Disabled boy uses buffalo cart to pick up and drop off students

(Baonghean.vn) - For a long time now, the people of Thanh Khai commune (Thanh Chuong) have been very familiar with the image of a buffalo cart carrying preschool students, going back and forth on the village road morning and evening. The driver of this special cart is Mr. Van Dinh Ngoc (34 years old) in Chua hamlet.

Mr. Van Dinh Ngoc uses a buffalo cart to pick up and drop off preschool students in Chua hamlet and Van Ngoc hamlet. This has become a familiar image in Thanh Khai commune for the past 2 years.

Being disabled, in poor health, and having difficulty walking, after falling off his bicycle many times while taking his child to school, Mr. Ngoc thought of transforming his buffalo cart into a vehicle to pick up and drop off his child. He then picked up and dropped off the neighbor's children and other children on the same route. The cart was fitted with an iron frame, covered with a corrugated iron roof, and hung with three layers of cloth and tarpaulin to protect it from the rain and sun, looking like a palanquin.

On the cart, there are many horizontal wooden bars and plastic chairs for the children to sit on. Mr. Ngoc said: "The first few months we only used the normal buffalo cart, then we added an iron frame and made a door that opens and closes to ensure safety."

Mr. Ngoc has trained his buffalo to master the movements of lifting and lowering the yoke. It uses its horns to hook the yoke to its neck or undoes it when finished. The gentle female buffalo is his companion in picking up and dropping off children.

From his house to the kindergarten is nearly 2 km, the buffalo cart has to go through winding roads in the village. Except for holidays, there are 2 trips every day: in the morning, at 6:30 am, he uses the buffalo cart to pick up the children and take them to school, in the afternoon, around 4 pm, he picks up the children and drops them off at each house.

At first, this car only carried Mr. Ngoc's children and the children of his family, but later many poor households in the neighborhood who could not afford to pick up and drop off their children asked Mr. Ngoc to take them there and back by buffalo cart. Currently, each round trip of his car carries 15-19 children.

Whenever the buffalo cart breaks down on the road, the locals will be the mechanics to help Mr. Ngoc fix the problem.

Mr. Nguyen Nhu Hoe (68 years old) in Van Ngoc hamlet said: “Mr. Ngoc’s use of a buffalo cart to take children to school is an effort to overcome his personal circumstances, and also to help many people, we really admire him. Whether or not we have children going to preschool, but when we see Mr. Ngoc’s cart broken down on the way, we are willing to help him fix it.”

Every time Mr. Ngoc's buffalo cart "arrives", the teachers will pick up the children at the kindergarten gate and help them get off the cart.

Regardless of the weather, Mr. Ngoc's buffalo carts still regularly carry children back and forth on the winding road in Chua hamlet. This is not only a familiar image with practical meaning, but also reminds many people of many concerns.

Huy Thu