The fireball was hidden behind the mountains, but its last light rays were still wanting to hold back forever saying goodbye to the sky. In the distance, the skyline remained a little pale color as the traces of a hard day. And overhead, the wind that carried the cold air of the days in the mischievous 12^th lunar month was playing. The wind whispered and smiled on the top of the trees. In that cold air, I smelled a light scent that extremely pleasant of a peaceful village. I took a deep breath to collect all the extremely featured fresh air into the chest. I continued to walk on the jetty plastic road that was getting on well into the darkness. I was going home.

My house is at the end of the small alley. The gradual slope that led up to my house now has become erosion and difficulty for the moving. The time, rain and wind of the nature made it older than hundred times, is it right? On both sides of the road, the houses of my uncles are still in the old places, only a small change is that these houses are now surrounded by large gates and firm fences, look safe and very solid. Only having a small house at the end of the alley is still silent in the rows of the trees, no iron gate, no high walls as well, but because of that naked look, it has become particularly friendly and welcome.

From a distance, I saw the red color of my mother’s firewood-stove. The orange-yellow flame was dancing up and down around a kettle. Many times, I could not stop the question, and it exited from my lips to ask why my mother has not used gas stove for convenience, she had just smiled to say “Firewood-stove rice is more delicious, dear daughter”. It is delicious because there are scent of the cook smoke and taste of the homeland, isn’t it? It is delicious because there are the difficulty, sacrifice, and love of my mother, isn’t it? It is a delicious firewood-stove rice because there is always my mother’s waiting me for the family meals, isn’t it? Mom, I was back home already.

My home was happy as a festival in that dinner, the sounds of saying and laugh mixed together cheerfully. Just one year had not met each other but I seemed like we had a separate decade. I and my family members had lots of things to tell each other. I silently thanked our God because of a year with such lots of changes that our family could still gather around the rice tray like this. Suddenly through the thin smoke rising from the saucepan of hot sour soup in middle of the table, I realized the hard faces of my parents had many wrinkles. My parents are old, but their hair look still black and healthy. That’s why the wrinkles had couldn’t make my parents looked old at all. But the life with the difficulty and hardship on the fields had showed the backside of its severe face on the sunburn of my parents’ skin and on their hands. The heavy limbs work had made their hands became flat, callous, and harsh like a canal in the end of the dry season. Although the live is going on hurriedly but it will never be able to harden my parents’ hearts. Those hearts are still warm and stretch with loving resin for their children and family. And I saw deeply in my parents’ eyes having a strong belief into the family, the life, and the future. The glint from those eyes has been the security and protection for me, they have always given me a safe feeling and boundless encouragement.

The time had not only marked its signs on the eyes, the face, the skin of my parents but had also drawn the contours of the enthusiastically youth on my two younger brothers. They have now grown up. On their faces, the healthy marks of the sons of professional farmers had been showed proudly, looked ungovernable strangely. These natural lines had highlighted the honesty in their eyes and their smiles. The two of them have closely resembled our father, especially the eyes and the two rows of eyelashes. From those eyes, I saw the warmth of the hearts mixed with a little of mischievousness of the awkward age. But behind that mature looks I knew they had still indulged in playing and had been very carefree. Suddenly I wished we had been back the time that we climbed on the trees, played in the rains, and were also beaten by our parents. What a happiness! But unfortunately, the time is as an arrow that was shot from the rod of bow, it can only rush forward, it is not possible to look back even once.

This year’s meal like still the meal in the past, there are still the dish of boiled fish, the saucepan of sour soup, and over all those things that is still having the family reunion. The noisy atmosphere at first is quietening down and become naturally silent in few seconds. Each of us is pursuing own thoughts and smiles excitingly at those thoughts. In those short seconds, I feel clearly having a distance. That’s right, there is some invisible distance between me and my family as well as among us together that suddenly I cannot call out name. But I know that the distance is not too far away, not too chilly but extremely pleasant. That distance gives me a private space, it is also sticks me to my family and everyone to each other. Perhaps that distance is called maturation. When people are adulthood, people often want to leave their families, leave the cramped cage to fly to the vast horizon. But it was time they needed their families more than ever.

