Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Echaves: Whirring in my mind By Lelani P. Echaves Thinking Aloud
AT an international congress on children with disabilities, a mother once said: “Firstly, please see me; I am a child! Secondly, please see my unique, warm personality. Thirdly, please see the things I CAN do, not the things I can’t. Then, if you must, if you really must, see my disability.”
Only half an hour after I had seen the goods did I know that 57 percent of the 600 employees at My Nghe Hong Ngoc factory in Hanoi, Vietnam were disabled. First, neither our tour guide nor we thought it relevant. Second, the reception area immediately mesmerized us with its vast display of jewelry, ceramics, sculptures, lacquer paintings, and clothing richly embroidered in silk or studded with gemstones, ready to be custom-sewn into the glamorous Vietnamese ao dai.
I could choose my cloth, be measured and then come back four hours after to get my ao dai, the sales lady said. The temptation was very strong. Reality check. Where was the woman of 120 lbs. doing justice to the ao dai?
Outside, young workers chiseled or polished marble sculptures. One I particularly liked was of a Greek goddess. But I had no moolah for it. Besides, it was that kind of adornment that looked perfect but would not blend with everything else in the house.
The embroidered pictures were something else. I praised the embroiderers for their work. They did not answer, nor even look up at me or at each other. No smiles either; strange. They just continued to embroider, all by hand, and occasionally glanced at their patterns or changed hues of threads. Didn’t they ever stand up, even to stretch? And then I realized they were disabled from the waist down.
The reception was warmer in Ho Chi Minh City. The 27-7 Company dazzled us with its wide, wide display rooms of lacquered pictures, wares, furniture, and bamboo products. Some designs looked very familiar; I had seen them in some department stores over here, costing ten times more.
Our store guide proudly showed the process chart so visibly displayed at the entrance of the establishment, and explained in great detail each step of the process. I was amazed at how animated the young lad sounded, and how understandable his English was. His deformed legs slowed him down no bit.
He was very forthcoming as well. On the average, each finished product takes four months to make. Those using pearls are the most expensive, because the process is more complicated and intricate. Their products are exported to over 200 countries, including the Philippines. About 105 cubic meters of orders are directly shipped to Cebu. Each cubic meter contains ten pieces of 2 feet x 2.5 feet of pictures. For their work, each employee gets a monthly salary of $100 or 1.5 million dongs.
This lad was among the estimated 5-6 million Vietnamese with disabilities, or 6.3 percent of the total population. Those defoliant tactics conducted by the US military forces for ten years in the Vietnam War could’ve caused his deformity. But his robust spirit sent “Invictus” whirring in my mind, “My head may be bloodied, but unbowed.”
