![Kim Huong is reading in Braille]()
Kim Huong is reading in Braille
She had been diagnosed with gradual vision lost after birth since in the womb; and she had been extremely frustrated when knowing that she could have been dead due to selfishness of the family and of a conscienceless father. Just getting home from the hospital, her mother was questioned by the husband:
- Did you have abortion yet?
The mother babbled:
- I could not do that!
The father jumped into the mother, held her shoulders tightly, and yelled at her with angry voice:
- I tell you, this family does not accept a blind child!
He then left her pregnant mother. The mother bravely gave birth to her. The scariest day eventually came. She turned to one year old while was learning to walk, one of her eye became totally blind. Her mother ran around her neighbors and relatives to borrow money for her continuous three year treatment. However, the poor mom got only one headshake and two words like and lightning from the mouth of a famous doctor: “Give up”
When she turned to school age, her mother raced around to find a school. Her mother was so poor that she could not afford the tuition. The mother told her with a frustrating voice:
- Honey, perhaps you might not go to school like other babies.
Two lines of tear were streaming down on the mother’s skinny cheeks. The telephone was ringing with joy as if it wanted to clear away our sorrow. The mother picked up the phone:
- Alo, who is that?
Someone answered on the other side:
- Is that you? I am An of Association for the Blind. I read an article on the internet about A Shelter for the Blind in HCM city. They accepted children as the same age of your daughter.
The mother quickly questioned:
- Is it good? I am so poor to pay for her school.
- Do not worry. It is a good school and you pay nothing.
The mother said thanks to that lady in joy. Put down the telephone, she looked at her daughter with joy and showed a seldom smiling face. She held her baby tightly in her arms and whispered in her ears:
- You must study well because only studying can help to reduce hazard under your steps.
They quickly departed for the school for the blind. Her mother was still wondering : “Is it good or bad that I send my baby to school?”
When arriving to the school, she broke down in tears as it came to the time to say goodbye to her mom, and was so nervous to friends. Her mom told her: “Tit, stay here and learn! I have to go home.” She held her mom with all her strength in pouring tears. She cried:
- Please, let me go home with you, I do not want to study, let me go home with you, huhu…
Her mom embraced her with love and put a kiss on her forehead, then told her:
- I will let you go home with me when you will have been successful, and become a useful person in the society.
Then she slowly took out the girls’ fingers one by one without paying attention to her cries. She tried to attach to her mom’s arm but her mom pulled it back. She lost her balance and felt on the ground. Her mom immediately turned around and walked away in tears.
She started to learn to write and read at the age of five. At first, she learned to read in braille. The sharp dots made her tickled. Once getting to know all alphabet characters, she began learning to write. Comparing to peers, she was the slowest one who learned to write. The first words impressed her. She brailled first dots and they turned into big holes which seemed to glance and laugh at her. Her first writing was failed. The second time was not better than the first. The third time was worse, it did not even make a word, and she broke the stylus (a tool used to braille raised dots). On that day, she got punishment. Perhaps thanks to that punishment, she was successful at the fifth time. The sound of “loc coc” helped to make round dots on the braille paper. Her first grade completed. The director of the school, Mr Truong passed away. They sent her to NDC School for the Blind to study. The new teachers decided to let her sit in class one for one more year because Braille was changed to new system code. She was very upset because of the change. She became so disappointed. Her mom heard the situation, made a phone call to her, she cried in tears. Her mom comforted:
- It is not a big deal ! Slowly but successful!
She was asking in tears:
- So when will I finish my study?
Her mom was silent for few minutes then told her:
- When you see me you finish. Ok, you should go to bed. Goodbye, honey!
By the end of that second first grade, she was standing on the top of the whole level, so she was put into inclusive program. It meant she would go to study at an ordinary with sighted peers. At the new school, she made new friends. At the beginning, her friends bullied her. One day, her naughty friends made her clean the blackboard. Knowing that she could not deny, she cleaned it with a cloth. The more she tried to clean, the messier the board became. Those naughty friends sent her back to her seat. Again, she broke down in tears. Since she was talkative, friendly, and intelligent, her friends gradually reduced the fear of interaction with her.
Currently she “climbs up” to the eighth grade. Her friends like her much so she becomes a bit so “tall” that she has to sit at the back of the class. Her study is rather good. She is always standing on the top ten list of the class. Thus, her mom is so proud of her.
She is no longer sad or complaining of her disability. Someone asks her if she has to choose between being sighted and being visually impaired. She answers with a firm voice that she wants to be visually impaired. Without seeing the world, she will never see the bad things in the society. Therefore, her life will be simple, pure and joyful.
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