The air of lively, merry, and warm of the family meals come back in our small house. And out there, the wind also whispers the interesting stories to the grass, makes they “laugh” in the soft sounds. The wind also giggles. It brought the laughter’s of the grass and the joys of our family to the far away horizon.

Written by Thu Uyen

Translated by Diem Hanh

The spring wind gently glides and caresses a girl’s black hair. The little girl is walking with her father in the park under the fresh early sunshine of a pure spring morning. Her unsteady gait is extremely confident, looks so cute and funny. Her pretty mouth is smiling and babbles the early voices. Her tiny hand holds her father’s fingers tighter like to find a silent but great encouragement. And indeed, the presence of the father is a strong encouragement to make that small “nightingale” more confident in her song. If the spring brings the warm sunshine to the grass, her clear voices have just taken the spring to her father. The simple but sacred sounds like a ten-score flower of a good student for the teacher, like a cool wind to ease the waiting for a long time and as a happy wave rolling on incessantly in her father’s heart. It turns out that the language is something so miraculous. But when people grew up, we must learn another lesson more difficult a hundred times than the saying-lesson. That is the silent lesson.

Humans are different from other living species in that we have languages and are capable in communication. Indeed, communication is an extremely precious gift that the Creator has loved to give us. Rely on language and communication, people have could understand and sympathize with each other. However, silence and listening are also a method to help people come closer together. When we are silent, we can listen more and understand more. But silence is an extremely difficult lesson because something has been called “ego”. The ego of human like the magnet, it has sucked all of the pride and the pomposity. Therefore, the demand for expressing itself is always an important need to be placed on top. That’s why people have hardly kept silent when the conceited ego wanted to self-tell up. One side, the voice has been as a cool wind, a smooth and sweet brook but conversely, the voice has been also a knife piercing the heart of others. So, sometimes silence is the key for the solving of arguments, discontents, or disputes. When we are silent, it does not mean that we lose, but at that time we defeated the pretentious and ambitious ego inside us. Moreover, in silence, we will have more time to consider the problem, so that our decisions are more efficient and clearer. Many times, silence is an opportunity for us to look straight into the soul, to listen and talk to ourselves. When we are silent, that’s the time our heart, soul and brain touched to the peace. At that time, we know who we are and why we are in this life. And silence is an opportunity for us to listen and connect our heart to the world. In silence, we will listen more, listen to understand the people around, listen to talk and share to them.

We have waked up in every morning, it means that life gave us a day to live, to love and to dedicate. Try to silence and listen to the whisper of our heart to love ourselves more. Listen to the awake of everything around so that we love more the world. And listen to the beginning of a new day for us to understand what precious life is about. Please appreciate the current moments that we live.

