The Story of Bop

Living with a disease that was incurable until the 1980, Bop has lived most of his life at the Van Mon Leprosy Village in Thai Binh, Vietnam.

His life has been filled with little joy and he has survived through shortages in food, money and the Vietnam War.

Yet with all the disparity in his life, he still finds the strength to keep living.

Location: Thai Binh, Vietnam

Category: Vietnam NGO Photography Story

Client: Send Me Vietnam

Even though Bop is blind he still manages to walk 1km to church twice a day by himself.

Bop first found god when he was in a 10 year depression after losing his eyesight. His friends convinced him to go to church and ever since then he has been attending twice a day.

Bop crosss his heart as he attends morning service.

After found god and was going through depression he felt like god was talking to him to tell him to keep positive and that great people will come meet him and care for him in his life.

Bop getting a haircut from another resident of Van Mon Village. Bop says he feels sad when he thinks of his family. His family doesn't care for him anymore and visit him only once in the last 5 years.

Bop sits and eats alone in the local hospital. Bop does not have many friends at Van Mon and prefers to focus on his daily prayer.

Every evening Bop listens to the radio for the world news report. He is always interested in the world and what is happening in it.

At a funneral of a resident of Van Mon Village, Bop sits alone outside of the other residents.

Bop rests and recovers from injuries on his feet. Bop sometimes has problems with his feet due to him not having proper shoes to walk in.

Bop is blind and uses his crutch to find his way around he grabs a clothsline to help him up the steps in front of his house.

Bop talks about how his family abandoned him and don't help him financially at all even though his family is very rich.

I have this disease(leprosy). If in this life I don’t have something to believe in for my next life, then I have nothing, except that I’m unlucky. My life now has become meaningless. I don’t care anymore about my life now or dream about anything in this life. So now I am living and praying, looking forward to the next life.