The poverty rate among Hanoian blind people has been dropped to 17.5% as the visually-impaired people in the city have received loans, job training and job offers from the local authority in recent times. The city has given loans worth over VND14 billion ($666,700) to about 10,000 visually-impaired people and provided jobs for 13,600 others in the past time. Besides this, nearly 1,400 visually impaired people have received vocational training courses, said Chairman of the Hanoi Blind’s Association Le Trung Quyet. Many of them have operated their businesses successfully. For example, Mr. Tran Viet Hoan in Hoai Duc district has earned VND150 million ($7,140) per year, or Mr. Hoang Duc Thanh in Dong Anh district has earned roughly VND500 million ($23,800) per year. Mr. Quyet also said the association plans to open 30 vocational training classes, providing job consultancy for 70% of association members in the coming time. This helps reducing the yearly poverty rate by 3.5% – 4%. (vietnamplus.vn Oct 7)
