The color of hope

Do Ha Cu was born in 1984, in a family where his father was a soldier who was infected with Agent Orange while fighting in the Quang Tri battlefield in 1972-1973. Due to his father's influence, he could not control his body's movements, and could only use his right index finger. All his activities depended on the help of others. Always believing that "everything created by heaven and earth is useful", Do Ha Cu asked his mother to teach him how to read and write, then overcame his circumstances, wrote books, wrote poems, researched the use of computers, established the Hope reading space and supported the establishment of 32 "satellite" reading spaces managed by people with disabilities.

Cover of the book “Color of Hope”

Recently, Do Ha Cu released the book “Color of Hope” with the wish to use the proceeds from the first 1,000 printed books to raise funds to build community bookcases managed by people with disabilities. Like many people in Vietnam, the author of the book had to hide in such a form, due to the after-effects of Agent Orange.

A person who is not independent in personal activities, has never attended any school other than kindergarten, cannot hold a book like a normal person, can establish a free reading space for the community, call for support to establish many reading spaces managed by people with disabilities, and is now the author of a nearly 400-page autobiography. That is the answer that Do Ha Cu gave to the "challenge" of God.

“The Color of Hope” is told in a linear timeline, from the time when Do Ha Cu’s parents fell in love, got married, had a child, until they discovered that their child was abnormal, and began the long journey of taking Cu to be treated everywhere, from Western medicine to Eastern medicine, to the persistent pain on the child’s body and in the mother’s heart: But the most terrifying thing was the thread implantation! The doctors used a very large hollow needle, inside there was a thread made of something I don’t know, it must have been made of some chemical substance, when the thread was implanted into the acupuncture point, I had to stop acupuncture for a week. A week was so long, the thread stimulated the acupuncture point of my body, causing extreme pain and discomfort. The child, me, cried a lot at that time, and my mother had to hold me day and night. My mother was exhausted… Even now, listening to my mother tell the story, I still get goosebumps.

-Mom, have you ever thought... you won't hold me in your arms anymore?

(Chapter 3 - The years in hospital)

Unsuccessful in his suicide attempt, Cu continued to live with the desire to study, to go far away, to leave the four walls, and the person who gave wings to his dream was his mother. “I learned to read and write, and started asking my mother to rent comic books to read. Seeing that I could read comics, I was very interested. On holidays and free time, I asked my mother to read comic books to me (...). Not only did she read stories or books, she also read poetry to me.

My mother reads poetry very well, she knows a lot of poems (...). She knows all the spring poems and many poems by other poets, poems in literature textbooks when she was in high school. I admire her for that. I started to want to learn by heart like my mother. I couldn't read yet, I asked my mother to read each sentence, I read a few sentences every day, gradually I knew the whole poem. I memorized it in my head, lying at home bored, I also recited and memorized each sentence, each poem like my mother (...).

Watching TV, I saw many disabled people still learning to read. Even blind people can learn to read, so why can't I, who still have eyes, learn to read? I whispered this to my mother. At first, she couldn't think of a way for me to learn. Because of her love for me and my determination, she tried day and night to find ways for me to learn. Luckily, my mother taught me many poems, and then she thought of a way to teach me to read through poems" (Chapter 8 - I Learn to Read).

Not only determined to teach her son to read and write according to his wishes, the mother was also determined to fulfill many other wishes of Cu, despite many obstacles. Thanks to the mother's determination, Cu has many books to read, a wheelchair to move around, a computer to write poems and access Facebook, Zalo, create a personal page, and chat with friends everywhere.

Being able to go online to “see” the world, Cu began to write down his wishes. Gravity proved its existence by fulfilling Do Ha Cu’s wishes. Cu wished to go to a football match, someone drove home to invite Cu’s family to go watch a football match. He wished to have lots of books to read and study by himself, then someone came to help Cu build a bookshelf with an initial donation of nearly 3,000 books for the community to borrow for free.

After wishing for himself and then wishing for others, Cu wished to establish a bookshelf so that other disabled people would have something to do, so that their existence would have meaning. Community bookshelfs managed by disabled people were gradually formed thanks to Cu's calls on cyberspace.

Currently, the autobiography "Color of Hope" has been reprinted for the second time and is being welcomed by many readers, to give more hope to this special young man.

Tran Tra My

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/mau-cua-hy-vong-189417.htm