(VOVworld) – Nguyen Quoc Phong founded the Warming House, a school for children in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City, in 1999. The house has become a haven for visually impaired people in disadvantaged circumstances.
Students at the Warming House (Thien An) school in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. (Photo: Nguyen to Duc Linh)
Nguyen Quoc Phong lost his eyesight in an accident in 1991. Phong, who was 30 years old at that time, became desperate. He tried to register for a Braille course but was refused because he was too old. So Phong decided to teach himself Braille.
In 1998 he returned to Vietnam after studying in France on a scholarship and learning to print Braille books and make canes for blind people.
That year, he founded the Warming House to give visually impaired children an opportunity to change their lives.
In the music room at the Warming House school. (Photo: Nguyen to Duc Linh)
With limited money available at first, there were only a few children in the house. Now the warming House has 30 visually impaired children from across Vietnam. The school teaches them to read and gives them skills to live independently. They can learn the trades of Braille printing and making canes for the blind.
Five years ago, when Nguyen Minh Hai first came to the school, like other blind children, he felt hopeless and just wanted to let things run their course.
Thanks to encouragement from teacher Phong and his schoolmates, Hai has almost completed his secondary education. He is becoming proficient in computers, massage, acupressure, and printing.
Hai said: “teacher Phong is like my father. Sometimes he makes jokes to help us unwind after studying. Teacher Phong has changed my way of thinking and my life.”
The Warming House has been a firm support for a little blind girl named Vong Minh Nhi over the past 4 years.
Nhi expressed her feeling: “I’ve formed a lot of happiness at the school. I learn and receive protection, assistance, care, and love from others in the same situation. In addition to learning to read, I’ve learned computers, English, music, and skills for rehabilitation.”
To keep the school operating, Phong makes Braille books and solicits financial support from various sources.
He said: “you can’t let visual impairment rob you of your opportunities. We must do our best to be treated equally and be productive. I never tell myself that I can’t do this work, only how to make it and find ways to realize it. I will never let difficulties hold me back.”
Nguyen Thi Kieu Oanh, one of the first visually impaired students to graduate, came back as a teacher, following in the footsteps of Mr. Phong who is considered a great teacher and father.
A graduate of the English faculty of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Oanh is in charge of primary education and teaching English to the younger kids at the Warming House.
According to Oanh, “first it’s a job I like. Second it’s the place I lived with my friends and teachers who helped me become the person I am. I wanted to come back here to apply what I’ve learned and continue the work my teachers have done.”