Dep is the strongest and most beautiful Person I have ever met
The story of a hero is a blog with two documentary videos. It covers a very sensitive subject: Acid Attacks.
Don´t be fooled, the subject is of course photography related, this is originally a project of a friend of mine Nguyen Vu Phouc, a photographer in Vietnam. Phuoc has been using his photography skills to focus on things and causes he wants to help. He wants to make a different and he uses Photography to do it. In this blog any the Videos you will see Photos from Phouc and myself.
With this blog you´ll find two videos, one is from 2018 an introductory video to Dep and her story. The second one is recorded in 2019 and published in 2020.
First Video, made 2018
I want to add a DISCLAMER to the videos as some people might find the Photographs in this video graphic and somewhat disturbing. This is a sensitive matter but we need to get it out in the open, acid attacks are too common in the world and we need to discuss the problem.
One of the cruelest things I can imagine is Acid Attacks, the intention, to cause maximum amount of pain possible, and scar the victim so much they are going to wish they were dead. It never heals, their life is ruined. Victims are often abandoned by their family out of shame, and without means to provide for themselves the victims end up alone in the darkest corner of hell, in pain, in shame and often in blindness.
I’m going to introduce you to a beautiful young woman, a hero. Her name is Dep. Dep comes from a broken home and because of her parent’s problems she and her sisters lived with her grandmother in Saigon. Struggling to get just the basic needs she left school after 6th grade and started working. Dep wanted to provide for her younger sister so she could continue attending school.
Last “selfie” Dep made before the Attack - She was only 17 years old when she was attacked!
Her friend and cousin Diem worked together in a seafood factory packing seafoods for export. Diem was dating a boy named Thao, nothing to serious but the relationship was ongoing for some years. One day she broke up with him because she had met another guy. Thao wanted to get married and asked Dep to talk to her cousin on his behalf, but Dep refused not wanting to be a part of the lovers’ quarrel.
Thao feeling angry and humiliated decided to revenge and asked his friend to get him someone who could drive him on a motorbike, to throw the acid. The friend agreed for a fee of 42 dollars, Thao bought 1 liter of acid for 1 dollar.
Thao - her assailant. The face of evil.
Photo: Nguyen Vu Phouc
On November 8, 2017, at 8 pm. Dep and Diem were on a bike, home from work. Thao appeared from the darkness on a motorbike and threw acid on them, first from behind then from the front. It took a few seconds and 43 dollars to completely destroy two innocent 17 year old girls, because one of them refused a proposal.
In 2018 Dep said: "I couldn't figure out what was happening to me after I fell to the ground. I felt pain but still I was able to stay calm. I saw many people screaming and shouting, and they took me to the Hospital. I lost my consciousness and fainted due to pain upon arrival in the hospital. They said I had been a Victim of an Acid Attack. I saw a photo of my face days later, in shock I fainted again. That was the last time I looked at myself, I couldn't accept what's happen".
Dep at the Hospital
Photo: Nguyen Vu Phouc
Dep at the Hospital
Photo: Nguyen Vu Phouc
For those wondering about the consequences of acid attacks. These are the common affects that happens to acid attacks victims:
The skull is partly destroyed/deformed
Hair lost
Ear cartilage is usually partly or totally destroyed
Deafness may occur
Eyelids may be burned off or deformed, leaving the eyes extremely dry and prone to blindness.
Acid directly in the eye can damage sight and cause blindness
The nose can become shrunken and deformed, the nostrils may close off completely due to destroyed cartilage
The mouth shrunken and narrow, and it may lose its full range of motion. Sometimes the lips may be partly or totally destroyed, exposing the teeth
Eating and speaking can therefor become difficult
Scars running down from the chin to the neck, shrinking the chin and limiting the range of motion in the neck
Inhalations of acid vapours usually creates respiratory problems, exacerbated restricted airway pathways in acid patients
A whole range of mental issues, anxiety, depression, extremely low self-esteem
Not able to work, run errands or really do anything in public. Most victims live in fear of their attacker or his family and often their own family are ashamed and cut all ties, so they and up completely alone and helpless.
