The purpose of this page is to bring together a community of people who have met and have a connection with Dang Thi Nu from the Friendship Village in Hanoi, Vietnam. You can share updates, pictures, or just share your story of how you met her and the connection you have with her. This is also a place for people to share advice about things Nu likes and dislikes. For example when I used to take he
r for walks and go on the swing together she seemed to love that, she also enjoyed when I made little circles on her palm, it seemed to calm her. As many of you know Nu is blind, mostly deaf, and can't communicate. She appears to be autistic as well, I'm at a loss at how to improve her life but maybe together as a community we can all chip in and help. Backstory About Nu and Myself
My name is Justin Mott and I'm a photographer living and working in Vietnam since 2006. I met Nu in 2007 while working on a photo story about victims of Agent Orange. I decided to focus my story on her and what was suppose to be a 2 week project turned into a friendship and bond of over 10 years now. I spent the first year documenting her life on and off and as time went by I stopped focusing on photographing her and spent more time with her going for walks and just holding her hand. My access to the village and how this all started was through a dear friend of mine Mrs. Thuy(as her students call her) and the help of the warm hearted students at Trung Vuong School(more on them later). After my project documenting Nu my work as a photographer had me in and out of Vietnam a lot and my trips to see Nu became less frequent. When I went to visit Nu around 2009 after not going there for several months and I learned that she had returned to live with her grandparents in the countryside(the policy of the center is for the kids to live there only 5 years). With the help of Thuy(I'm going to stop saying this because everything here is always with the help of Thuy as none of this would've been possible without her amazing soul) we visited her at her grandparents to check up on her. We noticed her health had deteriorated. He grandparents are quite elderly and it was so difficult for them to look after her. They couldn't take care of her her anymore and her parents are separated with new families and they are not part of her life for the most part. I had the idea to see if we could bring Nu back to the Friendship Village, she had a better life there. Thuy and Trung Vuong school worked their magic and we convinced the center to take her back. We also held a charity event selling prints of my work and now we have a little fund that is dedicated to Nu's well being. Every year we take Nu back to her grandparents for Tet(in fact today we just brought her home and she was in good spirits). I'm not saying things are perfect for her there, but it's a healthier life than with her grandparents who have told us they can't look after her. The center provides her with her basic needs and medical care. This page was inspired by a few factors. First off, after a visit I had to the center a few months back I noticed a kind man left a note on the bulletin board in Nu's block. The note was in English and was meant to be seen by new volunteers at the center and it was filled with things that Nu likes, many of which I listed above. What a brilliant idea I thought and I instantly regretted not doing this ages ago. For years I'd stopped by the center and would often meet volunteers, some who met Nu and some who hadn't. We would talk over our experiences and exchange ideas on how to help her more. It was truly amazing, all these people who have this bond with her and I realized there must be so many more out there. What pushed me to finally take action(regrettably not sooner) was today after posting some pictures I met even more people on Facebook(Danika and Allana) who reached out to me with their own stories about their experiences with Nu. I'm sure there are more of you out there and many more to come. All the volunteers, local students from Trung Vuong or other schools, people just passing by, or anyone that works at the center you are welcomed to post here and share your thoughts. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and the top of my heart to all the special people mentioned above, most notably Mrs. Thuy, I love you with all my heart for your generosity and kindness. I'm a photographer not a writer so I'm at a loss for the right words here, but it's quite special and magical that Nu has inspired so many people to help her and to bring out the best in people in her own way. You can see the photo story that I made about Nu back in 2007 here. http://www.justinmott.com/stories/nu-a-child-in-isolation/Justin_Mott_Nu_s_Story001/
Some small things I feel Nu enjoys, please share yours.
-Walks holding her hand
-Feeding her oranges or tangerines in small chewable bites.
-Going on the swing
-Making small circles on her palm
-I've noticed her teeth getting worse, she definitely doesn't like this but please brush and floss her teeth for her she needs it. I should also mention this page is not a charitable entity and we don't accept donations directly at the moment. If you want to donate money, items, or your time please contact the Friendship Village directly. http://www.vietnamfriendship.org/wordpress/get-involved/visit-the-village
This page will not tolerate vulgar posts and some of our community are children so please be respectful of that.
