VIA Nho Vietnam Alumni Newsletter (Winter 2007)

8/14/2019 VIA Nho Vietnam Alumni Newsletter (Winter 2007)

1/9

Nho VietnamAn Update for Alumni and Friends of the Vietnam Program

Volume III, Issue I Winter 2007

Alumni Create Academic Ties to VietnamAlumni Peter Zinoman

(90) and Davig Biggs (93)

build U.S - Vietnam ties as

faculty of UC Berkeley and

Riverside.

Left: Peter Zinoman shares his VIA experience at VIAs 15th Anniversary in Vietnam reception.

Right: David Biggs and students from last years UC Riverside summer travel study program in

Hue (Photo by David Biggs).

Vietnam Alumni Focus Academic Paths on VietnamMitch Aso, 99-00University of Wisconsin-Madison,History of Science Department

Research interest: Health andenvironmental changes in Southern

Vietnam during the colonial period, in

particular, on rubber plantations.

Va Cun, 04University of California-Berkeley,Group in Asian StudiesResearch interest: Gender and human

rights in contemporary Vietnam, in

particular, on young female migrant

workers in Ho Chi Minh City

sweatshops.

Kristy Kelly, 92-96University of Wisconsin-Madison,Department of Educational Policy

StudiesResearch Interest: Dissertation is pre-

liminarily titled Learning to Mainstream

Gender in Vietnam - Where Equity

Meets Locality in UN Development

Policy - a sociology of gender study that

asks questions about citizenship and na-

tionhood in relation to gender equality.

Jack Merchant, 02-03University of Michigan, Center forSoutheast Asian StudiesResearch Interest: Vietnamese history,

predominately late 18th and early 19th

century, specifically through the lenses

of poetry and literature. Thesis

concerns Truyen Kieu, the 18thcentury Vietnamese literature move-

ment, the feminine role in literature

and what this says about women in

Vietnamese society during this period.

Diane Fox, 00University of Washington,Department of Anthropology; Hamil-ton College, Scholar in ResidenceResearch Interest: The long-term

environmental and health consequenc-

es of war; oral histories.

In 1990, Peter Zinoman was one of the

first three volunteers sent to VIAsnewest country program, Vietnam.

Today, Peter is a southeast Asian history

professor at UC Berkeley and director of

the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

Last year, Peter helped launch the

Journal of Vietnamese Studies (JVS).

JVS is a new journal that promotes and

publishes original social science and

humanities research about Vietnamese

history, politics, culture and society,

as well as Vietnam-related topics that

have traditionally been set apart from

mainstream area studies scholarship

such as the Vietnamese diaspora and theVietnam War.

According to Peter, the idea to found

JVS grew out of an observation that

although Vietnamese Studies has been

growing rapidly since the late 1980s the

field did not possess its own academic

journal. I had been troubled by the

absence of a scholarly journal devoted to

Vietnam Studies since Yale Universitys

journal The Vietnam Forum shut down in

the mid-1990s, said Peter.

With a colleague at UC Riverside,

Mariam Lam, Peter raised grant money

for the project, approached University

California Press about publishing the

journal and set up an administrative of-

fice at UC Berkeley.According to Peter, the presence of

a journal is important to a field since it

provides scholars with a forum to publish

their research. In addition, the avail-

ablity of an academic forum is especially

crucial for young scholars who need to

publish in order to get jobs and secure

tenure in a very competitive academic

market.

David Biggs, a fellow alumni who

volunteered for one year in 1993, has

also created ties between Vietnam and

his university, UC Riverside (UCR). David

studied southeast Asian history at the

University of Washington (1996-2000)

and undertook field research in Vietnam

through a Fulbright scholarship (2000-2002). Since 2004, David has taught

courses such as Vietnam and its Wars:

Modern Vietnamese History as assistant

professor in the history department at

UCR.