Dep is blind on one eye, doctors managed to open it, she “sees” difference between bright and dark
And that’s what happened to Dep, her family did not attend to her, apart from one visit from her mother in the hospital and her sister also which spent a brief time with her, but moved away and eventually left her. Her father never came to the hospital and in fact she hasn’t spoken for him since 2014. She has not seen any of them since the attack.
In 2018 when I started following Dep’s story she lived with her aunt in a tent build from wooden panels, that could be disassembled and reassembled easily so it can be moved where work is. Dep had a job picking up vegetable for nearby farmers who paid her anywhere from 1-4 dollars a day. She tried to work at a restaurant before, but there she was discriminated against, treated badly by owners and coworkers, because of how she now looked.
2 years after the attack
Horribly painful burns cover more than 54% of her small body
"This discrimination that some people give the victims of acid attacks are even more painful than the pain from the actual attack."
At the trial in August 2018 Thao, the attacker, claimed he did not know how serious an acid attack could be. The other 2 men who assisted and were charged with him, had the defense that they thought Thao was "just going to beat them up" and they pleaded guilty. Both girls were sitting next to their attackers, still in extreme pain from their wounds and terrified of the men. The 3 men were convicted. Thao, the attacker got 12 years in prison, the other two got 9 and 5 years in prison.
The three men found guilty, Thao is the one to the right
Photo: Nguyen Vu Phouc
Dep and Diem during the trial
Photo: Nguyen Vu Phouc
Mentally and Physically exhausted at the Trial
Photo: Nguyen Vu Phouc
The defendants were also convicted to pay the girls about 14.000 USD which was to be divided equally between them, but the men will never pay, they have no money. As a matter a fact after the verdict a small riot broke out outside the courthouse, initiated by the defendant’s family, saying the imprisonment should be punishment enough and refused to compensate the girls.
Riot outside the Courthouse
Photo: Nguyen Vu Phouc
Photographer Nguyen Vu Phuoc is helping Dep, and others victims of acid attacks in Vietnam and I want to help. Why? Well why not would be a better question. I have 3 daughters, and I am a human being, that's why!
Dep needs money to get the help she so desperately needs for medical treatment, and she has no means of getting that kind of money herself. Of course the compensation would get her far, but no one expects her to ever get it. Phuoc has already helped her a lot, first he got her a job at a print shop, then she started a cooking class and she is studying English. With this she is both learning new skills, and breaking her isolation, which can be extremely difficult to do. Today through Phuoc’s influence she has entered a catering school to become a chef.
Dep and one of her Trainers
Now it has been a year since I made the first video about Dep, her attack and the trial. I made a tour to Vietnam a few weeks ago to visit Dep, to meet her, get to know her, see how far she has come with her operations and her current status.
Dep is now in a warm and loving environment, protected from the stigma that follows an acid attack
I met Dep at the school she is attending called An Re Mai Sen Hospitality Center. A wonderful place that helps young people who have had a hard life to learn a skill, skill that might help them improve their chances in life. Because in Vietnam, the path from poor is long and difficult. The center or catering school is for underprivileged youth, from 18-22 years old. Before speaking to Dep I spoke to the centers manager, who’s name is Nam. He told us about the center, it’s purpose and how he was introduced to Dep and agreed to accept her in the chef program, how she is progressing, her status with other students and the future prospects she has.
After she finishes School she will be offered to stay on as a Trainer, because Vietnam society will be another challenge for her.
This second documentary video is not a sad story - on the contrary it's full of hope, forgiveness, kindness and heroes! Dep is a hero. She did not want to be defeated, she adapted, forgave and moved on! She doesn’t even call it an attack anymore; she calls it and accident. That’s an inspiration to all of us, if she can move on, we can also move on, from just about anything!
