She relies mainly on touch to do her job as she has severe astigmatism and cannot see much, about 1/10 in one eye and 2/10 in the other. Her father and brother are nearly blind likewise.

About two years ago, her father brought home a flyer after attending a meeting of their community’s association for the blind, which was recruiting people with severely impaired vision to be trained as massage therapists for a new studio in Hanoi.

She seized the opportunity and applied.

“I didn’t know what it would lead to. I was curious and realized the project’s mission was meaningful.”

After six months of training and classes at a local hospital to get the pertinent certificate, He started working at Just Massage in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh District.

Her new place of employment was opened in 2007 as a collaborative venture by Action for the City and a US-based organization.

The two NGOs selected visually impaired, unemployed young people from across Hanoi, arranged for professional therapists to train the raw recruits, and offered them work in the new studio.

In keeping with its name and purpose, everything at Just Massage is above board.

Then there’s the added meaning given by studio manager Tran Nha Thanh that “Just” also stands for “Justice.”

As it’s for the common good, all of the profits is used to train other young adults in the art of massage. “That allows us to make a greater social impact,” says Thanh.

Nine therapists are working there at the moment, offering Shiatsu, Swedish massage, and other services including aromatherapy.

Shiatsu involves applying light to medium pressure along channels or “meridians” to balance and free the flow of physical and mental energy.

It’s quite different from a Swedish therapeutic massage, which uses aromatic oil and long flowing strokes to reduce stress, relieve muscle tension and relax the whole person, body and mind.

When Just Massage opened two years ago, most of the customers were foreigners looking for a good massage and to help a noble cause at the same time.

“We didn’t have an advertising budget so it was all word of mouth,” says manager Thanh.

Counting the customers who come several times a week or month, the studio now gets around 700 customers a month.

Thanh says it took several months for Just Massage to break even, let alone run at a profit as it does these days.

And even with the studio’s higher profile, there are still people who are mistaken about its purpose.

“In Vietnam, a massage studio can have negative connotations attached to it,” says Thanh.

Such is Just Massage’s growing reputation that Thanh has started getting requests to train therapists for different spas and resorts.

Thanh says she has had to turn them down as the studio doesn’t have the wherewithal to accommodate them and is still looking for additional funding from philanthropists, NGOs and other sources.

Another therapist at Just Massage is 27-year-old Le Thi Thuy Dung, who came there from another studio.

Dung said at Just Massage, she has learned how to greet and chat with customers and make their experience as enjoyable as possible.

Jane Hughes, country director of another US-based NGO in Hanoi, is a regular customer at Just Massage.

“Here you are treated in a friendly way,” Jane says. “They always ask you to sit down and have a drink before and after your massage. It’s all a serene, warm feeling.”

Just Massage is located at 12 D2A Van Phuc Street, Ba Dinh District.

Reported by Huong Le