Vietnamese girl's smile lost in wheelchair in movie premiered in New York

Looking at the photo of Huynh Thanh Thao smiling brightly, her eyes sparkling with joy despite her deformed body in a wheelchair, the American female director brought the question: "How can she still smile and be so happy?" to Vietnam...

Among the forest of certificates of merit hanging on the wall of the library "Cô Ba ấp Ràng" of the girl with glass bones Huỳnh Thanh Thảo (born in 1986, in Ràng hamlet, Trung Lập Thượng commune, Củ Chi district, HCMC) is the poster of the movie "Thao's Library". The movie about Thảo by American female director Elizabeth Van Meter, was shown in some theaters in New York some time ago.

At home, Thao lies on her back on the bed, all her movements relying on her two arms. Having suffered from Agent Orange, the 37-year-old girl is only 0.7m tall and weighs 25kg. Not to mention, with the terrible brittle bone disease, Thao's bones can break at any time.

Talking about the opportunity with the film, Thao said, in 2009, when visiting Vietnam, Stephen, an American photographer, took many pictures of Agent Orange victims.

Among thousands of photos of the destruction and pain caused by the terrible poison, American director Elizabeth Van Meter paused for a long time before the photo of Thao. Before her eyes was a crisp, bright, playful smile emanating from the small girl sitting "in a wheelchair".

The female director contacted Thao. At that time, Elizabeth was experiencing family problems. Her relatives, despite being very successful, talented, and famous, fell into depression and chose to stop living.

She wondered why many people, with a life full of everything, could not be happy. But this girl, in that form, in a wheelchair, still had a cheerful smile, full of energy from within.

"How can she be so happy and smiling?", to find the answer, female director Elizabeth and her film crew went to Vietnam to find Thao.

Through the film crew, Thao and her library reached many international friends with the story of the determination and optimism of a girl from Vietnam.

As a child, Thao was not allowed to go to school. In addition to not being able to walk, a child could break a bone just by being startled or by a slight collision, so how could she go to school?

Craving to write, craving for words, at home Thao often tore banana leaves, took a stick and scribbled on the leaves or used leftover paper in her sister's notebook to... draw words.

With her mother's help, Thao learned to read at the age of 9. Without books, Thao picked up newspaper clippings and used them to wrap sticky rice. Every time she read, she was absent-minded and frustrated because while she was absorbing each word, the content was interrupted and disjointed.

When she became fluent in reading, something urged Thao to want to pass on what she had learned to others. At the age of 14, she did this by tutoring a few children near her home.

It's called teaching but actually it's learning together. Thao wants to give but inside she has a desire to learn from those around her, craves the classroom atmosphere, and craves connection...

At the end of the school year, the two children Thao tutored achieved excellent academic results at school, an extremely difficult achievement in those years. "Ba (Thao's nickname) teaches very well", the rumor spread, many families sent their children to her.

Thao was shocked: "What is this? Teachers must be educated and go to school, but I don't know anything. What if I ruin them?"

Before, Thao had simply tutored the children, so she had no idea how to teach. Worried to the point of not being able to eat, Thao hid in the house, not daring to show her face when she didn't know how to answer the old men and women who were working hard on their bicycles to bring their children and grandchildren.

Only when she calms down and answers her doubts can Thao face everyone.

"I will try!", that was Thao's answer. Thao became a special teacher when she had never been to school.

Teaching for free, feeling more valuable but Thao does not forget... she also has to support herself. Able-bodied people want to earn money, but for disabled people, that desire is many times greater because deep inside is the desire to be able to take care of themselves, to see that they are not useless.

At the age of 16, along with teaching, Thao asked her mother to borrow money to open a grocery store. An acquaintance lent her 3 million VND with the mentality of "giving it away", but Thao determined that if she borrowed, she had to pay it back, not using her physical disability to take advantage of other people's kindness.

Thao's grocery store is like a mini supermarket. There, the owner cannot walk around, get goods, or collect money; customers can get their own goods, put money in the box, and make their own change.

