Disabled, fatherless and without his mother nearby, Quang Tri student wins place at Foreign Trade University

Truong Dinh Tuyen is preparing to leave his small, deteriorating home in Cam Lo, Quang Tri, for Hanoi and a place at Foreign Trade University. His luggage consists of a few clothes and old books, which he keeps in an ancestral altar cabinet.

Tuyen has lived with his maternal grandparents since childhood. His grandmother, Thai Thi Ai, is 68 and suffers from nerve-neuron syndrome, spinal degeneration, muscle wasting and long-term paralysis affecting movement. She struggles to walk even inside the house. Tuyen, who has a congenital deformity in his left foot, helps support her, although his own gait remains unsteady.

His left foot twisted backward at birth. After several operations, he began taking independent steps at about age five. The leg remains smaller, with muscle atrophy and only about 60% to 70% of the movement of his right leg. The two have relied on each other for more than a decade in a family that has remained poor for years.

Tuyen’s parents divorced just before he started first grade. His father then left and had almost no contact with the family. His younger brother, who had Down syndrome, died at the age of two. Tuyen’s mother worked to support treatment for both children, while his grandparents cared for him when she was away.

Tuyen once considered studying medicine and becoming a doctor, but his mother and grandmother advised against it because the six-year course would cost too much. He chose foreign languages instead. Despite poverty and disability, his academic record earned him three provincial excellent-student awards and admission to Foreign Trade University.

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Before I could feel what my father's love was like, the two words 'divorce' came to my parents.