Go through the darkness to find your own light

*Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Thuong with the handmade products she created. Photo: NVCC.*

Since birth, fate has placed on Nguyen Thi Thu Thuong (born in 1983) in Nam Phong village - Phu Xuyen commune - Hanoi a huge challenge: Brittle bone disease, a syndrome that makes bones as brittle as crystal, even a small collision can cause them to break at any time. She cannot stand or walk like her peers. Her childhood is associated with gently rolling from one corner to another like a little snail.

Illness prevented her from going to school, but her mother's love and the help of volunteers helped her learn to read, write, and do simple calculations. As the second child in a family of four children, from the age of ten, she had the thought of "aging before her time": How can I support my parents? The meager salary of her father, a construction worker, and her mother's income from sewing were barely enough to cover the family's living expenses and her constant treatments.

But deep in her weak heart, there always burned a strong desire: “Disabled but not useless”. She constantly wondered what she could do, and what job was suitable for these hands that hurt and tired easily.

In 2005, Thuong confided to her mother her desire to learn wool and handicrafts at the “For Tomorrow” Center (Dong Anh, Hanoi). For a normal person, the 18km journey is just a daily commute, but for a girl with brittle bones like Thuong, it is almost a long journey of determination when every move has to face the risk of injury.

Her mother, a woman whose love for her child was always greater than any worries, temporarily put aside all her sewing work at home to accompany her child throughout her apprenticeship. No one could predict what the future would bring, but both mother and daughter had only one simple belief: “If you try hard, God will not let you down.”

*Her mother's love is the motivation for Thu Thuong to persistently pursue her dream. Photo: NVCC.*

After five months of apprenticeship and getting acquainted with wool, rolling paper and materials suitable for her slender hands, she returned home. Every day, she diligently practiced, making and remaking each small and beautiful product. At first, she was still clumsy, but with determination and a desire to learn, she self-studied online, honed each stitch, adjusted each detail. Then the products became more and more perfect.

When she made a product that she was "satisfied with", she gave it away to everyone around her. Everyone who received it was surprised, praised its beauty, and then introduced others to buy it. From that simple "word of mouth" channel, Thuong had the first orders of her life. But she understood that if she only relied on regular customers, she could not go far. In 2009, she created the website www.thuongthuong.net, opening a new door to bring her products to a wider market.

Currently, Thuong Thuong Handmade's handicraft products include scroll paintings, handbags, decorative items and exquisite souvenirs. These products are consumed through many channels: Direct sales at the factory, introductions through fairs, cultural and commercial events, and online ordering via the website and social networking platforms. Each product is the crystallization of meticulousness and creativity, so the quantity is not much but always ensures exquisite quality, suitable for customer tastes.

*Students at Thuong Thuong Handmade are attentively learning the craft of making handicrafts. Photo: NVCC.*

In terms of revenue, although the workshop operates under a non-profit model that actively supports people with disabilities, the average monthly revenue is about 60-80 million VND, depending on the number of orders and product types. This amount not only helps maintain production activities, pay salaries for about 20 members in the workshop, but also creates capital to expand vocational training, support people with disabilities and patients in difficult circumstances. Turn Thuong Thuong Handmade into a truly humane economic model associated with the Industry and Trade sector: both developing traditional handicraft products and training and creating sustainable jobs for vulnerable groups in society.

When the heart leads the way and willpower paves the way

When the demand increased, she immediately thought of people in the same situation as her, who also needed an opportunity to work, to work and to be recognized. In 2012, she opened the first vocational training class for people with disabilities, with 5 students. Two years later, on March 16, 2014, she founded the "Vocational Training and Employment Center for People with Disabilities", now Thuong Thuong Handmade Trading and Handicraft Production Joint Stock Company.

In her small workshop, each product contains the time, perseverance and dedication of each pair of fragile hands. Some products can be completed in just a few hours, but there are also large paintings that take weeks, even months. Like the work “The Wedding of Mice”, each line is a crystallization of perseverance and patience.

*Thu Thuong with her handmade work "Mouse Wedding". Photo: NVCC.*

For her, passion is the key. Without passion, craftsmen can easily get discouraged when facing difficulties. However, geographical location is also important. She always wants the workshop to be located in the center of Hanoi, where economy, culture, events and fairs converge. Where handicraft products have more opportunities to be seen and their value enhanced.