Last year, David launched UCR

Cont. on Page 3


2/9

By Diane Fox, 00

In 1997, while I was talking with a

student in Hue, I was surprised by a

sharp whack to my shoulder. Why hasnt

your country done anything to help the

people it hurt during the war? my as-

sailant wanted to know. She was thinking

in particular of the people hurt by Agent

Orange. So much for easy stereotypes

of the refined and demure Hue woman,and the easy response visiting Americans

report when they try to bring up war:

Oh, that was a long time ago.

Like landmines and unexploded ordi-

nance (UXO), Agent Orange is a vestige

from that long ago that continues to

cause harm in the present, both to the

land and health of Vietnam and to rela-

tions between the US and Vietnam. In

2002 Ambassador Burkhart called it the

one significant ghost from the war still

troubling the improvement of relations;

his Vietnamese counterpart called it

chemical warfare. The figures are hard

to calculate for a number of reasons,

but a minimum of 10% of the land of the

south was denuded by the chemicals,

including roughly 30% of the upland for-

ests, 30-50% of the coastal mangroves,

and 50% of some provinces. Between two

to seven million people were exposed

to the spray, and unknowable numbers

affected by the dioxin it contained as an

impurity. Though controversies remain,

dioxin has been linked by international

and US government agencies to several

forms of cancer as well as troubles of

the endocrine, nervous, circulatory and

reproductive systems.

My first response to my interlocutors

question was to write an article for Viet

Nam News based on interviews with Dr.

Nguyen Viet Nhan (see box on the next

page about the Chris Jenkins Fund), who

at that time was writing a dissertation

on the link between birth defects and

genetic change. My second response was

to help translate a book by the late Dr.

Le Cao Dai, then head of the Vietnamese

Red Cross Agent Orange Victims Fund.

With the help of Dr. Dai and the Inter-

national Federation of Red Cross, I then

conducted interviews with families the

Red Cross called the disabled poor, in-

cluding those thought to be affected by

Agent Orange. In the meantime, I had

gone back to school in anthropology, and

those interviews became the basis of a

dissertation and three published articles.

This year both the Ford Founda-

tion and Ambassador Michael Marine

have declared their intention to make

progress on Agent Orange, and military

to military cooperation is underway to

clean up the dioxin remaining around

the airbase in Da Nang. (While most of

the dioxin has long since washed down

the slopes of the Truong Son and into

the world ecosystem, it remains con-

centrated in certain hot spots, such as

around bases, where Agent Orange was

intensively and repeatedly sprayed.)

Charles Bailey, Representative of Viet-

nam and Thailand at the Ford Founda-tion, says greater US public awareness

and engagement with the issue would

help move things along. The Agent

Orange Education Project and Resource

Center is trying to foster just thatand

thats where we would love to invite any

former VIA volunteers who have an inter-

est in this issue to participate in whatev-

er way you can, be it large or small. On

the next page you will find some ideas.

We welcome others!

Vietnam, Agent Orange and anInvitation to VIA Alumni

Diane Fox, 00, is coordi-

nating the Agent Orange

Education Project and

Resource Center. What

follows is an introduction

to that work, and an invi-tation to those who would

like to be involved.

Left: Families in

Thai Binh affected

by Agent Orange.

Below: Diane Fox

presenting on the

impact of Agent

Orange (Photos by

Diane Fox).


3/9

Raise the issue at meetings you attendthat touch on related issues, for ex-

ample: Environmental (environmental

impact of war on site and linked to do-mestic); Issues at the points of manufac-

ture and testing; Health (the long term

health consequences of war; opportuni-

ties to address them); Religious (ethics,

responsibility, compassion); Civic groups

(eg: Rotary works on UXO issues; suggest

Agent Orange as well).

Host or make contact for an informa-tional or fundraising event in yourhome, workplace, community group,

school, art museum, religious or other

organization, using some of the materi-

als above.Speak with or write a letterto yourcongressman, pointing out the im-

portance of this issue for US-Vietnam

relations (Let us know if you want to be

contacted for more targeted efforts in

the future).

Help us improve our website or suggestplaces we can apply to fund our work.

Contribute to the Chris Jenkins Fund(see below) or other groups on our web-

site and in our fact sheet.

Suggest (and help organize, if you can!)other approaches and projects.

