The man standing on “golden hands”
(Baonghean.vn) - Admiration and respect are two words that many people in Hamlet 5, Boi Son Commune (Do Luong) have for Mr. Nguyen Ba Tan (born in 1958). He is known as the person with "golden hands" in both literal and figurative sense.
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| The old wheelchair is Mr. Tan's companion through many hardships. Photo: Le Thao |
Learn to walk on your hands
In a level 4 house of only 15m2With the wet ground, mud stains around the walls from the flood in the second half of last year, the sound of the flour mill still running regularly mixed with the squeaking sound of the sewing machine.
Hearing the sound of guests, Mr. Tan pushed open the rickety old wooden door, quickly put his hands into the yellowish honeycomb sandals. He put the sandals on with his hands. His legs were curled up, crossed in a V shape. He crawled step by step with his sandaled hands “taking the load” from his paralyzed legs, which were calloused and rough.
Pouring a bowl of warm green tea, Mr. Tan emotionally recounted his life full of hardship since birth.
He was born in 1958, when he was over 1 year old and just taking his first steps in life, he had a fever for many days. At first, his parents thought that fever was normal for children, but after many days without improvement, his father was shocked and took his son to Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi). On an old bicycle, his father frantically pedaled his little son hundreds of kilometers hoping for timely treatment. But it was too late. In addition, the family was too poor, day by day they had to rely on cassava and sweet potatoes, so where did they get money to treat the disease? Everyone swallowed their tears as their son's legs gradually shriveled to the point of paralysis.
At that time, little Tan was too young to understand what had happened and what would happen around his life. Then Tan grew up and had to accept life with legs but unable to walk.
Despite being paralyzed, Tan always dreamed of going to school, and a wheelchair was a luxury for him at that time. Therefore, every day, his parents took turns carrying him to school. When he entered high school, the school was too far away, the already difficult road to school became even more difficult, so he had to sadly drop out of school and stay at home.
Overcoming fate
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| By self-study, Mr. Tan became a good tailor in the village. Photo: Le Thao |
Although he could not walk on two legs like normal people, Mr. Tan's spirit of learning and will to overcome difficulties never faded. At the age of 8, he taught himself how to weave. When he crawled to his neighbors' houses to play, he saw them whittling bamboo sticks and splitting rattan fibers, so he came home and learned how to do the same. Over time, he was able to weave baskets, trays, and crates to sell at the market to help his parents.
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| Mr. Tan started weaving at the age of 8, and he still does it when customers request it. Photo: Le Thao |
At the age of 25, he learned sewing. At first, he learned from tailors near his house, but gradually they chased him away for fear of losing their jobs. He had to weave baskets and baskets to earn money to buy books to learn sewing himself. At first, he did small jobs like sewing buttons and mending zippers. There were days when he ran out of tools to learn, so he crawled on his hands to tailor shops to ask for tools to practice.
Seeing his passion for sewing, his parents borrowed money from relatives to buy him a sewing machine in the hope that he could find a job. Thanks to that, his skills improved day by day, and more and more people came to him to sew a shirt or mend a pair of pants. This gave him another reason to be happy.
In 1994, his younger brother Nguyen Ba Nghia bought him a hand-held wheelchair. The wheelchair was like a friend supporting him: “Since I got the wheelchair, I have been very happy, I can go to the district to get goods for sewing instead of having to borrow or ask for them from other shops. Nowadays, there are many types of wheelchairs, beautiful and convenient, everyone says I should throw away the old wheelchair, but I consider it a friend and cannot let it go. Buying a new wheelchair costs money, that money is for my children to learn more, ma'am” - Mr. Nguyen Ba Tan smiled contentedly.
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| Villagers call Mr. Tan a multi-talented person. He can sew, weave, make incense, and even open a milling business. Photo: Le Thao |
Having mastered sewing, in 1994, when he had a car, Mr. Tan groped his way to learn the trade of dry flour milling. Thanks to the money he had saved and borrowed 1.5 million VND from his neighbors, he bought a flour mill. Villagers no longer had to go far, but could just come to Mr. Tan's house to get flour to feed their chickens, ducks or make cakes. If the houses that brought flour to be milled had not yet been sifted, he would carefully clean it before grinding it. The customers were very satisfied.
Not only weaving, sewing, and milling flour, he also makes incense. In 2000, after watching a friend make incense, he went home and bought books to learn by himself. During holidays, people come to mill flour to make cakes and buy incense. He focuses on choosing natural ingredients to make incense, so he is also loved by the people in the area. "Making incense, the profit will also help keep the capital, but adding a job is more fun, I do the job to help myself and help my neighbors" - Mr. Tan shared.
Exemplary husband and father
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| Happy moment of Mr. Tan and his wife. Photo: Le Thao |
I met Mr. Tan's wife - Mrs. Luong Thi Tu (born in 1957) when she had just returned home with a load of grass. The couple looked at each other with eyes and smiles full of happiness, making outsiders feel that there was a great love between the two.
In 1992, one time, when she went to Mr. Tan's house to buy a basket of grass, she saw the man, although paralyzed in both legs, still skillfully weaving bamboo and rattan, and Mrs. Tu admired him. But that love was forbidden by her family. "Back then, my brother told me that if I were to marry, I should marry a normal person, not a cripple" - she wiped away her tears and recalled. But having fallen in love with a talented and strong-willed man, the girl Luong Thi Tu decided to decide her own life. A wedding without a happy celebration meal, without a single blessing, but instead, the children and siblings of her own blood relatives turned their backs on her.
Since getting married, understanding his wife, Mr. Tan has always tried to build a family, he helped his wife with taking care of chickens, pigs, cooking rice and soup. He also learned how to make wine to help his wife. During harvest season, unable to go to the fields to carry rice, he sat down next to the threshing machine, passing each bundle of rice to his wife, helping her to bend down, which added to the back pain.
The result of that beautiful love is 3 daughters who are gentle, obedient, good at studying, excellent students for many years, awarded Certificates of Merit by Nghe An province and admitted to top universities in the country.
“One day, Nguyen (youngest daughter) came home from school and saw me cutting bananas to feed the chickens. She said she would do it, but she was tired after school. I told her to rest and let her father finish. I felt so sorry for her. I was also happy to have my children.” The man’s face seemed to light up in the small house.
The day he heard that his eldest daughter had been admitted to the College of Economics, he rolled his rickety wheelchair more than 10 kilometers to the district to get the paperwork for his daughter to enroll. It was raining, the road was muddy, and he had to push the wheelchair for a long time before he could move. When he got home at night, his hands were sore, but he was happy because his daughter was a good student and had grown up. Then his second child was admitted to the Academy of Finance, his third child was admitted to the Hanoi University of Pharmacy, and on the same wheelchair, he rolled more than 10 kilometers to get the paperwork for his daughter to enroll.
He is planning to learn electrical repair when his youngest daughter comes back. He said that having a new job means having a new life, and having a job will help his wife and children have a warmer, more comfortable life.
Saying goodbye to a simple meal of eggplant soup and pickled vegetables with his family, I returned home with warmth and admiration for the man with a bright smile and the strong will in his hands.