The will of a blind female student

TPO - Nguyen Thi Minh was born blind due to the effects of Agent Orange from her grandfather, but she still tried hard to study and passed the university entrance exam. To earn money for living, Minh asked to work as a busker for 250,000 VND/7-hour session.

TPO - Nguyen Thi Minh was born blind due to the effects of Agent Orange from her grandfather, but she still tried hard to study and passed the university entrance exam. To earn money for living, Minh asked to work as a busker for 250,000 VND/7-hour session.

Nguyen Thi Minh (born 2003, from Quang Cat commune, Quang Xuong district, Thanh Hoa ) said she is the second child in a family of 3 siblings. However, as soon as she was born, Minh was diagnosed with congenital blindness due to Agent Orange from her grandfather.

Nguyen Thi Minh listened to the sound on the phone to find out information.

When he was old enough to go to school, Minh also wished to go to class like his peers. However, Minh could not see, so his family did not know how to support him.

Knowing Minh's situation, the Thanh Hoa Association for the Blind took him to a center to take care of him. Here, Minh was introduced to Braille.

In high school, Minh was admitted to Nhat Hong Center for the Blind (in Ho Chi Minh City). During this time, Minh received support from the Sisters who printed embossed books for his studies. For 3 years, Minh was an excellent student at the center.

Minh found his way to his room on the second floor.

Due to family circumstances, since primary school, Minh has lived away from home and had to fend for himself. “The teachers can only partially support me, the rest I have to take care of myself. But I don’t know the way around, so at each new place, my mother has to come and stay with me for a while, the longest is 3 months to guide me, get familiar with the way before I go home,” Minh Tam said.

In 2023, Minh graduated from high school with excellent results. Minh applied to 3 universities based on his transcript. An unexpected result, when all 3 schools sent admission notices. After consulting, Minh decided to choose Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, majoring in psychology.

Minh participated in a picnic program.

Far from home and family, Minh's path to study was also full of hardships. Because, in Hanoi, although tuition was free, the cost of food, accommodation and travel still had to be paid. Meanwhile, in the countryside, the family was near-poor, the father was seriously ill, all the burden fell on the mother's shoulders. That's why Minh wanted to share the burden with his mother.

In October 2023, Minh was accepted to work for a charity singing troupe in Hanoi. Accordingly, Minh's job was to sing at intersections arranged by the troupe.

As required, the work starts from 3pm to 10pm every day (7 hours), with 1 hour of singing and 1 hour of rest. If the performance is completed within the above time, the group will receive 250,000 VND/session. If the performance rains and the group has to stop early, they will not be paid. “Every performance, I just pray that it doesn’t rain. Because if it rains, all my efforts will be in vain,” Minh shared.

Nguyen Thi Minh is currently a second year student, majoring in Psychology.

The money earned from “busking” also helped ease the burden on his mother, but in return, his health was affected. Because every day, Minh had to expose his face to the dusty streets for about 7 hours. Moreover, every day after singing, he was very tired, after bathing it was already past 11pm, Minh quickly ate a bowl of rice and went to bed to regain his strength. Therefore, he no longer had time to study.

In early May 2024, Minh informed the troupe manager to ask for leave to have time for studying. However, when Minh proposed to quit, a man named Hai (the troupe manager) did not pay his salary, citing the reason for quitting. To date, the troupe still owes nearly 2 million VND, Minh said.

Minh said that his monthly living expenses are about 3 million VND. Therefore, Minh still wants to find a part-time job. "I hope to find a job that suits me, such as reading postcards, recording voiceovers, tutoring, hosting programs, stringing beads, knitting, and writing media content," Minh shared.

Speaking to Tien Phong Newspaper on the afternoon of November 18, the troupe manager named Hai admitted that he had not paid Nguyen Thi Minh. He said that Minh had not yet paid 1,250,000 VND for 5 performances. However, because he was busy going back to his hometown to get married, he "forgot" to pay Minh in full. At 5:00 p.m. on November 18, Hai transferred 1 million VND to Minh.

Nguyen Thi Minh also confirmed that she received 1 million VND in wages through her account.

Thanh Hieu

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nghi-luc-cua-nu-sinh-vien-mu-post1692589.tpo