For the past six years, Pham Thi Cao, a victim of Agent Orange, has walked two kilometers to and from her school on her hands.

Cao’s mother, Pham Thi Thang, says the girl’s father served in the army during the war with the US and was exposed to the highly toxic Agent Orange.

Unable to use her legs, Cao was rarely able to attend school and often cried when seeing her friends in school uniforms pass by her house.

Cao, a member of the H’re ethnic people, eventually learned to adapt to her situation and overcome adversity.

“I have no proper legs to go to school like my friends, but I have hands. Why don’t I try to walk with my hands?” she asked herself.

Cao began practicing walking step by step on her hands.

In the beginning it was painful. Her hands would bleed and she would sometimes fall as her wrists were too weak to bear her weight.

Yet she never gave up.

She applied to study at school and was admitted to the first-grade at 10 years old, four years later than her friends of the same age.

Initially, Cao’s father would help carry her part way on his back.

But unfortunately, after three years he fell ill and was no longer able to help.

Her mother, meanwhile, worked in the field and Cao now had to cook meals on her own while her father remained hospitalized.

But the girl’s tenacious will kept her determined to continue her studies and one of her classmates, Pham Thi Tham, volunteered to carry her on her back in place of her father.

Two years later, Cao was strong enough to walk all by herself for the entire two kilometers and she could even keep up with her friends.

In spite of her disadvantages, Cao has triumphed where others would have given up and her performance in school is continually improving, she says.

Source: Thanh Nien