Compass Travel Vietnam
Disabled man owns three carpentry workshops
HAI PHONG – is 1.3 m tall, weighs 40 kg, and has difficulty walking, but Mr. Nguyen Huu Hau is the boss of three carpentry workshops with dozens of workers.
Mr. Hau, 38 years old, is the eldest in a poor farming family with five brothers in Thuy Tieu commune, Thuy Nguyen district. Since birth, his legs have been abnormal, his knees are often together. “Disability makes it difficult for me to walk, very guilty. I always hope to improve when I grow up,” recalled Mr. Hau.
In 1999, when he was in 8th grade, his limbs twitched, causing Mr. Hau to lose the ability to walk. All personal activities depended on his parents and children. Every day he was carried to school by his friends.
Loving her son, the mother sold her pigs, and the father sold the cyclo to take money to take the child everywhere for treatment. Wherever they went, the family received a shake of the head. The doctor said he suffered from muscle atrophy and could not recover. “The pain both physically and mentally caused me to give up my studies even though I was always a good student. On the day my friends entered high school, I was lying on the bed, indescribably sad”, Mr. Hau recalled.
Three years later, Mr. Hau had to cope with the pain to the point of insomnia. Parents and siblings took turns massaging. Many times, the little guy tried to drag himself on the floor to do some errands, but only a few meters had to stop because of the pain. Too much practice makes Hau’s legs and hips calloused, floating into a big lump of flesh.
The turning point came to Mr. Hau at the age of 18 when an uncle advised him to study a trade, maybe he could support himself. Hesitating for a while, Hau asked his parents to learn carpentry to take advantage of his artistic talent. Every morning, his father or younger brother picks up Mr. Hau and takes him to the carpentry workshop near his house. At first, he was assigned to type armor paper, with a salary of 20,000 VND/day. After a year, the owner of the workshop let him learn to chisel simple details.($1=24,000 VND)
Their weak body, having to sit, practice chiseling or typing armor made Mr. Hau painful. The whispers of “what can this phrase do” made his spirit worn down. “I have to motivate myself and try to do more than others. Outside of the time at the workshop, I buy things to go home to practice chiseling and planing”, Mr. Hau said.
After more than a year of learning carpentry, Mr. Hau’s skills gradually improved. The set of couches, cupboards, quartet paintings carved by him are satisfied by customers. In 2009, Mr. Hau decided to go home with his third brother to open his own workshop. The initial capital was 100 million VND given by the parents who borrowed interest.
Having received a lot of support, the job at the carpentry workshop is stable. After 6 months of opening the factory, he has paid off the money his parents borrowed. In 2022, with more than 5 billion VND accumulated, Mr. Hau invested to buy land and opened two more carpentry workshops in Son La province. “From being a burden on the family, Hau became an economic pillar, contributing with the children to build a new house for his parents to live in,” shared Mrs. Bui Thi Mai, Hau’s mother.
In 2008, when he returned to Hai Duong to visit relatives, Hau met and fell in love with Nguyen Thi Luong, also disabled. A year later, the two got married, so far there is a healthy boy and a girl. “Perhaps God has compensated me,” Hau said.
Understanding the difficulties of people with disabilities, Mr. Hau gave free vocational training to 20 people in the same situation and orphans. 5 of them have opened their own carpentry workshop. In 2015, Mr. Hau and his friends established the club Aspiration for life to connect young people with disabilities, help each other confidently integrate, and help the community.
As the branch president of Thuy Nguyen District’s Youth Association with Disabilities, Chairman of the club Aspiration for life, Mr. Hau connected with VSIP Hai Phong Industrial Park to introduce 100 people with disabilities to work. Recently, he was awarded a certificate of merit by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union in the program Shining Vietnamese energy in 2022.
Mr. Nguyen Tien Manh, Secretary of Thuy Nguyen District Union, assessed that Mr. Hau is not only a shining example of the will to overcome adversity to rise up in life, but also contributes a lot to society.
( According to vnexpress )
Disabled man owns three carpentry workshops
vinlove.
Source: vinlove