Currently, Thuong Thuong Handmade has about 20 members, most of whom are disabled, kidney dialysis patients, and congenital anemia patients. The average income is 5 - 6 million VND per month per person depending on skills and productivity. The workshop always tries to adjust the working environment to best suit each person so that they feel safe and respected.

However, difficulties are inevitable. Manual production cannot run at the same speed as machines. If just one member falls ill, production immediately drops. But it is within these limitations that human values and solidarity shine even brighter.

*Thuong Thuong Handmade - a place that provides job opportunities for people with disabilities. Photo: NVCC.*

A touching example is the story of Anh, a new member of Thuong Thuong family. Anh used to be a lively and agile girl. But after a fall in the bathroom, a head injury caused her hands to stiffen, her memory to decline, and her ability to concentrate to almost disappear. Her family sought treatment everywhere, and finally sent her to Thuong Thuong Handmade, where they believed that they would not only teach her a trade but also heal her and give her strength.

In the early days, Anh was scared and often wanted to go home. Sometimes while working, she burst into tears. The brothers and sisters in the workshop, in addition to making products, also acted as her “babysitters”: comforting, encouraging, and playing with her to help her feel less lonely. Sometimes everyone was tired, but then everyone thought to themselves: “If no one is patient with them, who will give them a chance to revive?”

Thu Thuong believes that joy and love are sometimes more important than skills. Because when the heart is healed, the hands will become skillful again. She hopes that Anh will gradually find joy among the colorful rolls of paper, where her life can start again.

The Glass Flower and the Journey of Spreading Love

*The finished, sophisticated product is ready to serve customers and be displayed at the fair. Photo: NVCC.*

Looking back on her journey, Ms. Thuong has never considered herself an extraordinary person. She only says: “I try to live so that my parents can rest assured.” But everyone understands that to have today, she had to work much harder than the average person.

Her parents were the two loving shoulders that supported her all her life. Her father once carried her on his back in the cold night, running step by step to the hospital when she was in pain. Her mother once temporarily stopped all work to take her to vocational training for several months. Both of them gave her a love that she said: "Even if I lived another life, I still wouldn't be able to repay."

So, she chose the simplest way to show her filial piety: Live well, live beautifully, live usefully. Live to make her parents smile that their daughter never gave up.

Today, Thuong Thuong Handmade is not only a place to create exquisite handicrafts, but also a spiritual support for dozens of disadvantaged people. Thuong Thuong Handmade is not only a handicraft production workshop. It is a pioneering humane economic model in the innovation flow of the Industry and Trade sector. In the context of the industry promoting the development of cultural industries, creative handicraft products, modern craft villages, and especially the circular economy. Ms. Thu Thuong's model clearly demonstrates how a small business can participate in that ecosystem in a very unique and humane way.

*Thuong Thuong Handmade products when participating in fairs. Photo: NVCC.*

The enterprise creates culturally valuable handicraft products, meeting the demand for gifts and souvenirs at home and abroad. At the same time, it contributes to solving the labor problem for disadvantaged groups, a content that the State and the Ministry of Industry and Trade pay special attention to in the sustainable development strategy.

Thuong Thuong Handmade also shows a direction that is in line with the industry's trends: Digital transformation in product promotion, market connection via e-commerce, bringing handmade products into the new value chain. This model proves that economic development is inseparable from social responsibility: A small-scale production facility can still contribute positively to the common goals of the Industry and Trade sector - Creating jobs, developing Vietnamese products and spreading human values.

*Thuong Thuong Handmade products are colorful and meticulously detailed. Photo: NVCC.*

Her story shows one thing: When society gives opportunities and when the disadvantaged are trusted, they can absolutely create extraordinary things. And like the saying that Thu Thuong always cherishes: "If there is anything stronger than fate, it is courage."

Thu Thuong lived her life to the fullest with that courage: Persistent, graceful, silent yet radiant. In the eyes of the disadvantaged community, she was a leader. In her family, she was a source of pride. In the eyes of those who listened to her story, Thu Thuong was a “glass flower” that was fragile yet indomitable, pure yet radiant and full of determination.

When the heart leads the way and willpower paves the way

The Glass Flower and the Journey of Spreading Love

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