The Chris Jenkins Memorial Fund

The Chris Jenkins memorial fund honors the memory of Chris Jenkins, 66,

former Vietnam volunteer and long time mentor to several generations of

Vietnam volunteers, beloved by many for his gentle spirit, warm twinkle, and

life-long work in Vietnam and the US for justice, peace, and public health.

The fund is dedicated to improving the health and living conditions of poor

people in and near Hue, a city of special significance to Chris and his wife,

former VIA board member Tran Khanh Tuyet.

Donors can designate their funds for one of the following projects:

1. Support for the work of Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhan in Hue who, as Deanof Physiology at Hue Medical School and Director of the Office for Genetic

Counseling and Disabled Children, arranges for surgeries and rehabilitation for

families who cannot afford them, runs a school for blind children, a workshop

for the deaf, a school for special education and project to integrate the dis-

abled into public schools, as well as his genetic counseling office, for which he

needs equipment. More info about these projects can be found online at

www.ogcdc.org.

2. Support to a village near Hue for small income-generating loans, house

repair, education, rehabilitation or medicine.

For more information, please contact Diane Fox at [email protected],

or at 917 232 5109.

Summer Travel Study program at

Hue Universitys College of Foreign

Languages and will be running the

program again this year. The program

includes a course on Modern Vietnam-

ese History, Vietnamese culture and

language, and short trips to historical

sites.Davis is proud of helping to provide

positive educational experiences for

his students, especially coming from

UCR where classes are large and stu-

dents receive less personal attention.

This study program is limited to 20

students and language tutorials have a

teacher-student ratio of 1 to 3 or less.

In addition, David sees the program as

offering heritage students an exciting

way to visit Vietnam. UCR has the

greatest number of students of south-

east Asian heritage for any research

university in the country. David hopesto develop an endowment and private

contributions to create travel contri-

butions for students on financial aid:

I hope that the program will appeal

to Vietnamese American communities,

and perhaps they may be interested

in supporting the program to benefit

Vietnamese heritage students.

Issues 1 and 2 of JVS are available

at: http://ucpressjournals.com. More

information about UCR Vietnam Sum-

mer Travel Program is available at:

Alumni Connections toVietnam (cont.)

Speakers: From the perspectives ofscience, anthropology, the environment,

and public health.

Videos: Six different videos fromVietnam, the US and Canada, ranging

from 28 minutes to an hour. Some of the

videos focus more on families in Viet-

nam, some on the remediation efforts

of Americans and others, some on the

lawsuit currently in US courts. Some

are meant to shock, others to promote

reflection. All call for action.

4 exhibits: 1. Suffering and Smiles,black and white photos by Doan Duc

Minh, Saigon. 2. Silent Spring: Agent

Orange, 40 years of black and whitephotos by Japanese journalist Goro

Nakamura; Vietnam, US, and elsewhere.

3. 30 posters from a contest run by the

Vietnamese artists association, along

with a menu of works from other art-

ists in Vietnam and the US. 4. Agent

Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam,

black and white photos by Phillip Jones

Griffiths. (Each of these exhibits can

stand alone or be supported by continu-

ous loop videos, small photo albums,

stories, and ways for viewers to contrib-

ute their thoughts).

Other: Website at www.warlegacies.org,fact sheet and resource list.

What the ResourceCenter Can Offer:

Some Things You Can Do:

An Invitation to Alumni (cont.)

Reflection and smiles in Quang Tho (Photo by

Diane Fox).

A mother and son living in Dong Nai. (Photo

by Diane Fox).


4/9

Thank yous:

We couldntdo it without

you!

HCMC Holiday DinnerSpecial thanks to Fred Burke and hiswife, Loan, for hosting a Christmas

dinner for staff and current volun-

teers at their home in HCMC.

