VietNamNet Bridge - Not only getting over his miserable life situation, but he also found a love which was only seen in legendary stories.


“Miracle” is the common word shared by people about the life of Nguyen Chien Thang, an Agent Orange victim born in 1979. This handicapped guy won an award for effort prize in the contest for Vietnam Intellectuals and is the only Vietnamese granted a Microsoft certificate with Bill Gates’ signature.

Despite his situation, he dared to learn to become an information technology expert working in the FPT and pursues his dreams.

Suffering from Agent Orange birth defects, his right brain was injured since he was born. Hence, his hands and legs have been dysfunctional and his speaking has been limited. His health has not been improved despite all efforts of the family to get him treated.

Nevertheless, he showed his passion in learning since he was a child. He learned reading and mathematics by himself. His learning process has surprised many people. Without enough materials for his learning, he studied online. Thus, he had to learn English by picture and memory. With all efforts, he won the Certificate for Office at the Vocational Training Center of Hoan Kiem district (Hanoi) and graduated with distinctive degree at the FPT – Aptech.

One day he won over a foreign hacker who then suggested him to take entrance examination into France’s center for computer programmers. He won over 200 participants and received waived scholarship (which cost 9,000 USD/month). After three year training, he was awarded the only Microsoft certificate signed by Bill Gates. In 2004, he gained the effort prize in the contest for Vietnam Intellectuals. He was named as the honor citizen of the FPT by Mr. Truong Gia Binh – then CEO of FPT.

One of miracles in his life is the love with Nguyen Thi Hong – his current wife. When she was the first year student of Cong Doan College, hearing about Thang, she decided to leave the college to take exams into Information Technology College with a view to having a chance to meeting him.

Thang’s father was really moody when telling about the daughter-in-law and his son’s happy family. He said that the universe may not take everything from every one. He spent 10 years and two years in wars in the South of Vietnam and in Cambodia, respectively. When seeing Thang with birth defects from Agent Orange, he didn’t want other people to know about Thang to keep his peaceful life.

He said that his family didn’t expect of asking someone to get married with Thang. But the love just came on the way because of his talent and weird destiny.

“Many students and officers came to me to talk and to learn about information technology. Many of them are girls…" said Thang. Among those girls, Hong is the most special, who was determined to devote her heart to him. After four years knowing each other, her feeling and heartfelt actions won his and his family’s heart. Their love was against by Hong’s mother at the beginning. However, finally they could persuade both families by their true love.

Not romantic as other couples, but now they have a happy family with a two-year-old cute baby. The baby was named Vinh Quang. “I named him Vinh Quang with a hope that he would pursue his father’s achievements in life and reach to the top,” explained Thang’s father. He added that when Thang was married, he was still worried. He was not sure whether Agent Orange would affect his later generations, even though doctors affirmed that it would not. When Hong was pregnant, the family was really happy but still worried. She went for monthly health check. They only felt released when seeing the healthy baby born. Vinh Quang is the most precious gift for every family member.

Apart from computer, currently, Thang has a “bigger” passion in playing with his son and sharing his knowledge with his wife. Seeing his and his wife’s bright eyes and smile when playing with the kid, one can understand that such simple and honest love is the long lasting one.

Quynh Anh