Written by Thu Uyen

Translated by Diem Hanh

Since we really missed our school, home, Sisters, teachers and friends so much, the atmosphere before the gathering what taking place at 3:00 p.m. on December 3rd, 2021 was already hot with the sound of our laughs and greetings.
At 3:00 p.m, Aunt Van Nga, coordinator of the Social service of the Congregation, introduced the members of the meeting. The meeting had the attendence of leaders, sisters, teachers, parents and students of agencies for the blind. Aunt told the students: “I want all of you turn off your microphones as we begin to pray to start the meeting. You are allowed to turn on your mics when you are offered to give your answers. Do you know how the blind turn off their microphones?”. The students quickly answered: “Press Ctrl + D!”. This showed that it seemed to be no difference between the blind students and normal ones. After the prayer, Mr. Minh turned questions to students in turn:
– Mr. Minh: Do you know the reason of the meeting today?
– A student “raised his hand”: Yah, today we’re celebrating the International Day of People with Disabilities.
– Mr. Minh: The International Day of People with Disabilities was set on December 3rd, 1992 by the United Nations (UN). Well, how many anniversaries of this day have been celebrated so far?
– Student: Yah, there have been 29 anniversaries.
– Mr. Minh: According to the report of the World Health Organization (WHO), the current rate of the people with disabilities around the world is more than 10%. So, if the world population today was 10 billion, how many the disabled people would we have?
– Student: Yah, there would be more than one billion people with disabilities around the world.
– Mr. Minh: We have talked much about people with disabilities. Can you tell me who the people with disabilities are?
– Student: Yah, people with disabilities are people whose bodies are imperfect of some parts, compared with those of ones without disabilities.
– Mr. Minh: So, what are their priviledges?
– Student: People with disabilities have all priviledges like normal people. In particular, they have rights to go to school and receive respect, concern and nourishment from other people.
– Mr. Minh: Do you know what always goes with priviledge?
– Student: Responsibility always goes with priviledge.
– Mr. Minh: So, what are the responsibilities of people with disabilities?
Thinking in a few minutes, a student said: “The disabled people must comply with the law. They also have to achieve good education, have determination and enthusiasm in taking part in the development of community and society”.
– Mr. Minh: Who can name some of people with disabilities that are the good examples of determination?
Right at that moment, the “heat” of the meeting reached the climax. The achievements of the people with disabilities contributing to the society were gradually shown through the “Ask-Answer” conversation between the teacher and his students. The students would be able to learn many useful things from good examples such as Louis Braille, Helen Keller, Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Nguyen Ngoc Ky,… And then, Mr. Minh ended the meeting by saying: “Sister Tram has noted down the names of students who answered today. And the awards for them are ‘little’ phonecards for their phone accounts”. Everyone gave loud applause…
All the things happened above were the scenes of a meeting organized by the Sisters of the Thu Duc Congregation of Lovers of the Holy Cross with 223 participants. The meeting was obviously held online due to the Corona virus pandemic. This was a meeting that both teachers and students with disabilities talked about people with disabilities. It is suprisingly amazing, isn’t it? Yes, we are people with vision impairment.
To provide the equal opportunities for students with and without disabilities, our Aunts and teachers have taken care and taught us with their love. Love will be answered by love. Love is the nature that always exists in anyone of us and does not depend on our physical status. And more importantly, love is never enough. Therefore, the students have been given love and then they will give it away in their daily life.
I would like to end this writing with the topic sentence of the Holy Father’s message on the International Day of People with Disabilities, which was listened after the initial praying: “You are My friends”. We, the disabled, are friends of Jesus Christ, which means we are loved and have duty of spreading His love.
It’s true that if we have a heart without love inside healthy bodies, we are ‘disabled’ souls. And this is a frightening thing!
(Diễm Hạnh)

STORMS AND FLOODS IN THE MIDDLE REGION OF VIETNAM

From the beginning of October to November of this year, the Middle Region of Vietnam have had more than 10 storms, with floods and landslides. Many people, houses and properties were buried or drifted into water. Everyone had tried to help each other to run into safer places. We can imagined people climbing to a higher place, or walked in the water to escape the floods. Children followed adults, many lost their parents. However, families who had the most difficulties were families of children with vision impairment and additional disabilities. The blind cannot see, so they have difficulties in travelling in a normal condition, now everything was under water, they had to depend totally to sighted people, especially children who are blind and paralysed, their family members had to carry them along the way. After those storms and floods, they went back home to see their houses and farms were severe destroyed, those families falled into a terrible living condition. The representatives of BVCF visited families of children with multiple disabilities in this Middle Region, offered each family 3 million Vietnamese Dollars, out of the monthly budget as usual, so that they can buy food in these dark days. The sharing was a little, but in these envelops there were hearts of benefactors of BVCF. Receiving this love, families of children with blindness and multiple disabilities could not keep their tears. They would like to thank the Director Board and donors of BVCF for their prompt support, to be with them side by side to be recovered and to move forward a better future.

Vietnamese