Phương gives a free haircut to an elderly man. — Photo giadinh.net.vn

HÀ TĨNH — By offering free haircuts to poor people, orphans and disabled children, Đặng Thị Phương and her employees give and receive plenty of smiles.

Phương, 25, lives in Hồng Lộc Commune, Lộc Hà District in the central province of Hà Tĩnh and is the second of three children in her family.

After graduating from high school, Phương decided to study hairdressing and went to Hà Nội for vocational training for nearly three years.

Phương opened her own hairdresser at the beginning of this year, after many years of saving.

Because of her upbringing in a poor rural area, she understands and sympathises with poor people, so wants to help them in her career.

After a great deal of thinking, she decided to hang a ‘Free-of-charge haircut for the elderly, people with disabilities and poor children’ sign in front of her shop.

“I saw that many poor and handicapped people live in my area. Many parents have to work far from home and their children live with grandparents in poor conditions. So I launched the initiative with hope to give a little help to encourage them in life,” said Phương.

Phương’s family and employees support her idea and the salon offers the special service to five people each day.

When she has free time, she and her employees go to some households or schools to offer haircuts to poor people and poor students.

When they first saw Phương’s sign offering free-of-charge services, many people did not believe in her goodwill and suspected it was an advertisement for her business. But after seeing that the free haircuts were no marketing gimmick and here to stay, they began to feel great admiration for her.

Nguyễn Văn Lộc, 56, who lives in Hồng Lộc Commune, said he and other local residents were grateful to Phương and other workers in her salon.

“They all work with their heart. The service is free, but they still cut very carefully. We love their hearts,” said Lộc.

When Phương worked in Hà Nội, she also gave free haircuts to orphans at the SOS Children’s Village and people with disabilities at social sponsor centres.

She has even gone to remote mountainous provinces such as Yên Bái and Hà Giang to offer the free work.

“Despite my busy work, I’ve never thought about stopping offering free-of-charge haircuts to disadvantaged people,” she said. — VNS