LONG AN – Lost his legs at the age of two, only finished third grade, but by self-study, Mr. Cao Cong Thanh has become a mechanic, manufacturing dozens of agricultural machines.
Sitting cross-legged on a homemade electric wheelchair in the middle of the porch sprawled with tools, Mr. Thanh painstakingly welded the last detail of the garlic slicing machine to deliver it to the customer in time. Light from the weld and smoke rose, covering the back of a 55-year-old man in the midst of the blazing sun on the last day of April in Tan An.
“When I was young, I worked with all kinds of jobs, but I thought I had to have a job that could be in hand to support my family, so I taught myself to weld and manufacture all kinds of machines,” said Thanh.
Paralysis of his legs after a fever when he was two years old, Cao Cong Thanh can only study until 3rd grade – enough to know how to read and write. Poor family, at the age of 13, Mr. Thanh taught himself to repair bicycles and opened a shop to help his parents. More than 10 years later, when a series of other car repair shops also sprung up, his shop could not compete. Guests are absent day by day.
While the customer was sitting idle, once a neighbor brought a spray of pesticide to help repair, he took the risk to accept it. Disassembling the spray bottle, he began to grop to find out how it works and then fix it. Once it was repaired and used, he found that the inflatable aerosol was weak, so he thought about how to try to make the sprayer stronger. “In front of the bottle which can only compress one kilogram of air, I make more to compress it to two kilograms. If we are slower than others, we must try to do better than new visitors,” said Thanh. Since then, his car repair shop has added services to repair agricultural tools.
At the age of 25, Mr. Thanh got married and gave birth to a child. The revenue from the store was not enough to take care of his family, he sold lottery tickets on the shaking car. Called selling lottery tickets, but along the way, seeing someone doing something good, he stopped to see if it was okay and tried to ask questions to learn more. During those peeps, he liked the mechanic the most. Having accumulated a little capital, he decided to buy a welder for self-training.
“Selling tens of thousands of tickets with ten thousand profit sometimes takes the whole session. If you have a welding job, if you work 5-10 minutes, you can earn 10 thousand without having to be sunny or rainy,” the man calculated. So during the day he sold lottery tickets, but at night he turned on the lights, turned on the machine to practice welding on the scrap iron. At first, without goggles, eyes were stinging and puffy and tears kept flowing all night.
Seeing that Mr. Thanh had a welding machine, an acquaintance suddenly brought him the first order: Welding 1,000 pillars to plant dragon fruit with the request of “ugly and beautiful does not matter, as long as they stick together for sure”.
This is a golden opportunity for the disabled man because by the time he has completed 1,000 pillars, his skills have improved significantly. “They love me with disabilities to create conditions. I have to try to do quality, if I do not work well and still get money, they cannot love me forever,” he said.
Being charming with mechanics is also an opportunity for Mr. Thanh to find his true passion of manufacturing many useful tools and machines for himself and selling to local people.
Four years ago, once going to drink coffee, seeing the owner of the shop holding a coconut knife seemed to be strenuous, he came up with the thought of creating a tool to chop coconuts quickly and with less effort. That day, he did not go home but went directly to the store, bought materials to work. After nearly a month of researching, tinkering, test cutting of nearly 200 coconuts, replacing a dozen blades, Mr. Thanh completed the product. Up to now, coconut cutting machine “Mr. Thanh brand” has sold hundreds of units.
With such daily life observations, Mr. Thanh has produced dozens of different tools and machines, from a garlic cutter to an electric wheelchair for people with disabilities like me. His small welding shop has developed into a famous mechanical workshop throughout Tan An.
“I am very proud of my father, a disabled father, but I can work and earn the same income as a normal person. Two years ago, my father suffered from severe joint pain, had to be treated for almost a year, so now I do less directly. If there are customers who order to build the machine, I still instruct them to work at the workshop, “said Cao Tien, 30 years old, his son Thanh.
But when he got older, his hands after years of overwork, working and lifting people to move in place of his feet, Mr. Thanh began to suffer from joint pain. While in hospital, he thought about building his own car. Like the elongated, slightly short form of Formula 1 racing cars, Mr. Thanh outlined the chassis in his mind. After leaving the hospital, he started working immediately, he did not need to draw or record data, he just made a frame. Finished the frame, the seat layout, where to place the battery and add functions such as roof, turn signals, exhaust … Six months later, the car was born.
“If people are healthy, they have many choices, they can drive anything. I have a disability that makes a car that suits me, driving out is something I am very proud of. I like to do it, not to be discouraged, If you don’t give up, you will do it, “he shared. Recently, he also “degree” added a system to lift both the vehicle and the person and then turn 180 degrees, making the turn to become simpler.
At dusk, when it rained heavily, Mr. Thanh stopped working and moved into the house to get a guitar. The man looked at the rearview mirror on the handlebars, then sang, despite the rain slamming down the metal roof.
“I attach this mirror for a long time to see how my ‘face’ looks. Looking back, I have a career to support me, raising children is something that a disabled person like me feels lucky and happy”, he said. said and laughed. Follow vnexpress