BACKGROUND: In the village of Dong Nai (southern part of Vietnam) there lived a young boy by the name of Dzung. His story tells of how difficult life can be for disabled children in Vietnam.
One day the family dog was wandering out in the thickets when a snake bit the dog. It yelped and ran into the house to little Dzung's lap for help and comfort. The snake proceeded to let go of the dog and bit the right foot of this little boy.
His mother realised what had happened and race him to the nearest hospital in the area. This was a village hospital and was not really able to deal with kind of situation. There was no antivenin whatsoever and the choice the boy had was to die or amputate his lower right leg just to save his life.
How unfortunate life can be for someone like him. He was in the wrong place and at the wrong time. If this happened in Australia or any other parts of the world then the snake bite would have been treated and a few months later this little boy would be running around. Now he had talk around with a wooden crutch just to get around.
About a year ago (before I was to head back to Australia) his mother took Dzung to Ho Chi Minh city to seek help. I am not sure how many people she approached before she came to me. Living in Vietnam for many years now I am naturally suspicious of anyone asking for financial assistance and have my techniques to see who is really in need and those who want a free ride, as it were.
This is along the line of how the conversation went. 'What can I do to help you?' She answered in an urgent manner in Vietnamese, 'My son needs an operation desperately.' I tried to act as if I have heard it all before, 'So why don't you take him to the hospital and have the problem taken cared of then?' She then began to explain the situation to me. 'I am a single unemployed mother who lives in the village of Dong Nai. My husband took off two years ago and have not returned. Now I have three hungry mouths to feed. My oldest son Dzung and his two younger sisters. Dzung is a nine year old boy and his muscles and bones are still growing rapidly.'
Apparently a few years after his amputation the bone in his right leg has literally grown about an inch out of his amputated leg. It was not hard to see the whiteness of the bone sticking out of his leg. My natural bodily response was to cringed at the thought of something like this could ever happen as she continued her story. 'I had taken my son to the doctor about this problem and they had told me that if he doesn't have an operate to cut the bone a few inches in it could get badly infected and at worst he could die from it or keep amputating at the hip and so on just to save his life.'
LEVEL 1 - IMMEDIATE NEED OF DISABLED CHILD: I suddenly changed my whole thinking about the situation as I realised the urgency of the situation as I told her to immediately send her son to hospital to have the operation and I will work out a way to cover the cost. A child's life is much too valuable to think about how much it cost for the operation I thought. It ended up costing only $300 and it wasn't hard to find people who were willing to help.
After the successful operation Dzung's mother cried tears of appreciation of saving her son's life. As a typical Vietnamese response I tried to lighten my part in all this by stating that it wasn't my money but someone else, anyone would have done the same for a need like hers and so on. As she was about to head back home to the village of Dong Nai she hesitantly asked if there was any program in the city where she could get a loan to buy a cow so that every year whenever it gave birth to a calf she can sell it for an income. I politely told her, 'I'll see what I can find out' as I was due to head back to Australia for a busy six months and so much on my mind.
LEVEL 2 - FAMILY NEED OF DISABLED CHILD: With my friend Neil Powers holding down the fort back in Vietnam and the help of a few generous donours Neil went to the village of Dong Nai bought the cow and gave it to this lady so she could be self-sufficient to look after her three children. In a country like Vietnam people sometimes send their disabled children out to beg for a living so we hoped by doing this she would not forced into such a desperate situation.
LEVEL 3 - BREAKING THE POVERTY CYCLE THROUGH THE DISABLED CHILD: Helping out in these two ways were good in and of itself, but I still felt incomplete wondering about the 'what if.' What if I had the House of Grace centre up and running already and then this little boy Dzung could be the first disabled child to get a special scholarship so we could help him get a normal education. He could finish his primary school education, then move onto high school and if he is bright enough study at university level. During all this time we would help him master the English language so he can be bilingual, which in a third world country can open so many doors and job opportunities. He would also be taught how to use the computer and all the programs that is available these days in IT, as well as business studies and vocational training provided by us.
By the time Dzung is in his twenties, he would then be more qualified than many able-bodied Vietnamese in Vietnam and could literally compete with the best of them for full-time employment.
This may be hard to believe but today Vietnam has around 3 million disabled children. If we could help out just 1% of these with a lot of care, rehabilitation, education and encouragement and in turn they are good enough to take up key position in Vietnam, like teachers, business people, doctors, lawyers and so on. Imagine what this would do to a rapidly developing country?
Vietnam would be like no other, with the highest percentage of disabled people holding key positions in society and would literally be a role model to the rest of the world of what tremendous resources disabled people can contribute to a developing country.
Not only this but each disabled child going through our program would then break the poverty cycle by being an income owner in the family. For example Dzung could be the main bread-winner in his family and even support his two younger sisters to go to school and support his mother.
Imagine what respect and dignity Dzung would have in doing this as well as how this would literally change the normal preconception of when you have a disabled child it is bad luck as it becomes a burden to the family and to the community.
