The woman who has moveds by hands for 55 years Being paralyzed in both legs since the age of three, Ms. Phan Thi Hai in Bac Ninh Province has relied on her two hands to move about, to work, and to support herself for 55 years. She cannot walk but she still works and lives as a normal person. In the early morning, Ms. Hai, now 58, dragged a bucket of bran to feed her pigs and chickens. After that she cooked rice for herself. Finishing breakfast, she drank some water, wore her old conical hat and then put her hands into flip-flops and propelled herself along to go into the field. With paralyzed legs, the two arms bear the responsibility of walking and working. The slope she traversed was gentle, but the woman fought to keep her balance. Finally she crossed the tough road. Today was Hai’s 10th straight day of pulling weeds in the pumpkin field of her younger sister. She tried to finish early getting back home to plait cords for making hammocks. "I’m paid VND400,000 ($20) for weaving a hammock. It takes me about half a month to make one. Deducting the money for purchasing jute, I earn a little profit," Hai says and smiles.   At noon, she was still working in the pumpkin field. As she does every day, she worked through noon. Despite the paralysis of her legs, Hai’s hard work has allowed her to build a house, have some chickens and raise up to eight pigs. Ms. Hai was the fourth child in a family of six in Dong Mieu village, Hoai Thuong commune, in Thuan Thanh district. At the age of three, she was paralyzed in both her legs after a bout with a disease. Since then she has learned to walk with her hands. Upon reaching school age, Hai was determined to attend classes. Though the school was not far from her home, she had to leave very early to get there on time. In later years she had to cut short her studies, though, as the secondary school was quite far from her house. At home, Hai practiced chopping vegetables, cooking rice, cleaning the house and doing farm work. Growing up a little more, she insisted that her parents permit her to go to work in the neighboring village. By the age of 20, she had some gold as “capital”. "In the 1980s, I reclaimed a piece of land on the dike and opened a grocery shop there. I was at the shop during the day and returned to my parents’ home at night. In 2000, after my parents died, I moved to the shop, and I’ve been living here since then," she says. Despite the protests of her siblings, Hai moved into the grocery shop, where she lived alone. She gradually turned the wild land into a property, with a house, an orchard, pigsties and coops, all by her own labor. Concerned that the odor from the excrement of her cattle and poultry would affect her neighbors, Hai borrowed some money from a bank to build a biogas trench. She had hoped to pay off her debt on time, but was prevented from doing so by disease outbreaks last year, which killed three pigs and many of her chickens. When she was young, a soldier asked Hai for her hand in marriage. She refused, fearing that she would become a burden to him. In recent years, other men have come with offers of marriage. She still declines. "Previously, I opened a tea shop and most of my customers were men. But I was afraid of having a bad reputation so I stopped selling tea. Now I only sell eggs and crackers to neighbors," she says. Hai works hard all year round, finding her joy in keeping busy. There are times, though, when she does pine for a child. Through her old radio, she learned that the Bo De Temple in Hanoi had many orphans available for adoption. She went to the temple twice to apply as an adoptive parent, but was told no. She has also heard that the SOS Village is looking for adoptive parents for its orphans. She plans to try there next month. "I have a lot of nephews and nieces but they have to take care of their parents. While I’m still healthy, I still want to adopt a son," she says. Mr. Ngo Xuan Thao, 43, Hai’s neighbor, describes Hai as a powerful woman. Despite her handicap, she still works very hard to support herself. Mr. Phan Dinh Van, Hai’s nephew, says that Hai has always been independent, never asking for assistance from her relatives. And tonight on the Duong River Dike, a fiercely independent 58-year-old woman without the use of her legs, is probably busy cleaning, cooking for herself, or weaving a hammock. And dreaming of a son. A working day of Ms. Hai: Phan Duong, VNE