'Life's value is created when pursuing goals with the most optimistic thinking'

The pain of war is still lingering, especially for those children who suffer from the effects of dioxin, so they do not have the opportunity to study and develop like normal people. However, overcoming that pain, many people not only take care of themselves, but also bring joy and food to many people with disabilities like themselves. Le Ba Thanh (born in 1978) in Hung Loc commune (Vinh city) is one of the "Agent Orange men" whose determination gives us a lot of inspiration, right from the first meeting and conversation.

PV: Hello Mr. Le Ba Thanh, just hearing about you makes me really want to meet you to see if the "rumors" are true? Is it true that you have never been educated but have successfully created hundreds of machines?

Mr. Le Ba Thanh (born in 1978) is the person who successfully created many machines. Photo: Duc Anh

- It is true that I have successfully created a machine without learning to read and write, but hundreds of types are not enough. Because I have only created one version of each type of machine, and have not improved new features, so more modern and convenient machines will be released in the near future. However, to achieve these small results, it took a series of days of tireless fighting with illness, a childhood of "craving" for words.

PV: So you had to try and make an effort a hundred times greater than normal people? Can you tell us about the process of conquering those difficult stages?

- I was born healthy like other children, since I was little I grew up in the loving arms of my parents and grandmother. But when I was 4 years old, my legs gradually atrophied. I was able to walk normally, then I couldn't stand up by myself. As I grew older, my legs became smaller and more shriveled, and from then on I only got used to the corner of the house, wandering around the garden.

Le Ba Thanh never went to school, he just searched for knowledge in borrowed books. Photo: Duc Anh

My parents also took me to many places for treatment, but later I found out that my father was infected with Agent Orange in the Quang Tri battlefield and although the disease did not show in his body, it was passed on to me.

Then when I was 6, my mother had a baby, I still remember the whole family happily waiting for the baby to be born healthy and strong. However, God took my mother and my younger sibling away during my mother's labor.

I lived with my father for a few years and then moved back to live with my grandmother in Thach Ha (Ha Tinh) because my father had to work far away. When I was 12 years old, my grandmother passed away, so I moved to Vinh to live with my father and mother.

During my time in the countryside, I saw my peers going to school and I really wanted to, but the school was far away and there was no wheelchair to go to, and no one had time to take me by bike to school which was more than 5 km away from home. When I moved to live with my father, I only learned how to spell and read by practicing every day through books and newspapers.

My childhood grew up like that, and I only knew how to find my joy through stories in books, books that my father borrowed, or books that many people came to visit and lent me.

And gradually, books became like a friend to me, like a world opening up before my eyes. And it was also the policy that gave me wings to love knowledge; determination, perseverance. Books also made me understand that to achieve something, one must pursue it with the highest will and determination, regardless of whether one is an outstanding person, an ordinary person, or an unlucky person.

PV: I keep wondering why, without going to school, you were able to approach the electromechanical profession, a profession that requires more or less understanding of operating principles, physical principles and at least the most basic background knowledge?

Electromechanics is the first passion on the path of conquering knowledge of Mr. Le Ba Thanh. Photo: Duc Anh

- The older I get, the more I want to have some kind of skill that can support myself. Just staying in the house, going in and out while my dad and aunt have to support me is very annoying and extremely boring.

Then, at the age of 16, after repeatedly telling my father that I wanted to study electromechanics and that I could do it, my father sent me to a private enterprise specializing in repairing electronics and refrigeration. I started as a motor winder, then proceeded to assemble and repair, according to the owner's request.

The more he was exposed to the profession, the more Thanh's love for machines grew, making him want to create many machines himself to serve the production and living needs of many people. Photo: Duc Anh

The more I fix machine problems, the more I want to find out why they break down and find a solution. Gradually, I want to produce more convenient manual machines that many people need.

At first, I tried to do it manually according to my own thinking, but later, the more I read books, the more I understood the principles. I drew the diagram myself, connected the motor circuits according to the instructions in the basic book, then gradually upgraded by relying on practical operation. Over time, I had a few products out of the oven, after successfully repairing hundreds of mechanical machines.

According to Mr. Thanh, whether an outstanding person, an ordinary person or an unlucky person, everyone must practice and work tirelessly to achieve the results they desire. Photo: Duc Anh

PV: The path to becoming a worker and a boss for someone like you is indeed very difficult and arduous; and now you have some luck in it?

- How should I say it, it can be said to be difficult or lucky. Difficult because a disabled person without any means of production and with a small capital like today, must work a hundred times harder than normal people. However, without the help and advice of many people, many organizations and the State's loan policy for disabled people, I could not have achieved this little success.

After leaving the electronics and refrigeration repair facility, I was supported by the Association of the Disabled with loans and premises to open my own facility with many disabled people who have other professions. My facility at that time, although it had a signboard and had created a little "good reputation", was still very modest because of limited capital, I could not expand orders, and my products were not recognized by the market. Therefore, that process was really difficult, I had to bring my products to sell and consign everywhere. Many facilities accepted but I knew they lacked trust, many accepted because they pitied a disabled person.

Mr. Thanh's facility always has about 4-5 workers, who are people with mobility disabilities. Photo: Duc Anh

I affirm that even ordinary people find it very difficult in this competitive wholesale market mechanism, so I tell myself not to back down, not to be discouraged and most importantly, I need to find the "key" - that is, whether my product is suitable for the needs or not.

For example, is the sugarcane juicer simpler than other brands, does it really create productivity and less damage? Therefore, at first, even though I borrowed a lot of capital, had to pay for labor and premises, I still asked to consign it to stores without any advance capital with the belief that people would correctly evaluate the quality of the machine.

And now that I have a stable market, I still tell myself that I have to develop further, diversify the types, each type must have its own utilities, so that the shop owners do not refuse to accept the goods, because they think that my machine initially sold very well but then stagnated, because it broke down too slowly!
Quality assurance is something I always aim for, but the slowdown is because I have not been able to develop new utilities for the same old functional machines.

PV: I see that many workers at your factory are disabled?

- I currently have 4-5 regular workers and all of them are disabled. Because I have a thought, people like us, even though we have missing legs, but in return we are careful, determined and especially trustworthy, so I choose them.

Moreover, people with disabilities always want to be recognized fairly, why don't we create opportunities for them...?

Now Mr. Le Ba Thanh has two chubby, handsome sons... Photo: Duc Anh

PV: May I ask about your personal life? You have a beautiful wife and two lovely children. Is this life a real-life fairy tale?

- I often think about fate, if it is fate, we will meet, if it is fate, we will succeed. Nhung, my wife is a student at Hong Lam University. After graduating, she had no job so she tried to work in my workshop. Maybe she found me cute and gentle and she liked me, and I did too...

I often joke with her: Two single people met, and so they became husband and wife. Although I can only move around in a wheelchair, I help my wife with many household chores and am very stable in life, so I think my wife does not have to work hard or worry too much about me.
Now I don't wish for much, just that my child grows up healthy and understands that the value of life is only created when we are determined to pursue it with the most optimistic thinking.
PV: Thank you for this conversation!