'Light source' of blind man in Nghe An

Overcoming the darkness

Coming to the house of Mr. Nguyen Van Hai (born in 1958) in Xuan Tien block, Hung Dung ward (Vinh city), we went to the back and saw the owner busy with work. Starting with lighting the fire, cutting vegetables with an electric motor and chopping small fish to cook as food for the chickens. Although he could not see, he still went into the warehouse to hold a bundle of firewood, turned off the circuit breaker and put handfuls of spinach into the cutting machine.

Hearing footsteps and a strange voice, knowing there was a guest, Mr. Hai paused to chat: "I have lived in the dark for more than 50 years, and for the same number of years, one hand was severed, but there was no other way but to rise up. There is nothing sadder than losing your eyes. Life seemed to have ended, but I still found joy."

Mr. Hai said that in 1972, during an American bombing raid on Xuan Tien village in Hung Dung commune, 14-year-old Nguyen Van Hai was hit by shrapnel and had to have his left hand amputated. Although his family tried their best to treat him with medicine, they could not save his eyes, which gradually faded and then sank into darkness.

Life seemed to have reached a dead end, because there was almost no way to the future, but his desire for life urged him to stand up and get used to a new life without eyes and a missing hand.

At first, I learned to walk, fumbling and inevitably falling, causing excruciating pain. I had to muster all my strength to get up. Next, I got used to daily chores like cooking, picking vegetables, and washing dishes for my parents. At first, it wasn't easy, but over time, I got used to it.

Living in the dark all the time, unable to distinguish between day and night, Mr. Hai seems to be compensated by his other senses. Because, when groping on the road, he can detect people or obstacles in front of him at a distance of 70m. He himself cannot explain this, because in the dark, even people with good eyesight find it very difficult to detect obstacles at this distance.

Not only that, Mr. Hai has brought the people of Xuan Tien village, Hung Dung commune (now Hung Dung ward) from one surprise to another. How could it not be surprising when the blind and disabled man became a real "old farmer", with a working ability not much inferior to a farmer in the village.

When the planting season began, Mr. Hai was busy building banks and keeping water for several acres of rice fields. After the rice had been planted and taken root, he went to the field to weed the fields. The grass was clean but the rice was still neat and in straight rows. When the harvest season came, he went to the field to bundle the rice for his family to carry home. His left hand was gone, so he used his right hand and his teeth to tightly tighten the bundles of rice.

About 5 years ago, after the harvest, people in Xuan Tien village often saw Mr. Hai leading a herd of 4-5 buffaloes out to graze. The herd could separate when looking for food, but when the owner called them back, they immediately found their way back to the herd.

Sometimes he would see him herding his flock of nearly 1,000 ducks out to the fields to swim around and pick up the scattered grains of rice. While they were busy looking for food, when they heard the sound of their owner clapping, the ducks immediately returned to their coops.

“Blind old farmer” Nguyen Van Hai never rests, when he has free time he carries a fishing net to the field to catch fish to improve his family’s meals and feed the chickens and ducks. Sometimes he looks for crabs and sets traps for eels. For some reason, the crabs and eels, whether they are in holes or deep in the mud, all fall into his only hand or crawl into the trap that Mr. Hai has set.

Ordinary happiness

In 1994, the people of Xuan Tien village had the opportunity to discuss Mr. Nguyen Van Hai's marriage with Mrs. Pham Thi Xoan (born in 1954). That day, almost the whole village attended the wedding ceremony and congratulated the disabled, blind man on finding his "other half" at the age of 36.

Before that, through matchmaking, Mr. Hai and Mrs. Xoan had the opportunity to meet each other. At first, the man only thought that the meeting was for fun, and no girl would dare to accept to marry a blind man. Unexpectedly, Mr. Hai's frankness, honesty, diligence and hard work planted a love in the girl's heart.

That love grew day by day and finally the girl agreed to marry the disabled man, which made Mr. Hai happy, shouting with joy like a 3 year old child when seeing his mother coming home from the market.

Two years after the wedding, the family welcomed a new member when a healthy baby boy was born, filling the simple home with happiness. Mrs. Xoan was weak and could not do heavy farm work, so Mr. Hai had to struggle almost alone to earn a living and support his wife and children.

At the age of 66, his strength has gradually weakened, but Mr. Hai is still diligent in his work to earn a living. His family still cultivates several fields, grows vegetables, raises pigs and chickens to earn money to support their lives. Every day, the blind and disabled man still digs the land to plant and water vegetables, prepares food for pigs and chickens...

For normal people, farming is hard, let alone me who is blind and lost a hand. But because of family life, I always have to make an effort so that my wife and children do not go hungry. I just hope to always have enough health to work, earn a living and for my son to get married soon, for my children and grandchildren to be together, to me that is a source of joy and a source of life, also a source of light in life.

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MR. NGUYEN VAN HAI