Second Video, recorded in 2019
But there is another hero working behind the scene. You see after the attack she was alone. Her mother came to the hospital one time and her father never came so she had no adult in her life. My friend Nguyen Vu Phuoc, did not know Dep but heard about her situation and after that she was alone no more. Phuoc and his family has been trying to tell her story and raise money for her operations, he got her into the An Re Mai Sen Hospitality Center, where she now lives and studies. Phouc takes care of her, he is one of the nicest human being I have ever met and he is a very good friend of mine. I am merely helping Phouc help Dep.
Phouc and Dep
Dep has already been through a lot of operations and they have all helped her, healed and made her appearance look nicer with the money collected through Phouc’s fundraiser. YOUR contributions have already helped Dep. She is not in constant pain anymore, she can open her mouth properly now so she can eat, she can open her left eye again which before was melted together, and she looks much better.
Dep was not allowed to see her face after the attack. Her family didn’t want her to see the wounds and kept mirrors away from her. Once she got her hands on her mobile phone she took a look and was so shocked that she fainted. She afterwards made a decision that she had to come to terms with what had happened. What was done was done, so she started to look at herself in the mirror to come to terms with her looks.
Dep has come far since then, but this tells you a lot about her mind set. She is a very determined young woman and she doesn’t give herself any slack to feel sorry for herself. Dep was told Thao was seen at the hospital in the first few days after the attack. He was very unhappy and said that this was wrong, no one knew he was the attacker. 10 days later the police apprehended him and his friends. Dep hated her assailant until she discovered that it was him, his actions at the hospital have convinced her that he didn’t intentionally hurt her, she also believes that to be able to go on with her life she must get rid of the grudge and hatred. Now she has forgiven her assailants. She lives in the present, doesn’t dwell in the past. Because as she said, I can’t change the past.
The dream is to become a Chef
Dep is now trying to live her dream, but since she was a young girl she wanted to become a chef. To open a restaurant, to cook a meal, preferably fish and sell to people and make them happy. Now with 9 months finished in the chef’s program already of an education of total 3 years, with the best references from the center’s manager and with the support from Phouc, her chances of fulfilling the dream are always increasing.
The future for Dep is brighter than it was the first time I caught on to her story. But she doesn’t think about the future, she lives in the present and put’s all her strength in what she is achieving. Her heart is strong and the mind even stronger. She is a very kind and happy soul. Watching her dance in the hall of the training center, make jokes with her fellow students and receiving nothing but support and kindness from everybody made my heart almost burst. Like I told earlier the society doesn´t really accept the victims of acid attacks so it’s a special joy to see her accepted as she is in the center.
Dep is now with friends, learning, coping and moving on!
Again, Dep is still in need of a long list of surgeries, more contributions are needed so she can continue her medical treatment. Her education is free as it is intended for kids from poor families and she will only get a paid trainee position after 16 months in the training center, the wage will only be minimum contribution for her work as a trainee at a restaurant. If you can help please do, all will help, big or small. Here is a link to her fundraising page. Of course, I emphasize all donations go to Dep’s medical care.
I will be keeping you updated on Dep’s story. I travel to Vietnam every year with a group of photographers for a wonderful photo-tour and adventure. Before the tour I always spend a few days on the projects I’ve been following: the story of Dep, agent orange and Than, Nhan and the Lavin Home and a few other still to follow.
Dep needs your help to move on, her funds have dried up so all medical care has stopped until there is more money. This Covid-19 Pandemic is hittin people like Dep hard, because understandably people are more carful with their money… but If you can, everything helps!
Link to Dep’s Crowdfunding page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/devastating-acid-attack-in-vietnam?fbclid=IwAR368OJVVeRi7ogPqYSIjV6xcJsgHhdFNkCvCb74Dn_4S_DFldkmSLlHClI