A man in Gia Lai Province has voluntarily taken on the job of caring for dozens of people with mental disabilities in his home.

Mr. Phuoc’s “children” signing together

Ha Tu Phuoc, 48, of Pleiku City, started his activities 10 years ago when he saw a young man named Sau who was kept at home in chains. He would often bite his parents and even bite and claw at himself. When Phuoc saw this he felt an obligation to do something. He took Sau into his care with the parents' permission.

Phuoc and his family gave the young man a haircut and patient, loving care. Phuoc delivered goods to local shops for a living and he would take Sau along with him on his rounds. Thanks to the care he got from Phuoc and his wife, Sau's condition became much better; so that he was able to return to live with his own family and take on work of his own.

After hearing of this story, a number of other families with mentally disabled people asked Mr. Phuoc for help. Many of them had children who were also kept chained up after returning from hospital.

Another typical example is Minh. He was extremely violent and would beat people and eat the bodies of rotting animals. Phuoc took him on to give him care in his home. Minh has also improved in the interim, and has taken up singing.

Phuoc funds the entire operation on his own, and must work hard to feed, not only his mother, but his wife and two children. He said that he gets up at 3am to make his deliveries, and then begins work on his small coffee plantation of about 500 plants.

“Most of the people brought to me come from poor families, and when they ask for help I can't refuse even though my family is also in a difficult situation. I will just try to work harder to support them, but I enjoy being able to help," he said.

Phuoc's methods do not involve any medicine and he has no medical training, yet he has successfully helped to reintegrate many of his borders into their communities. Currently he is looking after nearly 40 patients without collecting any fees from their families. He even took out a VND50 million (USD2,380) loan to build another house for them.

His family have also pitched in, taking on work to help support Phuoc's little 'institution'.

Dan tri