National Recruitment FairsOur incredible network of alumni

are helping us outreach to campuses

nationwide! This year, VIA attended

3 campus fairs for the first time:

Patty Esposito (New York Universty),

Virginia Player (Seattle University),

and Mitch Aso and My Linh Do (Univer-

sity of Madison, Wisconsin)

National InterviewsJohn Trien, Van Tran, Kristyn Ha,

Adam Briones, Diane Nguyen, Mai

Tran, Jack Bailey, Rachel Chaney,David Biggs, Adrian Khactu, Rommel

Calderwood, Patty Esposito, Sharla

Dodd, and James Vest

Hanoi Reunion and Justins FarewellAnn Le, Patrick Carpenter, Vinh

Nguyen, Amy Cherry, and Julie Vo

Tet Festival in San FranciscoPatricia Fieldsted, Jennie Mollica,

Paul Langner, Tom Burrow, Danielle

Bird-Robinson, and Daniel Mandell

Nho Vietnam ContributorsDiane Fox, Peter Zinoman, Jeff Bet-

tencourt, David Biggs, Kristi Smith,

Lillian Forsyth, and Amy Cherry

Special thanks to Patty Esposito andLorene Strand. Patty is helping VIAwith our Ford Foundation-funded

alumni survey. Loreneis creating atemplate for a post-specific teaching

and resource manual.

Measuring the Impact

VIA Conducts Alumni SurveyDid your VIA experience lead you to

an Asia-related career? Are you still

committed to public service? Do you

look back and think that youre a much

better person because of your VIA expe-

rience?These, or similiar questions, will be

posed to all VIA Vietnam alumni this year

through a project generously funded by

the Ford Foundation.

Beginning in the spring, VIA will con-

duct an online survey of approximately

200 former volunteers of the Vietnam

program. We recognize that in our 15

years of service, many acaemic paths,

career choices, and life directions have

been directly impacted by a VIA experi-

ence.

The purpose of this survey will be

to inform VIA of this impact, to gatheruseful information to apply for future

funding, and to create a stronger com-

munity for alumni to reconnect and

share resources.

Currently, VIA is in the process of col-

lecting and verifying email addresses. In

a couple months, a short online survey

will be emailed to you. For those who

are interested in more in-depth discus-

sions, we will also be asking for volun-

teers to participate in phone interviewsand regional focus groups.

We look forward to your participa-

tion. Thank you!

How You Can Help:

1. Tell friends from your VIA cohortthat were conducting a survey. Wemay not have their most up-to-dateemail addresses.

2. Complete the brief online survey tobe released in the spring.

3. Volunteer to participate in a phoneinterview or regional focus group.Focus groups will be conducted in NewYork and San Francisco. The New Yorkfocus group will be held Sunday, May20, 2007 from 10:30 am - 1 pm.

San Francisco Reunions:Asian American Films and Tet Festival

Coming Up3/17:

Once again, VIA isproud to be a co-present-

er for the San Francisco International

Asian American Film Festival, running

March 15-27, 2007.

This year, join VIA staff and alumni

for these two films on Saturday, March

17:

Saturday, March 17 at 2:45 pmNerakhoun: The Betrayal

Comprised of interviews, archival

footage, and verite sequences span-

ning two decades, this documentarya

collaboration between famed cinema-tographer Ellen Kuras and its primary

subject, Thavisouk Phrasavathuses

one familys emotional story to expose

the disastrous effects of U.S. involve-

ment in Laos. (AMC 1000 Van Ness)

Saturday, March 17 at 7:30 pmOh, Saigon

Accompanied by gripping images

from the war, OH, SAIGON is a compel-

ling documentary of how one refugee

family attempts to survive the physical

and emotional wounds of the conflict

in Vietnam by healing political differ-

ences, and by having faith in family.

(AMC 1000 Van Ness)

Last Month:On Sunday, February 11, Vietnam

alumni spanning 10 years (from 94 to

04) came out for Northern Vietnam-

ese eats and the annual San Francisco

Tet Festival in San Franciscos LittleSaigon neighborhood in the Tenderloin

district.


5/9

Introducing... Three New Posts in Vietnam!

Vietnam Plus

Post Description: This post is by far our most rural placement - Long My is toosmall to even be classified as a city! Vietnam Plus is a Belgian-French NGO

which operates community development and poverty reduction programs in

Vietnam.

