Not a fairy tale

They are heavily affected by the sequelae of Agent Orange/dioxin. When they were young, their bodies and limbs were shriveled, bended, weakened with no energy. The way they stagger in each step makes other people feel that just a passing wind can make them wobble. No one can hold their tears when seeing that...

One day at the end of December, we returned to their homeland to meet those guys. The story of their lives is like a fairy tale about the energy to overcome the pain of Agent Orange and make an admirable feat: successfully fabricating and assembling motorcycles and tri-cycle electric vehicles for themselves and other people in the same situation.

The sound of bombs and the sound of silence

We went to Kha Le 2 area, Vo Cuong Village, Bac Ninh City one afternoon when Mr. Diem Trong Thach, together with his children, was about to assemble the final parts of the motorcycle for his customer. This is his daily job.

Thach was born in 1951, in Vo Cuong Commune, Bac Ninh City. When he was 20 years old, with his burning enthusiasm and dedication of the youth, the young man joined the army. After a period of training, he and his teammates fought in the battlefields of Quang Tri-Khe Sanh, Thuong Lao ... in the formation of Stations No.14, No. 18, and No. 21. Four years fighting in the enemy bombs and shells, with many times facing the death, he was severely injured several times. Leaving the army, he returned to the village and started his family life. Four pretty boys, namely: Toan, Tien, Thang, Thinh were born in the joy of the young couple. However, during the time fighting on the battlefield, he was infected with Agent Orange and then passed on to his children. A wound caused by no shrapnel, not bloody, but persistent, painful and quietly devastated the lives of his children for decades.

For more than 30 years, our country has been silent with gunfire, but he told us that his family still has not had a peaceful day. His four children were found with similar symptoms when they are 8 months old, suddenly appearing the same symptoms: shrinking and shorten legs, unsteady walking, and sunken cheeks, protrude tongue. When his son, Diem Trong Toan first began to show those symptoms, Thach became worried but he didn’t confess with anyone. Then he decided to take all 4 children to the Central Children's Hospital. Every year, his children have to stay in the hospital for 2 or 3 months for medical treatment. Hospital fees and daily expenses exhaust his family. That is why his house is always “empty” because he has to sell all the furniture and home appliances to pay for hospital fees. Thinking about the days of misery, Thach choked: “When I knew that my children are all affected by the aftermath of war - Agent Orange, I wished that I had died on the battlefield or hadn’t married to pass the chemical on the children. Poor them!” There was times when think of the death to escape from his misery. But when looking back his four children with haggard bodies and no vitality, and nobody to care for, he, then, wiped his tears, encouraged his wife to carry on to take care of the children.

At first, due to being unfamiliar with their handicapped bodies, the children had to depend almost all their daily activities and personal hygiene on the couple. But now, when the oldest son is 34 years old and the youngest son is 27 years old, they have gradually become acquainted and been able to help their parents with household chores. He said, despite their inabilities, his children are all bright and persistent. Therefore, despite their difficulties, they all tried to finish their primary and secondary school.

The determination of the guy with 1% of health

Thach’s third son is Diem Trong Thang, born in 1982.Thach said, though Thang looks weak, he is the most intelligent, inquisitive and studious among the boys. When asked what motivates him to stand firm, then implementing the bold idea, he smiled: “Because of my weakness, traveling is difficult, I deeply sympathize with people in the same situation. So I want to do something to help them travel more conveniently”.

His desire to help the disabled's move around has been realised when he successfully fabricated the rear part of a tricycle. But the path to success is not so easy. It is even more challenging for a person with a birth defect, losing nearly all of his working ability like Thang. But with Thang, difficult does not mean impossible.

Thang recalls a story of how he sparked his idea 10 years ago. At that time, he was only 20 years old. He applied for a vocational course in Son Tay (Hanoi), but the result of a physical examination showed that Thang did not have 1% of his health and the doctor told him: “With the current state of health, you are unable to hold a screwdriver, let alone finishing a vocational course”. Depressed, desperate, but not giving up, Thang struggled to do something for the disabled and also to tell everyone that he was disabled but not useless.

In 1998, listening to the news on the radio, Mr. Thach borrowed 5 million VND to buy an electric wheelchair made by the La Tai wounded camp in Ho Chi Minh City. Thanks to this tricycle, the traveling of the brothers was somewhat easy. However, due to the vehicle’s battery-powered feature, there are still many limitations, in which the biggest one is that its maximum range was only 15-20km. Then, it needed recharge.

About 5 or 6 years of using, the vehicle started to have problems. Some parts were broken and it could no longer move. At that time, Thang discussed with his brothers to make their own one with his father’s motorbike. But for a young man with weak, paralyzed, trembling legs, who would support his idea when he even has difficulty with his daily activities? Thach said: “At that time, Thang consulted his family, but everyone objected”. “Your limbs are so weak, even for your daily activities you have to depend on us. Do you think you can do it?” Thach said to his son. “Yes”, Thang answered in his self-confidence. And with his energy and bold statement, he successful assembly of the first products.

To the journey of www.xebabanh.vn

After many trials and overcoming of big and small errors, in 2008, Thang successfully built many three-wheeled and electric tricycles to the surprise and amazement of many people. To test the durability of the car, he let his brother, Diem Trong Thinh, run the vehicle on a distance of approximately 1,000 kilometers from Bac Ninh to Tan Thanh (Lang Son), from Tan Thanh to Mong Cai (Quang Ninh) and from Mong Cai to Bac Ninh in 2 days which affirmed the initial success of Thang. In April 2009, the factory that installs tricycles for disabled people was granted business registration certificate by the People's Committee of Bac Ninh City.

According to Thang, his manufacture of self-made tricycles from motorbikes focuses on improving the rear of the vehicle into attractive, durable, fuel-saving structures; so many customers trust and order them. From the very first tricycle until now, he cannot remember exactly how many vehicles he has made. He only remembers the customers mainly come from Nghe An, Vinh Phuc, Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Tuyen Quang, Mong Cai ....

To advertise for his tricycles and electric tricycles, at first Thang posted his products on some online shopping websites. After finding it’s not effective, he decided to set up his own website. Thang confided: “At that time, my eldest brother was very passionate and enthusiastic about the online work; he often took up the promotion job”. If you type the keyword Trong Thang tricycle” on Google, immediately tens of thousands of results will appear with all necessary information about tricycles and electric tricycles. Realising the importance of brand promotion as well as the influence of the online website, which will be a bridge connecting the disabled in the future, on October 4, 2019, the website with the domain of www.xebabanh.vn officially went into operation.

Thang said, he hopes that after the website goes into operation, it will quickly attract a large number of customers, thereby he will gradually expand production scale, diversify products in association with providing stable jobs for many young people with disabilities so that they can earn their living with their own labour.

We know that currently in our country there are still millions of disabled people, but many of them still share the same enthusiasm, talent and aspiration for life as Thang. He has overcome the physical and mental pain left by the war to rise up in life in the way that “Disabled but not useless”. His story also resembles for the spirit of “overcoming difficulties, not surrendering to fate” of Vietnamese people.