Disabled children in HCMCity find home away from home at Tuoi Hong
Club for disabled children
Tuoi Hong Club, located in Ward 7, District 8 of HCM City, was established in February 2004 to provide a place for disabled children living in the ward to go to learn important life skills.
Currently the club has 19 children. on the surface most look like normal children, but each has mental or physical problem – some cannot talk, others cannot walk, and some are epileptic.
"Hoang Dung cannot say anything. She cannot answer our questions but she understands what we say," said Nguyen Thi Lan, one of the club’s teachers. "Hoang Hung, who’s 14, sometimes get headaches. He can write but can’t read".
District 8 is a disadvantaged provice in
Most of the workers are not able to find stable work so most live in poverty, which often prevents them from being able to care for their children properly, especially disadvantaged children. They do not have enough time to take care of their children because all of their time is spent trying to earn money.
So, the establishment of Tuoi Hong Club is very meaningful to local children. "We helped the district establish five other clubs. They have been extremely effective and I think Ward 7 would benefit from one more such club to help children," said Tran Ngoc Thuyet, manager of the Urban Area Development Programme in
"Now parents can be sure their children are safe while they work," said Dao Thi Thanh Ha, manager of six clubs for disabled children in the district.
The club is open every morning Monday through Friday and children have an opportunity to learn read and write. The teachers also help them do physical exercises.
Kind-hearted teachers
Nguyen Thi Kim Ngoc, 50, and Nguyen Thi Lan, 38, are the two teachers who run the club. They have been with the club and the children since it was established.
The two teachers do not shy away from hardship. They’ve studied methods to help their disabled students learn and do physical exercises. They love the children and it makes all of the hard work worth it.
One of their students, Cam Nhung, is a lovely girl. Based on her sweet and relaxed appearance no one would ever know that she has epilepsy.
"Nhung often has epileptic fits. She shouts and fights like a wild animal. Everytime she has trouble, we use methods we studied in training courses," Ngoc said.
Each teacher has different responsibilities. Lan is in charge of teaching children to read and write while Ngoc helps them to do physical exercises and takes care of feeding them.
Each day starts at 7am when they clean the class and pick up the children from their parents. Then, they help children do exercises, teach them to read and write, then they give them a snack.
"It is difficult to teach any child to read and write, but it is even more difficult with disabled children," Lan explained. "One day they can read and write but by the next day they may have forgotten it all."
The most difficult aspect of the job is that all of the children in the club have different problems and the teachers have to adjust their teaching methods for each one.
"It is rather hard for us to take care of all 19 children, especially when some of them are quite disabled," Lan said.
Poverty is another difficulty the teachers face.
"Each day parents only have to pay VND1,000 for each child but some parents do not want to pay it because they are poor," Lan said. "We love them and do not want them stay at home."
Sometimes the teachers use their own money to pay for the children, despite the fact they do not receive a salary each month. They only receive VND500,000 for transportation costs.
"When the parents cannot afford to pay, we use our own money to help the children. We do not want any of the students to have to give up the class," Ngoc said.
In fact, the lives of these teachers are rather hard. They have to do extra jobs to feed their families.
"We really admire these two teachers. They have overcome challenges to help children. In the afternoon when the class finishes, Ngoc helps local people living with HIV/AIDS," Thanh Ha, the manager of the clubs, said.
Another challenge for the children and teachers is the constant flooding. Every month, all of the roads leading to the class are flooded, sometimes lasting five days.
"Sometimes, the roads are flooded up to the motorbike seat. Nobody can come to class on those days," Ngoc said.
Despite all of the difficulties and challenges, neither of the teachers would give up teaching the class.
"I consider my students as if they were my own children," Ngoc said. "We will never give up. This is our family."
