerly her sole purpose upon approaching DRD was to look for a scholarship to pay for her difficult student life.
Born in a poor family, her siblings went to university simultaneously, therefore Thanh had to interrupt her studying for 3 consecutive years (5th grade to 6th grade) to give the opportunities to her siblings. She asked her parents to let her go to high school which was far from home and live independently with a wheelchair. Nevertheless her path to university was not supported, because Thanh is disabled! She said those were her saddest years. She cried almost every day. To convince her parents and siblings to let her go to school in Sai Gon, Thanh accepted living in lodgings, not staying with her siblings although they were in the same city, the total sum of money supported for her schooling is only 1 million VND/month. Yet this Phan Rang girl still withstood difficulties in Saigon. However, Thanh did not know what to do besides studying. Her life was enclosed with anxieties and uncertainty about her future.
“But only after 4 times joining activities at DRD, not for the scholarship anymore, I felt an urge to look for something for my life, but did not know exactly what it was”, Thanh recalled. Since then she has been to DRD more frequently although she had to pay 100,000 VND for the transportation fee, which was not a small amount in comparison with the total 1 million VND/month. She was also “hard-headed” to accept other people’s prejudice that “what does that disabled girl keep going there (DRD) for?”…
“In fact, I did not realize any change in myself until hearing what the people who used to hold prejudice surprisingly told me that I became vigorous, open and humorous,” Thanh smiled brightly.
Currently, this young girl is in charge of SEO Master and Online Marketing for a private IT company. She got the job right after graduating because the director was convinced by her proactiveness, openness and self-confidence. More significantly, although she still needs a PA or someone else in society to carry her, Thanh has made her parents and relatives rest assure, feel proud and even encourage her to go out more. The key is very simple: when we are happy and candid with other people, which can spread through the society, we will receive wholehearted support in return!