An Inspiring Story

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

The recent trip to Udomxay (585 km from Vietnam’s capital took 14 hours). This week I have discovered new needs of Lao disabled people. I was asked by the Lao Disabled Women Development Center (LDWDC) to join their team to do an evaluation of the former disabled women students who had undergone vocational training in their center in the past six years. The center came into existence in 2002 in Vientiane, Laos.

LDWDC takes disabled women from 12 provinces of Laos to provide them with vocational training such as sewing, Lao traditional weaving, making handbags by using Lao textiles, handicrafts using banana trunk or tree bark, pineapple leaves, and all sorts of other natural fibers making gift wrapping paper, greeting cards, serviette paper containers, and other useful items.

The purpose of the visit was to get feedback from the vocational training disabled students received during the past six years. Also, this trip was expected to provide an opportunity to the visiting team to see for themselves the local resources of the provinces which could be utilized by the disabled persons. The visiting team could help them by arranging a market for their products. I visited LDWDC a few months ago and was very impressed with what they are doing. But, as a professional social worker, I also think they could learn many other skills appropriate for disabled women. There is a scope to increase their leadership skills and provide more knowledge in developmental areas so that these disabled persons could be more confident, and be an asset to the society, in addition to strengthening them. I was impressed by the director, Mme CP who, herself, is disabled but very dynamic and excellent. The evaluation report of the team has been presented to the sponsors separately. In the evaluation trip, we visited several graduated disabled students’ homes, and also discovered new cases of disabled.

In the course of our visit to the province, we came across a disabled person, Nang T., a brave lady of strong resolve. We were moved by her serious physical disability and, at the same time, impressed the way she was bravely finding ways to move on undeterred, and trying successfully to be a useful person to the society. Nang T. was paralyzed from the waist down at the age of nine, perhaps due to polio. I believe the family had tried in every possible manner to help her at the beginning, but without any success. Thus, she has remained confined to bed for about 21 years. Due to a prolonged time of lying on her back in the bed, she developed a bedsore. A few years ago she was given a wheel chair, and with that she can move around. She cannot sit and remains lying down on her stomach because of her paralysis and bedsore on the back.

In spite of this pathetic physical disability, she is an amazingly strong-willed woman; she can do many things that a normal person can do. She moves around in her wheel chair in and outside of her house. The wheel chair is very much worn out and needs replacement. Nang washes herself on it and lets it dry and uses it again each day.

Listening to her and watching her do her daily chores, I think she could do wonders with additional help. Nang is an extremely simple and humble person, who is exceptionally mature in so many ways. We reached her house after dark after we visited a few other cases on the way from Udomxay city to Luang namtha, therefore, we could only talk with her and her younger sister (her caregiver). The director of LDWDC and I, on returning to our place, thought that we should visit her again the next day to learn more of her talents. Therefore, in the morning we went to her. We saw more amazing activities that she has been doing with her sister. They raise chickens, ducks, and pigs. Her sister said that she provided Nang T. strips of bamboos and Nang T. would build the fence. Nang T. assists her sister in maintaining their garden.

They have a quite a good sized fish pond and they slit bamboo in half and join them to make a bridge as gutter tied around the pond to catch water from the mountain into a container to use as drinking water, and also utilize the stored water for cooking and bathing purposes. We saw the wheelchair being dried near the pond after she finished the morning bath. Nang T. had to stay in her bed to wait for the wheelchair to dry.

Out in the garden, her younger sister was boiling taro leaves to make food for several large pigs. We also saw chickens and ducks. Inside we saw a neat local stove. Also, she cooks.

My action plan is to send her a book by Ototake Hirotada, an autobiography of a Japanese young man who was born with four limbs, but he can do everything. It is translated into Lao language by Mme Duangduene, a well-known writer /translator. It is an inspiring story for all disabled and normal people. I had asked my social work students read this book! I will send some other books that will interest her, and find a way to send material used for various handicrafts that we have in Donkoi Center with easy instructions regarding paper mache, rock painting pictures using dried grass, crochet, knitting, bead work, basket making and the like.

We will explore in Vientiane (National Rehabilitation Center, COPE, experts) to see how they could help with an assessment of her disability and provide the medical physiotherapy services to Nang T. so that the sore on her lower back can be treated and she might be able to sit and could be more comfortable in her daily life.

My bigger dream is that maybe one day we can make some bookshelves to make a small ‘library’ in her house so other children can come to read and she can read with them. Maybe she can be their teacher. She only finished grade one, but I know if she is provided with a book she could be a teacher or a storyteller one day. That way she would have a good self-image, feel good about herself, enhance her self-esteem, and she could help others, despite her disability. Maybe other girls of her age can also come to talk with her to learn from her and volunteer to work with her in the garden. They could write stories and she would then have many friends.

I believe Nang T. has potential to develop, given little financial assistance. I believe if we help her, she could contribute to the good of the society. Her family, parents and sisters and brothers, though very poor, apparently love her because they take turns caring for her. Her mother was a nurse in the army. They are now retired, I believe, and we were not able to see them this time. They live in a nearby village. I was told that she likes to live in a quiet place. So she lives in a house located about 10km from Udomxay city, a ten minute drive.

Xuyen Dangers, Laos

Xuyen Dangers is a social worker in Laos/Vietnam. She serves as a Social work supervisor of Donkoi child center and 5 other centers, Social work advisor, Faculty of Social Sciences, and the National University of Laos.