The will of "One-handed rice swallow"

While the city is still asleep, on Ly Tu Trong Street, Ha Giang 2 Ward, Tuyen Quang Province, there is a small porch that has been lit since 4:30 a.m. for nearly thirty years. There, a woman with a small figure but bright, agile eyes, with only one hand, is busily preparing a pot of fragrant sticky rice.

People here call her "One-handed Yen Xoi", a woman who does not succumb to fate, using her steady legs and fiery heart to overcome the limits that life has tested her.

For nearly thirty years, Ms. Vu Hai Yen, 54 years old, has been waking up before dawn to make a living selling sticky rice, despite losing an arm due to an illness in her twenties.

With just one hand, she quickly arranged trays of meat, boxes of golden fried onions, bowls of fluffy green beans, jars of sweet and sour pickles… all neatly arranged on the small table in front of the porch. She said: “A living and a coat do not wait for people to have enough to work.”

With a nimble hand, Ms. Yen still skillfully opened the pot lid, scooped and wrapped the sticky rice. “In 1997, I had to amputate my hand due to a malignant tumor. But if I lose my hand, will I lose my life? I still have children and I still have to live,” she said with a light smile, as if the pain was no longer a significant thing in her resilient life journey.

Her sticky rice is always hot, fragrant, and soft, just like the heart of the cook. The warmth from the pot of sticky rice not only warms the hearts of breakfast diners, but also nourishes her throughout the years of living alone in this life.

With no right arm left, Ms. Yen learned to wrap sticky rice with one hand and her knees as support. Every movement, from scooping sticky rice to wrapping leaves, was performed neatly like a performing artist, but in everyday life, without a stage, without an audience, only her willpower was the only light that guided her through the difficult years. “At first, the leaves tore, and the sticky rice kept spilling. But after doing it a lot, I got used to it. No one taught me how to live with one hand, I had to learn it myself,” she said as she wrapped, her movements decisive, her eyes shining.

That small porch corner is now a place where people not only come to buy sticky rice, but also to find a warm greeting and a positive story to start the day. "I have been eating your sticky rice for more than 20 years, but what I admire is your vitality. With one hand, you can do more than many people with two hands," said Mr. Hoang Phi Hung, a regular customer of hers, with a smile.

"I've been eating it since I was little, probably more than ten years. When I was in elementary school, my mother used to take me there to buy it. Now when I go to school early, I also stop by to eat at your place. Ms. Yen doesn't just sell sticky rice, she also teaches me perseverance," Mai Duc Minh, grade 9, happily said.

Not only selling sticky rice, she is now also a "strong-willed tiktoker". Every morning, she turns on livestream to tell stories, reply to comments, and spread a positive spirit. Some days, her goods are not sold out yet, but viewers have already flooded in to praise her as an "everyday heroine". "Everyone encourages me a lot, making me happier and more optimistic," she shared.

Every afternoon, she goes to the gym. Not to show off her figure, but to keep her legs strong, her back straight and her mind relaxed. She said: “I only have one arm, so I have to take care of my health more than anyone else. As long as I am healthy, I will live and work.”

No face in the gym is brighter than her smile. She sweats, but I have never heard her complain about being tired. This woman works out not for aesthetics but for self-respect, for life, because she wants to live each day to the fullest in every breath.

Even though she is “Yen who makes sticky rice with one hand”, she has raised her whole life up, little by little. Because sometimes, determination does not need to be expressed in words, just silently and persistently like the way Yen has been wrapping sticky rice with one hand for nearly 30 years.

Photo report: Mai Anh

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/xa-hoi/202508/nghi-luc-cua-yenxoi-mot-tay-db20751/