This chapter is written by Le Thi Yen Nhi, CPI project officer. Thank you Nhi for sharing the chapters with me.
Thien at the broom workshop
Pham Van Thien was born in 1972 in a big and poor family of eight members. He is the second eldest out of six siblings. Although his parents were hard-working farmers, they still could not overcome their living condition. Food and schooling for the children has been a burden on their shoulders for long.
It was noontime of a day in 1977; Thien and a friend of his named Thu were playing together out side his home when he happened to see something shiny semi-buried on the ground. With the child�s curiosity, Thien picked it up and decided to find out what was inside. Just as he was in the middle of the process, the blasting cap exploded right on his hand.
The loud explosion terrified Thien's father, who was taking a nap inside the house. He rushed out automatically then saw his son, Thien, was writhing in pains. Thien's father and his neighbors ran out to look for a mean of transportation in deep panic. It took 8 hours before Thien got to an appropriate hospital.
It's difficult to describe the family's circumstance at that time since Thien's father was the only breadwinner and he had to cease all his daily work to look after his small son at the hospital. At home, Thien�s mother was so busy taking care of the other three siblings and the youngest was just nearly one year old. All the borrowed money and their savings ran out after the first ten days treatment. Thus, the father went back to the field to work. Thien�s mother took turn to look after him at the hospital. She took along the one-year-old daughter to the hospital because the child was just too small to be looked after by the older siblings. At home the two other siblings aged 8 and 3 were completely on their own� After 20 days, the family ran out of all sellable things and the father had to take down the metal roof as well as their last bucket of cassavas, which was their final portion of food for money.
One month passed, Thien came back home with 50% of eyesight and an amputated hand. Everyone in the family was very happy though they had nothing in their house even food. The parents didn�t have time to break, they worked intensively to feed their children and to pay back the debts.
Two months later, Thien�s eyes started getting painful. His parents took him to a higher-level hospital in Hue city, which was about 150 km from their home. Thien stayed here 25 days for a series of tests and X-ray. Finally, the doctors here suggested transferring him to higher-level hospital, Bach Mai hospital, in Ha Noi, which is about 800 km far from their home. However, the family�s efforts ended here, they did not have energy and resources to go any further. Despair was written on the parents� faces when they quietly took their small son back home. One week later Thien became totally blind.
In 2000, Thien became a member of Cam Lo district Blind Association. He was then taught Braille, and how to make broom, toothpick and incense sticks. Thien is a handsome and intelligent man, thus he easily mastered everything. Thien now earns a living by making brooms.
Friends, thank you for your patience. The coming chapter will be: HOW THEY MET? Until then.
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