VIAs Role: Jeff Bettencourt and Kristi Smith are our two brave volunteers atnew post Vietnam Plus in Long My district. Jeff and Kristi are responsible for

teaching English to local officials, high school teachers, and staff of Vietnam

Plus.

Long My District, Hau Giang Province

Post Description: Formerly the Nha Trang University of Fisheries, Nha TrangUniversity (NTU) only this past year dropped Fisheries in its move to

become a multidisciplinary institution. A majority of NTU students are from

families of fishermen and receive scholarships to attend NTU.

VIAs Role: Tom McAuliff and Janella Pennington, a husband and wife teamfrom Vermont, signed up to be the first VIA volunteers at the beautiful, sea-

side Nha Trang University. NTU began offering an English major only three

years ago. Tom and Janella teach English to 1st and 2nd year English majors

and co-teach continuing education courses with fellow VIetnamese teachers.

Nha Trang, Ninh Thuan Province

Can Tho University

Post Description: Can Tho University is the premier 4-year university of theMekong Delta, attracting the brightest and most talented students from its

17 provinces.

VIAs Role: Chioke Borgelt-Mose and Tambi Cork, both recent Stanford Uni-versity graduates, teach in the English department and Center for ForeignLanguages (CFL). At the CFL, Chioke and Tambi also work with the Mekong

1000 group, a government-sponsored program to prepare 1000 profession-

als from the Mekong Delta region for advanced study abroad. Chioke and

Tambi have facilitated discussions ranging from Proper Citation of Sources in

Academic Papers to Social Mixers.

Can Tho, Can Tho Province

In 2006, VIA opened three new posts in Southern Vietnam. This move

heralds an exciting direction for the Vietnam program - towards areas

with more need for native English speakers. Read about our newest

Vietnam posts and meet the volunteers who are posted there.

Nha Trang University


6/9

By Kristi Smith, 06

Jeff and I have been living in a small

town called Long My since late August.

It is in Hau Giang Province, about 90

minutes by bus from Can Tho City, thebig city of the Mekong Delta. It is a new

and very poor province and we are the

only westerners living in it.

As VIA volunteers, we teach English to

province officials, public school English

teachers, and the local staff of Vietnam

Plus. Vietnam Plus is a small French-

Belgium NGO, with entirely local staff

at a few posts in southern Vietnam and

Cambodia. They work primarily with the

poorest people in the province, providing

training in health, hygiene, agricultural

technology, alternative energy and envi-

ronmental resource management. Theyalso provide partial funding and materi-

als toward homes, outhouses, road and

bridge construction, livestock, bio-gas

systems, trees and produce.

At the moment, they are conducting

a scholarship program for the poorest

children in the community. In addition,

they create jobs and income for people

at sewing and handicraft collectives,

and in educational theatre. Theyre

very involved in the community at the

grass roots level. There are eight staff

members in the Long My office, and we

are also in close contact with BernardKervyn, Vietnam Plus director in Ho Chi

Minh City.

I love Long My. Its beautiful, despite

or perhaps because of the poverty in

the outlying areas. Most of the province

is rural and has not been built up into

concrete dominated cities, many of the

local homes and bridges are constructed

of natural materials. Homes and farms

proliferate along the thoroughfares

because there isnt much dry land. The

area is a maze of small rivers, canals,

and wetlands with tropical vegetation.

Long My is the only real town in the dis-

trict, with about 10 streets, and a large

bustling market. This is an agricultureand fishing based community, life begins

and ends early.

Life is simple for us here. Theres lots

of good cheap food in the street stalls.

Ive been trying to make at least one

meal a day at home now that we have a

kitchen. The coffee grown in Vietnam

is some the best Ive ever had, and they

prepare it strong and dense, almost like

a drip espresso. Mmmmm. Ive finally

learned how to make a decent cup.

Its been an odd mix of difficult and

easy here. You stand next to the toilet

and pour cold buckets over yourselfinstead of showering, and hand wash

clothing in big plastic bowls. We do

have a flush toilet and a refrigerator,

luxuries compared to what most folks

have here. Though we might be the only

people in town without a TV.

