A Brief History

Hold the Future was started by and continues to be the life purpose of Le Minh Hiền. Mrs Hiền spent her youth as an abled bodied person. It was only during her final year at University that she was involved in a serious accident which resulted in her spending two years in various hospitals undergoing many surgical procedures.

While riding her bike she was knocked over by a truck. Her left arm and right leg were broken badly, her spine damaged and she suffered many serious burns which have scarred her for life.

However, although this accident happened during her studies, she insisted on taking her final year examination at the University of Foreign Trade regardless of her injuries. She sat her exams while in hospital.

She married and had two children. However, her husband passed away at an early age in 1995 leaving her with the task of bringing up her children on her own. She managed to educate both children with her son now working for Airbus in France and her daughter owner managing a very successful New Media Agency in Ho Chi Min City.

It was not easy achieving this and she took on several different jobs to raise sufficient money to be able to offer her children the education they needed. She made and sold phở, candies, soup, wool products and much more.

During these hard times she met many other disabled people who found themselves in similar situations to the one she was in. Over a period of time a loose organisation formed for the purpose of disabled people supporting each other.

But it was always in the back of her mind to start something more real. She thought of a place with a business where disabled people could learn, manufacture goods for sale and support each other in these endeavours. This she had envisaged for had some time.

The initial group of ten people grew over the years until in 2002 the group had grown to a size where it seemed possible to start a more formal organisation. A business was started and the first business premises rented.

This progress has not been easy. In fact it has been one long and hard fight to keep the Centre going, find funding for training and to be able to reach more disabled young people.

During the years Mrs Hiền has worked hard to grow the Centre. But her efforts have not only focused on her young workers and learners that have come through the Centre.

Her energy has also been spent in promoting the well-being of disabled people as a whole as well as spending time on advocacy work in various other associations and community groups. Mrs Hiền is Chairwoman of the Ba Dinh District Disabled Community Group or DPO. An interesting map of DP Hanoi’s structure may be found on their website: www.dphanoi.org.vn

She is Vice President of DP Hanoi, (Disability Hanoi) which is an organisation that supports disabled people, their associations and businesses. It also actively promotes the integration of disabled people into the work environment.

The Centre is also a member of Vietnam Save Disabled Children as well as VABED (Vietnam Association of Business Enterprises of Persons with Disabilities).

This year Hold the Future has been honoured by the East Meets West Foundation of the United States to be one of ten organisations they are promoting world wide. It is hoped that this exposure will be of benefit by creating awareness of the Centre’s work, open up more markets for its handicraft products and pave the way for some fund raising efforts.