A poor wounded soldier fighting against disease
Tuan’s living circumstances are pitiful. In 1978 he joined the army and fought in Cambodia for the Cau Pha battalion, 25 Regiment, 7 Military Zone. I Cambodia he was shot in the head. Lucky to have survived he now suffers form schizophrenia and other severe health problems.
After following a long, winding pat for many miles I finally arrived at Nguyen Ngoc Tuan’s (the wounded soldier) house. House is hardly an appropriate term. It is only a 10 meter square room a in garret for three persons which include his two elderly sisters, who are both ober sixty, and him. When we arrived, one of these sisters, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xe, who is 63 years old, was hurriedly running out of the house anxiously looking for her brother. “Living in such a small house he has to go out. Usually he is fine but I fear that he’s not of sound mind today and I’m worried if he meets any strange people. meet strange people”
Everybody in Tuan’s family people are always looking for, and trying, new ways to treat his disease, but it still shows no sign of improvement. More still, their monthly allowance is not enough to pay the rent. Each month they must pay between VND 5 hundred to 1 million for his medication. This year, he is 50 years but he has no house, no wife and no children. T thus falls to his sisters to care for them. But for this they must sacrifice a normal life.
When they discover that they will be supported by “ITA Foundation to Heal The Sorrows” their faces visibly brighten. Mr. Tuan showed us saw his 2 cm long wound, telling us that it still causes him pain not only in his head but also his stomach. He continues to have problems sleeping.
I felt indescribably sad to say goodbye to the wounded soldier and his sister. It moved me to tears to witness his weak eldest sister with her trachoma, which has still not been treated, in order, as she puts it, to “to put money aside for Tuan”. “ITA Foundation to Beat Illness” wants to offer assistance to these troubled lives as well as recognising those who make great sacrifices for those who cannot look after themselves.
By: Ngoc BichTranslator: Huong Thao