Often we are the very first westerners

that people have seen, and are minor

celebrities. There is a disparity here

in the way that men and women are

traditionally treated that is not so preva-

lent in cities where people have more

exposure to the outside world. Family

is important, and its wonderful to bearound the old people and children. Its

a small town with a real sense of com-

munity. People sit around for hours over

iced coffee and drinks. There seem to

be more coffee shops in Long My than

Berkeley, CA!

What stands out most for me is how

incredibly friendly, kind and generous

the people are here. I have never in my

life seen so many smiling faces, heard

so much laughter, and been treated like

family by so many near strangers. Even

the poorest will go out of their way to

serve you food and drink, no matter howmuch you may protest or wish to pay

for them. I invite means My treat.

After 50 years on the planet, I am finally

learning the true meaning of generosity,

in a place where I thought I was the one

coming to give.

For more information about Viet-

nam Plus, please go to www.vnplus.org.

Jeff and Kristi were mentioned in their

bulletin, www.vietnamplus.org/en/

doc/2006-07-09_quarterly_bulletin.pdf.

Vietnam Plus staff on tour of village projects.

Here, a mushroom patch.

Smiles and Laughter:

Kristi Smith and Jeff

Bettencourt are our first

volunteers at the Vietnam

Plus post in Long My in

the Mekong Delta. Here,

Kristi reflects on the sim-

ple life.

100 Invitations in Long My

Jeff becomes fast friends with this Long Myfamily.

Kristi and Mr. Thanh of VN Plus visit the new

house being built for this father of three.

Truc and Chi. Truc is a student of Kristis and

Chi makes the best rice plate in town!

Kristi and friend, Truc.


7/9

Dance rehearsals,

By Lillian Forsyth, 06

Teachers Day is a very important

holiday in Vietnam. This is a sentence

I had heard many times from fellow

teachers and from my students. How-

ever, any amount of warning could not

have prepared me for the scale to which

An Giang University (AGU) celebrates

this holiday.

Teachers Day in Vietnam falls on

November 20th every year. This day has

traditionally been a day for students to

thank their teachers with gifts, cards,

and visits to their homes. Teachers are

considered some of the most important

people in Vietnamese society, second

only to the parents. Knowledge is highly

respected, and as the purveyors of this

knowledge, teachers are on somewhat ofa pedestal.

Although Teachers Day is officially

celebrated on November 20th, we began

preparing over a month in advance. At

AGU there is an extravagant ceremony

on the morning of Teachers Day, with

dance and song performances by teach-

ers and students, as well as speeches by

the rector of the university and other

key personalities.

But how do they choose which lucky

students and teachers will earn the privi-

lege of dancing and singing in front of

the entire school and the local peoplescommittee, you may ask. This process

begins about a week before Teachers

Day, with almost nightly dance and song

performances by students in a sort of

competition: beginning with the depart-

ments, then up to the level of each

faculty, and then finally to the last round

where the best performances of the

university will be selected by a group of

strict judges.

The performances, in addition to

taking much of the students time and

energy to prepare, also include elabo-

rate costumes and choreography. For a

small example, my third year students

had a traditional dance performance

with 15 students, props such as lanterns,

books, traditional instruments, and five

giant boat-like structures that stood

around the tiny stage at various points.

The singing is either accompanied by a

live band or by CD. In either case, the

music is so deafeningly loud that you can

not hear yourself sing, and would never

know if you are singing off key or not

(this was clear from some of the painful

performances.)

As for me, because the dance that I

was a part of had two foreign teachers,

it was of course chosen to showcase forthe entire university (although I dont

think it was actually the best dance.)

This meant that at 6:30 am on November

20th I was standing behind the outdoor

stage dressed in a hot pink ao ba ba

wearing a traditional conical hat, and

trying to control the violent shaking of

my nervous arms and legs. We pulled

off the performance with only minor

mishaps (dropping the hats, etc.) and

of course the crowd cheered for the

foreigners who were able to dance in the

traditional Vietnamese style.

