Working at the United Nations has been a wonderful and proud experience for Hieu. But two months ago, the wheelchair-bound girl made a surprising decision.
Girl in wheelchair works for the United Nations 
Luu Thi Hieu (born in 1990) - founder of the project Touching Green
Luu Thi Hieu (from Bac Ninh) is one of the outstanding people with disabilities (PWD) in her community. Few people know that to achieve these achievements, she and her family made many efforts and sacrifices during their childhood years. "My family played a very important role in my steps and helped shape me into who I am today" - Hieu said. Diagnosed with the disease at the age of 2, Hieu was not able to go to school until she was 7. Despite rejections and concerns, Hieu proved to her teachers that she had the ability to learn despite her physical limitations. Throughout her high school years, she was always among the best students in her class. After 4 years of studying German (Hanoi University), on the day of graduation, Hieu called her mother to announce that she would fly to Da Nang to work - just 1 month before her departure. After 1 year of working, she received a scholarship for a master's degree in Public Policy in Malaysia. Returning from Malaysia, Hieu worked for the Blue Dragon Foundation, an NGO, and then applied for a scholarship to attend a course for young leaders with disabilities in Japan. During her 18 months in Japan, she experienced how PWDs live and work, as well as learned how Japanese businesses support PWDs. Returning to Vietnam, Hieu became a wheelchair user working for the United Nations (UN). She is the one who experiences, evaluates, and advises the UN to perfect strategies to support PWDs in integrating into the community. “Now when you enter the UN building in Vietnam, you will see raised edges for the visually impaired, lower elevator buttons, more convenient toilets for PWDs... All of these details have been improved thanks to the advice and suggestions of me and my colleagues with disabilities,” Hieu proudly shared. Working at the UN was a wonderful and proud experience for Hieu. But 2 months ago - March 2024, Hieu quit his job. The girl born in 1990 decided that: With the short life of a person living with cerebral palsy (CP), she did not want to wait for changes from policy but wanted to create direct changes for the disabled community. Hieu's joy at the moment is simply that her disabled friends have jobs, their lives are happy, healthy and less difficult. That is the reason and motivation for Hieu to found Cham Vao Xanh - a project to support Independent Living for PWDs. "Currently, we are helping about 20 PWDs to have income by selling crocheted products, paintings, cards... Even though they only earn 1-2 million VND/month, that is enough to make me happy". Hieu and his colleagues determined that Cham 's products sold on the market need to have high aesthetic value and unique designs. "That is how Cham Vao Xanh positions the product. We want customers to buy products because of the quality, because the products are beautiful and unique, instead of just because they are NKT products.”Products of Touch Green
Hieu also shared that generating income for people with disabilities is not the only goal. When people with disabilities have income, they will be recognized by their families and communities, and the joy of being recognized will help them see that their lives are more valuable and meaningful - "that is what is important". In addition, Touching Green also spends all of its modest profits plus external support resources to organize activities, classes to teach languages, soft skills, independent living skills, peer counseling, etc. and create conditions for people with disabilities to participate in social activities. "Generating income is just the first step and one of our goals. Helping people with disabilities live independently is the long-term goal" - Hieu said.A group outing at Thong Nhat Park
Living independently is the ultimate goal Nguyen Thi Thuy Vinh (from Hanoi) and Luong Thi Kim Hong (from Bac Kan) are two of the PWDs who are striving to live independently thanks to participating in Hieu's project. Thuy Vinh met Cham Vao Xanh after more than 40 years of being "locked" in the house. She has lived her whole life with cerebral palsy (CP) - a disease that causes sensory and motor impairment in all four limbs. Her mother, a single mother, earns money to raise her children by delivering goods to people in the area by bicycle. She is always afraid every time she thinks about her daughter stepping out of the house. That is the reason why for 40 years Vinh has lived within 4 walls, without friends, without social relationships, without a job even though her body is still able to work. Participating in the community of adults living with CP, she learned about Cham Vao Xanh - an Independent Living support project for people with disabilities (PWD). From the first days of coming to the community, she expressed her desire to learn a trade and was suggested to learn crochet - a skill that is not easy as it requires manual dexterity and meticulousness. But it seems that the combined desire to work for 40 years has helped her become the most diligent and skillful worker in the group. The products she makes are "contracted" by Cham Vao Xanh . Wages are paid immediately after the product is completed, without having to wait until the product is sold. That is the "taking on difficult tasks" way of working of those who are running the project.Products knitted by Ms. Vinh
