“Light Source” of a Blind Veteran

(Baonghean)Nearly 2 years ago, when we came to his house to carry out the "order" of the Provincial Veterans Association for the book "Veteran Memories", we were truly impressed by his extraordinary willpower. Because, for nearly 45 years, his eyes could no longer perceive light, but he was still diligently involved in social work. He not only opened a math class for students in the village, but also played 4 musical instruments at the same time skillfully. The book had just been published, and we came to his house again to give it to him. Excitedly, he "boasted": "Up to now, I have contributed to educating 7 students to go to university". He is veteran, disabled soldier Nguyen Dang Khoa in hamlet 5, Nam Linh commune (Nam Dan district).

The teacher prepares lesson plans using imagination.

In 1964, 22-year-old Nguyen Dang Khoa put aside his dream of becoming a math teacher, volunteered to join the army, and went to the battlefield. In 1968, he was seriously injured and lost his eyes. Returning to his hometown, although blind, he still stood on the podium to impart knowledge to generations of students. The opportunity to return to his old dream was when he went to a neighbor's house to drink green tea and accidentally heard two children discussing a geometry problem. "After arguing for a long time, neither of them gave in. Suddenly, the geometry knowledge from the past woke up in my head. I immediately took a piece of charcoal and drew a picture in the middle of the yard and explained it to them," said Mr. Khoa. The children stared, unable to believe that Mr. Khoa's solution and answer were exactly the same as the instructions in the textbook. From then on, whenever they encountered a difficult problem, the children in the village would go to Mr. Khoa's house to ask him to explain it to them. As more and more students came to him, the idea of ​​grouping them into one class began to form in Mr. Khoa's mind to save time and make it easier to explain. At first, his family members were hesitant, but seeing his determination and seeing that it was part of his joy and happiness in old age, everyone later supported him.

Since then, every afternoon, math classes taught by blind teacher Nguyen Dang Khoa have contributed to making the atmosphere of the village bustling and exciting with the sounds of studying and the laughter of children. Seeing the effectiveness of the classes, Nam Linh commune bought him 6 sets of tables and chairs, and then the Department of Education gave him an anti-glare board. In each class, he chose the best student to be a "teaching assistant", whose job was to read the questions and help him write formulas and draw shapes. After hearing the questions, he immediately formed in his mind the process, method and approach to find the answer as quickly as possible. When asked "Why can you still take on the role of a math teacher even though your eyes can no longer see?", Mr. Khoa replied: "I still remember quite clearly the math knowledge, especially geometry, that I learned in the past. After hearing the questions, I imagined the angles and edges in my head, then mobilized the related formulas to find the most reasonable solution."



Math class taught by blind veteran Nguyen Dang Khoa.

Since then, it has been 10 years and Mr. Khoa has opened 10 home-based classes (each class has about 20 students, mainly at secondary school level), about 200 children in the poor countryside of Nam Linh have been strengthened with knowledge to be confident when studying in higher classes and levels. Of which, 7 have entered university. A typical example is Nguyen Thi Thanh, who faced a difficult situation when her parents divorced in Dak Lak, and she had to return to her hometown to live with her uncle's family. With Mr. Khoa's guidance, Thanh made great efforts in her studies and achieved the title of poor student overcoming difficulties, receiving gifts from the Provincial Youth Union.

Up to now, I have been a student of the Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment of Hue University. Or Nguyen Minh Chau had to undergo cleft lip and palate surgery 3 times, but with the encouragement of Mr. Khoa, I still tried to stick to class and study well. Now Chau has graduated from high school and has a stable job. And most of his students are the "nucleus", "spearheads" of the classes at school. It is worth mentioning that despite spending time and effort (2 sessions/week), Mr. Khoa's classes are completely free. He shared: “When responding to the campaign “Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh”, I realized that, during his lifetime, Uncle Ho had a lot of affection for children, and before he passed away, he left behind a lot of love for children. Learning from Uncle Ho, I decided to find a way to help children. As a severely disabled veteran, receiving special treatment from the State, now I am happy to be able to help my children near and far, my neighbors, and my hometown.”

Not only knowledge of geometry, Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoa also has a very solid knowledge of history, culture and society. And whenever he is "stuck" with this area of ​​knowledge, the children in the village also come to him. In previous school years, the Nam Dan Education Department organized the "I love my homeland" contest for secondary schools across the district. Mr. Khoa promptly supplemented knowledge of history and culture so that students of Nam Linh Secondary School could compete successfully and win high prizes. The knowledge he accumulated was mainly received through the media, because for him, "A day without listening, reading, or writing is a day behind. Having lost the source of light, we must make the most of the source of sound to receive and explore the outside world". Then his face became radiant: “Nearly 3 years ago, I was awarded the “Teacher Card” by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Ministry of Education and Training. At that time, I was so moved that I burst into tears, because my dream of becoming a teacher did not come true until I was 68 years old.”

Artist of the village

On the day he returned to his hometown with his eyes closed, unable to hold a hoe or plow to directly work in production, Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoa decided to join the Nam Linh commune art troupe, contributing to the propaganda of the production labor movement and supporting the southern front. Mr. Khoa became an excellent propagandist, regularly researching and setting examples of advanced models, updating the progress of seasonal production on the commune's loudspeaker. And in the art performances, the people of Nam Linh commune often enjoyed the mandolin of the blind war invalid accompanying the folk songs of the homeland more smoothly and deeply. The people admired him even more when the talented blind musician sometimes played up to 4 musical instruments. Blowing the harmonica, playing the mandolin, and using percussion instruments with both feet, musician Nguyen Dang Khoa sometimes played the role of the entire choir. Thanks to his participation, the Nam Linh commune art troupe always led the whole district in terms of performance achievements. Another special thing is that since its first performance, the Sen Village Singing Festival of Nghe An province has been held for the 31st time (1981-2012), and in all 31 times, the "blind artist" Nguyen Dang Khoa has participated and contributed to the success of the Nam Dan District Mass Art Troupe. He confided: "I am a native of Uncle Ho's hometown, there is no greater joy than being able to play the instrument and sing songs dedicated to Him. Therefore, in each performance, it seems that the overflowing emotions have led the rhythm of my panpipe, the rhythm of my instrument and the rhythm of my drum...".

Asked about the titles he received, Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoa replied: “Many, many! There are dozens of them, medals, commemorative medals, certificates of merit, and certificates of merit that I keep in the cabinet.” After saying that, he reached up to the top of the wooden cabinet to show us the Certificate of Merit from the Central Propaganda Department for his achievement in winning the Special Prize in the contest “Learning about the life, career and ideology of President Ho Chi Minh” (2005), several Certificates of Merit from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Central Youth Union and the People's Committee of Nghe An province, etc.

Cong Kien