Vietnam’s national sport

one from Vietnam’s Olympic committee had actually approached him and asked if he wanted to be on the country’s football team for young people with disabilities. Nhon was born with a developmental disability that affects his brain function.

Dangerous jump

Now his friends were shouting again. He watched the shuttlecock soar above him and down over the railings around the children’s home courtyard. Nhon ran to look for it. The shuttlecock was three metres below.

“Run down and get it,” cried his friends. “It was you who missed!”

So no Paralympic Games for Nhon. He had sprained his foot. And Vietnam’s Paralympic football team hadn’t managed to qualify anyway. So maybe it wasn’t such a big deal about his foot.

Making incense sticks

Nhon sits at the machine that makes incense sticks.

‘Da cau’, or foot badminton, is Vietnam’s national sport. Almost all the children at Duc Son pagoda play da cau. They often stand in a ring and kick the shuttlecock between them. The shuttlecock is similar to the one used for badminton, but it has more weight at the tip so it always falls downwards.

Con can keep a shuttlecock up in he air for a long time. He juggles with it and holds it still on his knees and toes. It mustn’t touch the ground you can’t use your hands.

Sometimes the children form two groups either side of a line and compete with one another, but when professionals play they use a proper badminton court.

Con says that when the children at the pagoda play football, it’s serious. Da cau is more of a game. They cheer one another on when someone does a good kick, or laugh when someone misses or trips up trying to get to the shuttlecock.

When he was telling the nurse later what had happened, he realised his brain had been playing tricks on him. Instead of running to the stairs and walking down, Nhon jumped. He screamed in pain as his foot collapsed beneath him. The children who had been urging him on

“Can you pass me more sticks, Nhi,” he asks a younger girl who is helping him. On a good day, Nhon can make a thousand incense sticks. On those days he has help from Nhi’s big brother.

Nhon is tall next to the other children at Duc Son pagoda’s section for differently abled children. Several of the younger children are sitting in the next room, drawing. A nurse is helping a little boy who is blind.