Holding the first few hundred thousand dong she earned in her life, Ms. Vinh burst into tears. She bought her mother a gift and paid her monthly electricity and water bill. Her mother, who was holding a gift from her daughter's own labor for the first time, also burst into tears. At 40 years old, it was also the first time Ms. Vinh had gone out. Taking her from Hoang Mai district to Thong Nhat park was a meticulous "plan" by the group - from convincing her mother to arranging which bus to get on and where to get off. Thong Nhat park, to her, is a very large space. Unlike Ms. Vinh, Luong Thi Kim Hong, 29 years old, has had the desire to live independently since she was young. Coming to Hanoi, Hong lived in a home for the disabled and was taught sales skills at the home's store. When the home fell into difficulty, Hong faced the prospect of no longer having a job and having to return to her hometown. Hong came to Touching Green to apply for a job. “We said we could only pay her a salary of 1.5 million VND/month. She still agreed and said that if she sold, she would bring income to the store,” Hieu said. After more than 2 years, Hong’s income has increased but still only stopped at 3 million VND/month. However, Hong wants to live independently with the money she earns, not depending on anyone, so she still persists in working full-time as a saleswoman at the woolen shop of Touching Green . Hong shares a house with a friend, taking the bus to work every day like everyone else.Luong Thi Kim Hong, 29 years old, full-time sales staff of the project Touching Green
Learn to speak up for your needs The purpose of Touching Green is to help people with disabilities live independently like Hong and Vinh. “Living independently starts with simple things like what you like to eat today, what color shirt you like to wear, where you want to go, how to ask for help from people around you… There are disabled people from abroad who come to Vietnam and ask me why, according to statistics, Vietnam has a high rate of PWDs but you rarely see them on the street. That is because most of them are not encouraged to go out. They are very dependent on their caregivers and cannot do many things on their own,” Hieu said. Hieu herself is also a person living with cerebral palsy, currently in a wheelchair. She believes that the shortest path for PWDs to integrate into life is through education. However, for PWDs to have a proper education is a long road that not many families in Vietnam can do. Hieu admitted, “I am a lucky person.”Hieu in Japan, when he was still able to walk normally
“When I was 2 years old, my mother called my father who was working in Hanoi and said, 'My child cannot sit like other children but he is very smart'. At that time, the doctors had not yet determined that I had cerebral palsy. In the medical record, it was only recorded that I had poor motor development." Hieu started school 1 year later than her friends, facing countless difficulties of a disabled person. But her parents never intended to let their daughter drop out of school. "When I was in 3rd grade, my father decided to ask for a job transfer, moving the whole family from Bac Ninh to Hanoi so that I could have a better learning environment. In the countryside, my mother could do small business, but in Hanoi, she only focused on staying at home to take care of me and do physical therapy for me. The whole family's income depended entirely on my father." "That was the sacrifice my parents made for me - a disabled child - that not every parent can do. Because when they choose the path of education and fight for it, they are choosing the difficult path instead of leaving the disabled child at home, letting him live a life of dependence". She remembers, every time she changed schools or classes, her parents took her to meet the teachers to explain her situation "to ask for me to sit at the front desk, to ask for me to use the teacher's restroom". And "I learned how to always speak up for my needs and be ready to ask for help from those meetings. My parents taught me how to love myself as much as possible". Hieu hopes that all PWDs in Vietnam know how to speak up for their needs instead of trying to do everything to be like normal people. She also hopes that their families will encourage and support them like her parents did for her.
Photo: Nguyen Thao, NVCC
Vietnamnet.vn
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/quyet-dinh-bat-ngo-cua-co-gai-ngoi-xe-lan-lam-viec-cho-lien-hop-quoc-2283703.html
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