The will of a disabled young man who received the Youth Award for Community Devotion

(Baonghean.vn) - His legs limp due to a congenital defect, he cannot squat, nor can he do heavy work... but those are the very things that have motivated Nguyen Khac Cuong for the past 31 years.

Mr. Nguyen Khac Cuong is the only Nghe An native who has just received the “Youth for Community Dedication 2017” award, honored by the Vietnam Volunteer Community. Few people know that Cuong had to go through difficult and difficult years.

Nguyen Khac Cuong has surpassed himself with his own strong will. Photo: NVCC

Nguyen Khac Cuong was born in Ben Thuy ward, Vinh city, Nghe An. Cuong was unlucky because from the moment he was born, he was born with a congenital disability that prevented him from walking normally. He could not do heavy work, his limping legs made it difficult for him to move. He also could not squat or bend down like other normal people.

Since childhood, Cuong has been less fortunate than his peers. Cuong still went to school, but the school always exempted him from physical education. Because of his limp, Cuong always had to walk to school, rain or shine, throughout his student years. It was only later, when the school was far from home, that he learned to ride a bicycle. Every time he learned to ride a bicycle, he fell down on the road, and many times his knees or arms were cracked and bleeding. But he never intended to stop. Cuong always remembers the words of his friends teasing him as a pendulum clock, a limper... "Those insulting words did not make me cry, on the contrary, they helped me remind myself to try a hundred times harder than others. My situation did not allow me to fall down," Cuong confided.

Cuong has a lot of affection for people in difficult circumstances in life. Photo: NVCC

Throughout his school years until he became a high school student, Cuong was always an excellent student. Life did not give Cuong a perfect appearance, but it compensated him with a strong will like his name. His family was poor, his parents did not have stable jobs but had to take care of 5 school-age children. Cuong was the eldest in the family, after each school day, Cuong helped his mother go to the market to sell vegetables. One day he went to school, the other day he helped his mother sell vegetables at Ben Thuy market. At night, Cuong took the opportunity to cook tea to sell on Hung Hoa dike near his house to help his parents reduce their difficulties.

Khac Cuong sells tea every night to raise charity funds for his club. Photo: NVCC

Nguyen Khac Cuong's dream was to become an English teacher. However, circumstances have somewhat pushed that dream away from him. Cuong took the entrance exam to a secondary school in Vinh to study Information Technology. With diligence and determination, the young man with a limp finally received his diploma in hand. For normal people, that may be an obvious and simple result. But for disabled people like Cuong, it is a process of effort that is more arduous than anyone else's.

Cuong has been active in the Youth Union since his high school days. During that time, he was exposed to many poor situations around him. The poor laborers who did not have enough food and clothing all year round moved him. “I cried when I saw the hired earth movers near my house sharing an orange that had been dropped on the road. That image urged me to do something meaningful for this life.” That was the origin of the establishment of the Nghe An 37 Youth for Community Social Activities Organization in 2010, a volunteer club initiated and headed by Cuong.

Cuong's club has brought meaningful actions to the community over the past 7 years. Photo: NVCC

Nguyen Khac Cuong spreads his love of volunteering and his passion for contributing to the community to hundreds of young people and students. Cuong's club has 60 members with the goal of "Community Unity - Connecting Hearts - Sharing Love - Helping the Poor" with the desire to be a place to connect young people and clubs in the province to volunteer together, to help children in difficult circumstances achieve their dreams, and also a place for young people to come together and stay away from social evils...

After 7 years of volunteer activities, Nguyen Khac Cuong's Club has organized hundreds of programs such as Warm Tet, Charity Singing, Loving Moon, Green Sunday... bringing thousands of meaningful gifts to children and poor families in Nghe An and Ha Tinh.

Poor children are always the target of Cuong and his club. Photo: NVCC

Confiding in us, Nguyen Khac Cuong said: “My own disability is the biggest reason that motivates me to do charity work. I am disabled so I can understand the pain of others, and also look at others to see that I am luckier than thousands, tens of thousands of people”. That is also the answer to why Cuong chose to become a teacher for autistic, hyperactive children… at a specialized center right in his hometown today./.

Thien Thien