The color of hope

Born in 1984, Do Ha Cu comes from a family where his father was a soldier who was exposed to Agent Orange while fighting in the Quang Tri battlefield in 1972-1973. Due to his father's influence, he cannot control his body movements and can only use his right index finger. He is completely dependent on others for all his daily activities. Always believing that "everything created by heaven and earth has a purpose," Do Ha Cu learned to read and write with his mother, then overcame his circumstances, wrote books and poems, researched and used computers, established the Hope Reading Space, and supported the establishment of 32 "satellite" reading spaces managed by people with disabilities.

Book cover of "The Color of Hope"

Recently, Do Ha Cu published the book "The Color of Hope," with the intention of using the proceeds from the first 1,000 copies to fund the construction of community libraries managed by people with disabilities. Like many people in Vietnam, the author of the book has had to hide his physical condition due to the lasting effects of Agent Orange.

A person who is unable to manage their personal hygiene independently, has never attended school beyond kindergarten, cannot even hold a book like a normal person, yet has established a free reading space for the community, solicited support to create numerous reading spaces managed by people with disabilities, and is now the author of a nearly 400-page autobiography – that is Do Ha Cu's answer to the "challenge" of fate.

“The Color of Hope” is told in a linear chronological order, from the time Do Ha Cu's parents fell in love, got married, had a child, to the moment they discovered their child was not normal, beginning a long and arduous journey of taking Cu for treatment everywhere, from Western medicine to traditional Eastern medicine, to the persistent pain in 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 which was a thread made of some kind of chemical – I don't know what it was – and when they implanted the thread into the acupuncture points, I had to stop acupuncture for a week. A week felt so long; the thread stimulating the acupuncture points on my body was incredibly painful and uncomfortable. The baby (me) cried so much then, my mother had to carry me day and night. My mother was exhausted… Even now, hearing my mother recount it still gives me goosebumps.”

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

(Chapter 3 - Years in the Hospital)

His suicide attempt failed, and Cừ continued to live with the aspiration to study, to travel far, to escape the confines of his home, and the person who nurtured his dreams was his mother. “When I learned to read, I started asking my mother to rent comic books for me to read. Seeing me read comics, I was fascinated. On holidays, whenever I had free time, I would ask my mother to read comic books to me (...). Not only did she read stories or books, but she also read poetry to me.”

My mother reads poetry very well; she knows many poems by heart (...). She knows all the spring poems and many poems by other poets, and even the poems in the literature textbooks from high school. I admire her for that. I started wanting to memorize them like her. I didn't know how to read yet, so I made my mother read each line one by one. I would read along a few lines each day, and gradually I memorized the whole poem. I memorized it in my head. When I was bored at home, I would hum and memorize each line and 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, with my eyesight, learn? I whispered this to my mother, and at first, she couldn't think of a way for me to learn. Because of her love for me and my determination, she searched day and night for ways to help me learn. Fortunately, she had memorizing many poems, and then she came up with a way to teach me to read through poetry (Chapter 8 - I Learn to Read).

Not only was the mother determined to teach her son to read and write according to his wishes, but she was also determined to fulfill many of Cu's other wishes, despite numerous obstacles. Thanks to her determination, Cu has many books to read, a wheelchair to get around in, a computer to write poetry, and access Facebook and Zalo, creating personal pages and chatting with friends everywhere.

Having the opportunity to "see" the world online, Cu began writing down his wishes. The force of attraction proved its existence by fulfilling Do Ha Cu's desires. Cu wished to go watch a football match, and someone drove him and his family to watch it. He wished to have many books to read and learn from, and someone came to help him create a bookshelf with an initial donation of nearly 3,000 books for the community to borrow for free.

Having made wishes for himself, Cừ then wished for others. He wished to establish a library for other people with disabilities, giving them something to do and making their existence feel meaningful. Community libraries managed by people with disabilities gradually emerged thanks to Cừ's appeals on social media.

Currently, the autobiography "The Color of Hope" has been reprinted for the second time and is being well-received by many readers, giving this extraordinary young man renewed hope for life.

Tran Tra My

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