But then the owner's health did not allow it when Thao had to go in and out of the hospital like a daily meal, had to manage the shop without time to rest, the shop... went bankrupt.

Liquidating the store, all the capital and interest was collected to 1.5 million VND, Thao was under pressure from the debt "had to be paid".

Seeing another opportunity when she watched her sister recharging her phone, she poured the 1.5 million she was planning to pay off her debt into business. The business went smoothly, but Thao soon realized that if she was satisfied like this, the SIM card shop would... die young. Her house was in the village, how could she develop the market?

Another breakthrough, Thao took the lead in selling scratch cards via phone. She connected and introduced people to buy and top up their phones without having to come in person, just a call or text message. This was the first time in the village that this service was available, people spread the news to each other, customers flocked in...

Although quite successful, the brittle bone girl still felt insecure. She was worried that this job would become saturated and above all, she realized the shortcomings of this business.

She believes that in business, customers come and go, there is not much spiritual connection. In Thao's world, she finds herself in connection, especially with children.

So in early 2009, in the middle of a remote village, Thao opened the free library "Miss Ba Ap Rang". At first, there were only a few books placed on wooden shelves that people had thrown away. Children came a few times and ran out of books to read.

The story of the "glass bone girl" appeared on the radio, readers everywhere learned about it, sent more books, the library grew day by day...

From the journey of self-learning, doing business, and opening a library, Thao realized something profound about herself and about people with disabilities. At that age, if she grew up and went to school like everyone else, Thao would only know how to… study. But from the difficulties, or what is considered a disadvantage, Thao has more opportunities to think and do many things.

"That journey helped me realize that disability is just an inconvenience, not a misfortune," Thao reflected.

The library is growing, but Thao also realizes that most of the books come from the support of the people. As the owner of that library, she is very... passive. The love and care from the community needs to reach many other places, not just focus on herself. Her work, Thao thinks, must be created and proactive by herself.

The time to "do something" came in 2013 after her grandfather - the person Thao was most attached to - passed away. Thao decided to go to... Saigon, nearly 70 kilometers away from home, with the support of close friends.

In the city, Thao attended a scholarship program for the disabled and learned more about entrepreneurship.

Learning must go hand in hand with doing. Thao built a book cafe project for the disabled that was supported by many investors because of its boldness and humanity. That place not only creates jobs but also creates a living space for the disabled.

But life constantly challenges the little girl...

Thao remembers that day clearly, the morning of December 23, 2016, right before Christmas. The girl was excitedly sitting on the back of a friend's motorbike to check on the preparations for the restaurant opening. The two were driving on Quang Trung Street, Go Vap when a three-wheeled vehicle crashed straight into her... Seeing Thao with her small body rolling in the middle of the road, the person who caused the accident was scared and ran away.

Thao remembers that moment, she was taken into a taxi to the emergency room. Thao was exhausted, had no strength left but she still kept her eyes wide open, not daring to close them. She was afraid, afraid that if she closed her eyes, she would never have the chance to open them again...

The accident left Thao blind in one eye, completely deaf on one side, and weakened the part of her body that was considered the strongest - her left arm that for many years allowed her to roll a wheelchair.

It seems that life wants to test the girl's endurance to the limit, wants to break her will and effort. Thao answered herself: "My endurance is that as long as I breathe, I live. Life has only two paths: stop or continue. For someone who loves life like me, I just keep going."

Although Thao's next step at that time was to return to the starting point. The project stopped, she needed someone to take care of her, Thao returned to her hometown, to her library. In addition to managing the library, she writes, registers for online courses, and cherishes writing books...

That girl, experienced enough adversity but never felt life was unfair. Thao believed in the arrangement of the universe. The universe brought her back to the children, a part of her life.

She understood that she was not the only one with problems. Everyone has problems and dark sides. No one can live someone else's pain.

"Most of us tend to dwell on our own pain and drown in misery. I see happiness in what I have done, in every moment of the past and present," Thao laughed.

Still the same crisp, happy, warm smile as in the photo "lost in a wheelchair" by the American photographer years ago.

Content: Hoai Nam

Photo: Hoai Nam

Design: Thuy Tien

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