Centre helps to give voice to Hai Duong’s disabled children

VietnamNews — The Social Sponsorship Centre in Hai Duong Province has provided language and vocational training to thousands of deaf and dumb children, helping them to stabilise lives with steady jobs in the process.

Most of the disabled children, other than having little hope for a future, didn’t even dream of learning to read and write, until the centre stepped in.

"Eighty per cent of the children, who received training here, have found suitable jobs with stable incomes," says Vu Huy Tuong, director of the Social Sponsorship Centre.

Nearly 5,000 children, most of them abandoned, have finished their courses and are now employed in various companies in the province.

When they came to the centre, according to Tuong, they could neither read nor write. But, at the centre, they were not only taught how to read and write, but also information technology (IT) skills, music and sports.

"Despite many difficulties, the efforts and patience of teachers have turned the centre into an effective rehabilitation centre for disabled children," Tuong said.

At present, the Social Sponsorship Centre has about 1,000 students with disabilities. Other than the 5,000 deaf and dumb gainfully employed students, the centre has also provided vocational training to over 3,000 students with other physical disabilities.

These figures have been achieved, thanks to the efforts of teachers at the centre, Tuong underlines.

Teachers like Anh Tuyet, who has been serving the centre for the last 16 years, has taught nearly 400 children to read and write and express themselves.

Firms that have hired students from the centre, like Chan Thien My Company that has employed over 400 graduates, are also happy with the performance of students.

Lauding their talents, Doan Xuan Tiep, director of the Chan Thien My Company, says that he has been surprised at the skills and abilities of students who are on par with normal employees.

"The company has signed a long-term contract with the centre pledging to only employ its graduates," Tiep said.

An opinion shared by the management boards of other companies in the province that hired students from the centre.

Other than teachers, the centre owes its excellence to people like Doan Thi Hop, who has served the centre loyally over a decade, taking care of children with disabilities.

A widow of a martyr, Hop says she is working out of sympathy for the unhappy children at the centre, who are either Agent Orange victims, deaf and dumb, mentally retarded, or paralysed.

Hop has also adopted three children who were abandoned at the provincial general hospital, with one adopted ten years ago still unable to speak. Despite her small monthly allowance, Hop says she is happy to take care of her adopted children and work at the centre.