A group of hearing
and speech impaired vendors rely on positive body language to sell handmade
goods
Two Swedish tourists make a gesture with their hands to indicate “No,
thank you,” as Dao Huy Thang, 20, lowers his upper body to present dolls made
of fabric and paper, and calendars featuring famous places in Hanoi.
Nobody utters a
word.
At first they mistake him for other vendors of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, but
immediately stop upon seeing a small board with the words “Deaf Group” written
in several languages hung on Thang’s stand, located in front of the Indian
Cuisine Restaurant at 24 Hang Be Street.
They take a look at the dolls and other items, including postcards,
bookmarks, and finally buy 10 bookmarks of ethnic groups in Vietnam for
VND180,000 and leave with Thang smiling gratefully.
Later on, a foreigner approaches the young man, giving the ‘quiet’
vendor a wad of photos portraying him busy selling items to tourists. With
sparking eyes, Thang expressed that the foreign photographer is one of his
customers.
Thang, who hails from the northern province of Hai Duong, explained by
writing that he is one of 29 members of the Deaf Group who call themselves the
5 mau (Five Colors) group. Their products tend to include black, red, yellow,
blue and white.
The group was founded in 2004 by Dang Tran Thanh, who was born deaf and
dumb, to teach young handicapped people how to make and sell souvenirs and
handicrafts to tourists.
Like other members, Thang’s workday always begins at 9 a.m. and does
not end until 8 p.m.
The group’s workshop is located in a five-story house Thanh rents in an
alley off Hoang Hoa Tham Street. It is full of fabric and materials to make
handicrafts. Silk, brocade, satin and ribbon are arranged on shelves, whereas
finished products are located in dozens of big plastic containers. In one room,
Tam, Thuoc and Huong are sewing fabric dolls and other cuddly toys; in the next
room Thao, Hung and Thanh design postcards on computers. Of course, the
building is silent.
Many members of the group live in the building, and those who sell
souvenirs leave early to take a bus to Hanoi’s Old Quarter.
Every day 5 mau members hope to sell VND500,000 in goods. After
deducting food expenses and other daily living costs, each receives a salary of
VND1.5-2 million (US$70-95) per month.
According to Dam Thi Kinh, the group’s ‘translator’, however, “The 5
mau group cannot afford to open a shop; the group has to sell on the street,
making their income inconsistent. Sometimes, due to low sales, there is no
salary.”
“We are, though, a big, complicated family of 29 members, it is easy
for us to understand and share difficulties,” Kinh said.
The group’s leader Thanh, 30, checks the products while answering a
phone call, using a 3G video service. “Cell phone is mostly used by deaf people
like us to communicate with each other. We also send sms and email,” Thanh
said.
Thang, who earned little money helping his father make and sell
dumplings before joining the group, said, “Most vendors mostly communicate with
customers through speech. We, however, can neither hear nor speak.”
“If my customer is Vietnamese, I can write, but when it comes to
foreigners, it’s hopeless for I don’t know English or French,” Thang said,
“therefore, many walk away due to our silence. In such moments, I just wish I
could utter a word to explain the meaning of a certain postcard or a souvenir
to them.”
About 100 meters away from Thang is Le Thanh Lich’s stand. Lich, 20,
from the northern province of Phu Tho, is the group’s only illiterate member.
“I learned about 5 mau through a forum for the disabled and asked my parents’
permission to join the group. At first my parents didn’t want me to work in
Hanoi because of my poor language skills and lack of experience communicating
with those in my same boat. In addition, it is dangerous for a young woman like
me to be alone here,” said Lich, who spent a lot of time convincing her family
to permit her participation.
According to Nguyen Van Nhan from Nam Dinh Province, though it’s tough
for him and other members to survive in the city, they will never give up, because
“The job provides me not only money, but joy. My life is more meaningful with
the chance to live and work together with others, to learn from one another and
meet people from around the world.”
Love is all around
The deaf group has become an indispensable member of the Old Quarter
community since 2008.
5 mau members, unlike other vendors in the Old Quarter, never pester
people to buy their wares or take advantage of their situation to elicit pity
among passers-by. Through gentle body language, they soften tourists to stop
and take a look at their products.
Izumi, a Japanese tourist, was touched by the group’s courage. She
bought a bookmark featuring a couple dressed in traditional Vietnamese garb and
a postcard as gifts for her boyfriend last Valentine’s Day. “My friend will
love the gifts as they were made by young Vietnamese handicapped people,” she
said.
According to Thanh, a soya-cake seller whose stand is in front of
Lich’s, many customers give money to 5 mau members, and though vendors are not
allowed to wander around the quarter, militiamen never disrupt them.
Nguyen Van Tuan, a staff member at the Indian Cuisine Restaurant, said
that every day Thang borrows VND20,000 from them for breakfast, but in order
not to spend a lot of money, he delays his first meal until noon so that he
doesn’t have to buy lunch. At night, after leaving his stand inside the
restaurant, Thang then returns the money.
“He is polite, good, clever and always willing to help us to take care
of the motorbikes of our own customers. What we can do in return is to give him
full support to do his business,” said Tuan.
Minh, the owner of the shop at 2 Ly Quoc Su Street, where 5 mau members
place their stands, calls the group Nhung nguoi tu cuu (self-savers). “While
many young people throw money to gambling, drugs and bars, these young
handicapped don’t let themselves become burdens to community,” he explains.
Thanh Nien News
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