Two years ago a man killed his wife, locked the door and set his house on fire while his child was sleeping inside. The child ran from the fire alight and fainted. He left the hospital one year later….
Despite pain, the child still goes to school and uses pens with his deformed fingers to write his dreams. That child is Nguyen Duc Manh, 11, who lives with his grandfather Quach Dai Toi in Met village, Ky Phu commune, Nho Quan district, Ninh Binh province.
The living torch saves himself
Though knowing beforehand about his condition we were still stunned when we saw the child’s deformed body with big scars running from his head to his legs.
His grandfather, Toi, related: “In 1998, when he (the child) was several months old, his mother discovered that her husband was a drug addict. She tried to prevent him from taking drugs but she failed. Finally she brought her son to my family. In 2005 her husband came here and said that he was rehabilitated from drugs. I agreed to allow him to live with my daughter and my grandchild again. I built a house in Met village for them.
“I thought the couple would be happy but my grandchild’s father couldn’t give up drugs. They quarrelled often. On September 13, 2006, after an argument, he stabbed his wife to death, locked the door and burnt the house down while Manh was sleeping inside.
“When the neighbours came, the fire was so high nobody dared to jump inside to save my grandchild. At that time, Manh suddenly ran out of the fire like a living torch and passed out. After one year in the hospital, he returned to my house with a deformed body.
“Since then, he has been living with bodily and spiritual pain. Because of the scar tissue, his skin can’t excrete, so my grandchild suffers from itchiness and his skin breaks out. He asks us to scratch the burnt area. Sometimes he has to go to school for pus lancing.”
The child tried to touch his scars with his curled-up fingers and said: “I can’t sleep at night because my body is stinging and itchy. I love my grandparents very much because they work hard in the day and can’t sleep at night because they worry about me. My wrists are curling up.”
Writing dreams with curled-up fingers
Despite his painful condition, Manh is very intelligent and keen on studies. He still goes to school and is even one of the best students in his class.
Looking into Manh’s notebooks, one wouldn’t imagine that a kid that can’t hold pen normally can write such nice letters.
“In this mountainous commune, teachers have to come to each family to call upon children to go to school and many still don’t want to study, but Manh travels 7km to school every day, good or bad weather. In my opinion, Manh is very intelligent and has good potentials in studies,” said Manh’s teacher, Bui Thi Chinh.
Assistance for Manh can be sent to:
1. Nguyen Duc Manh, Ky Phu Commune’s Primary School, Nho Quan District, Ninh Binh Province
Patron’s telephone: 090 4001388 2 Compassion Fund, No. 2/48 Giang Vo, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
Tel: 04. 7366491, ext. 101
Asked about his dreams, Manh said: “I have three wishes: I wish my mother would come back to life; I wish that my grandparents will be healthy always; and I wish to be operated on to have normal hands. I’ll try to study to become a doctor to cure diseases for everyone.”
Doctors from the National Burn Hospital say that if his family can afford burn treatment, Manh’s body can return to normal after seven years of continuous treatment. Each operation costs at least tens of millions of VND while Manh’s grandparents are very weak and they have no source of income.
Without timely operations, Manh’s fingers will curl up totally and he will not be able to hold a pen. His grandparents are now asking for donations from benefactors at home and abroad to cure Manh’s burns to help him realise his dream of becoming a normal person who is helpful to society.
Despite pain, the child still goes to school and uses pens with his deformed fingers to write his dreams. That child is Nguyen Duc Manh, 11, who lives with his grandfather Quach Dai Toi in Met village, Ky Phu commune, Nho Quan district, Ninh Binh province.
The living torch saves himself
Though knowing beforehand about his condition we were still stunned when we saw the child’s deformed body with big scars running from his head to his legs.
His grandfather, Toi, related: “In 1998, when he (the child) was several months old, his mother discovered that her husband was a drug addict. She tried to prevent him from taking drugs but she failed. Finally she brought her son to my family. In 2005 her husband came here and said that he was rehabilitated from drugs. I agreed to allow him to live with my daughter and my grandchild again. I built a house in Met village for them.
“I thought the couple would be happy but my grandchild’s father couldn’t give up drugs. They quarrelled often. On September 13, 2006, after an argument, he stabbed his wife to death, locked the door and burnt the house down while Manh was sleeping inside.
“When the neighbours came, the fire was so high nobody dared to jump inside to save my grandchild. At that time, Manh suddenly ran out of the fire like a living torch and passed out. After one year in the hospital, he returned to my house with a deformed body.
“Since then, he has been living with bodily and spiritual pain. Because of the scar tissue, his skin can’t excrete, so my grandchild suffers from itchiness and his skin breaks out. He asks us to scratch the burnt area. Sometimes he has to go to school for pus lancing.”
The child tried to touch his scars with his curled-up fingers and said: “I can’t sleep at night because my body is stinging and itchy. I love my grandparents very much because they work hard in the day and can’t sleep at night because they worry about me. My wrists are curling up.”
Writing dreams with curled-up fingers
Despite his painful condition, Manh is very intelligent and keen on studies. He still goes to school and is even one of the best students in his class.
Looking into Manh’s notebooks, one wouldn’t imagine that a kid that can’t hold pen normally can write such nice letters.
“In this mountainous commune, teachers have to come to each family to call upon children to go to school and many still don’t want to study, but Manh travels 7km to school every day, good or bad weather. In my opinion, Manh is very intelligent and has good potentials in studies,” said Manh’s teacher, Bui Thi Chinh.
Assistance for Manh can be sent to:
1. Nguyen Duc Manh, Ky Phu Commune’s Primary School, Nho Quan District, Ninh Binh Province
Patron’s telephone: 090 4001388 2 Compassion Fund, No. 2/48 Giang Vo, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
Tel: 04. 7366491, ext. 101
Asked about his dreams, Manh said: “I have three wishes: I wish my mother would come back to life; I wish that my grandparents will be healthy always; and I wish to be operated on to have normal hands. I’ll try to study to become a doctor to cure diseases for everyone.”
Doctors from the National Burn Hospital say that if his family can afford burn treatment, Manh’s body can return to normal after seven years of continuous treatment. Each operation costs at least tens of millions of VND while Manh’s grandparents are very weak and they have no source of income.
Without timely operations, Manh’s fingers will curl up totally and he will not be able to hold a pen. His grandparents are now asking for donations from benefactors at home and abroad to cure Manh’s burns to help him realise his dream of becoming a normal person who is helpful to society.
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