The rest of the day seemed to be a

big party for all of the teachers. Many

students wanted photographs with us,

gave us cards, flowers, and their wishes

of good luck for the future. I, unfortu-

nately, had to teach in the afternoon

when most teachers had the day off. In

fact it ended up being one of the most

interesting classes Ive had, with the

students explaining the significance of

Teachers Day, and how it has changed

recently to become more focused on

performance and commercialism. De-

spite this fact, they asserted that the

importance of teachers in Vietnamese

society had not diminished in the slight-

est, but that the form of appreciationhad merely changed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon

singing traditional Vietnamese songs

about teachers. The students asked me

to sing an English song about teachers,

and I realized that I didnt know any!

How embarrassing. It was interesting

to see even these adult students get

excited about their elementary school

teachers, and made me realize that the

work I am doing here may mean a lot

more to my students than I know.

Lillian Forsyth, 1st-year

volunteer at An Giang

University, reflects on

Teachers Day in Vietnam,

an annual celebration and

rite of passage for most

VIA Vietnam volunteers.

Costumes, and Karaoke,

Oh my!

VIA volunteers at An Giang University, Lillian Forsyth and Tyler Watts (far left), getting their

15 minutes of fame in the annual Teachers Day celebration. Next step: Broadway!


8/9

Accidental Friends on the Sapa Trail

By Amy Cherry, 05-06

Its funny how the most frightening

events of your life, those you try des-

perately to avoid, can turn out to be the

most rewarding experiences youve ever

had. Last May, my two friends, Patty and

Amanda (also VIA vols) and I decided to

drive our motorbikes from Hanoi to Sapa.

It was on this trip that I was faced with a

situation I NEVER wanted to find myself

in. But there I was, all alone, in terrible

pain, and feeling more vulnerable than

Id ever felt in my life.

Heres how it happened...

On the second day of our trip, it

started to rain lightly. Patty was first,

Amanda was in the middle, and I was

bringing up the rear. A few minutes later

the rain started to come down more

steadily, making the roads slippery. As I

rounded the second half of an s-curve, I

suddenly felt my bike slipping out from

under me. My body turned sideways, and

I watched the mountains and trees twist

into a blur. My bike hit the ground, and

together we slid about 2 meters across

the pavement. My bike continued on

without me for another 4 meters or so

and came to a halt in the grass.

There I was...sitting in the middle of

the road watching my two friends drive

around the corner. I stood up and fever-

ishly tried to wave them down, but they

were too focused on their own safety to

look back. So, on they went without me.

In spite of the thrashing pain in my left

knee, my first thought was, Im alive. I

can walk. This is good!

As I hobbled over to pick up my bike,

two young men rushed over to help me.

One of them picked up my bike while the

other one ran up the hill, grabbed some

leaves, crushed them, and applied them

to my bleeding hand. We had no means

by which to communicate because I

hadnt learned Vietnamese like I was

supposed to. A smile and a nod would

have to do.

Concerned about being left behind by

my friends, I assured the boys that I was

okay and started to get on my bike. The

boys smiled, waved, and started to walk

away as an older gentleman approached

me. I assured him that I was okay, too.

Then, I noticed that the front wheel of

my bike was pointing to the right, and

the handlebars were pointing to the left.

So, I called the man back and pointed to

my handlebars. He tried to bend them

back with brute force, but that didnt

work, so he pointed for me to take the

bike back to his house. However, when

I tried to put the bike into neutral, I

realized that the gear lever was smashed

up into the engine and wouldnt budge.

Things were getting worse by the min-

ute, and my friends STILL hadnt come

back for me.

Now a small crowd was gathering.

Another man arrived with some tools.

Well, one tool. He also had a metal rod

and a rock. The two men started pulling

apart my bike, bit by bit. As soon as they

would take off one part, theyd notice

another broken part. At first, I thought I

was doomed. But, Id heard many times

that everyone in the countryside knows

how to repair a Minsk because they areoften used by the farmers. So, I decided

to have complete faith that they would

restore my bike. I watched in awe as a

bigger crowd gathered to oversee the

repairs and to gawk at me: the western

female who towered over them all. Some

of them touched my skin. All of them

smiled, and sometimes they would talk

to each other, look at me, and laugh. I

could do nothing but smile and have

faith in them. And I did. They smashed

parts of my bike against the road, they

beat it with the rock, they argued over

what was the best way to do it.When all of the smashing and bang-

ing finally stopped, the two men stood

up and proudly smiled at me. The one

who had done most of the work showed

me his grease-laden hands, then wan-

dered off to clean them. The one who

did most of the pointing and bossing

around hopped on my bike to test drive

it. Everyone smiled and cheered as he

drove around in a circle. They watched

my face to see if I was pleased. Indeed,

I was.

I inquired about how much money I

should give them. They teased, 100,000dong, no 200,000 dong! and laughed.

As the man with the now-clean hands re-

turned, they joked with him about how

much he would charge me. He shook his

head at them, walked up to me, smiled,

and extended his hand... Khong tien.

Cac ban. - No money... Friends. As

I shook his hand, I smiled and fought

back tears. I will forever remember that

mans humble nature and unassuming

kindness. For him, it was just another

day. For me, it was a defining moment in

my life.

As I threw my leg over my bike and

waved my goodbyes, I noticed one of the

men pointing up the hill. There were my

two friends. Theyd finally come back

for me. I was happy to see them, but sad

that they didnt get to experience the

wonderful moments I shared with these

men.

I often think about this experience,

and I share it with as many people as

I can. I dont think anyone will ever

understand how that one moment pro-

foundly affected the way I view

humanity.

Amy Cherry, a current two-year volunteer at Hanoi University and interim in-country represen-

tative, on her beloved Minsk on the ride from Hanoi to Sapa.


9/9

Vietnam Program Post Round-UpNew Posts 2006-07:Nha Trang University, Department of English

Can Tho University, Department of English

Vietnam Plus, Long My District, Hau Giang Province

New Posts 2007-08:Hanoi School of Public Health

Friends of Hue Foundation Xuan Phu Childrens Shelter, Hue

An Giang Dong Thap Alliance for the Prevention of Trafficking, a Project of

the Pacific Links Foundation, Long Xuyen, An Giang Province

Continuing Posts:Center for Agricultural and Ecological Studies, Hanoi

Danang University, Center for Continuing Education

Hue University, College of Foreign Languages

Dalat University, Dept. of Community Development and Social Work

An Giang University, Long Xuyen, An Giang Province

Total Number of Volunteers in 2006-07: 14Total Number of Volunteers in 2007-08: 17

VIA and Institute of Anthropology:A Friendship through the Years!

In 1998, Kate Dunham, a former

China volunteer and Program Director,

returned to Vietnam to help VIA open

new post, the Institute of Ethnology.

Nearly a decade later, VIA and the

Institute (now the Institute of Anthro-

pology or IA) have come to a sad but

mutual agreement to end our 9-year

partnership.

Dr. Hoan, current IA director, and

his team of staff and researchers have

been dear friends to VIA and our volun-

teers through these many years. Many

of IAs researchers have completed

their advanced degrees abroad; thus,

the need for a dedicated VIA volunteer

to teach English at IA is no longer as

great.

VIA sends our best wishes to Dr.

Hoan and IA as they move forward with

their initiatives to advance understand-

ing of socio-anthropological issues

in Vietnam among Vietnamese and

abroad.

I think that everyone is sincerely

very appreciative of and grateful for

VIAs presence. Everyone is well-aware

of what they stand to gain by learning

English and for this reason they makea great effort to attend class and are

diligent workers. Kitty Steel, 00

(Quoted in 2000)

Everyone, Dr Hoan and all the re-

searchers at the Institute were always

as welcoming to me as possible during

my two years there. I learned so much

about Vietnam from them and made so

many good friends. Ill never forget

my time at IA. (Kate Dunham, 98)

The Institute of Anthropology recently relo-

cated to its new office in Ba Dinh district.

Farewell tothe Captain!

In early December 2006, VIA bid asad farewell to Justin Hart, the Viet-

nam programs in-country represen-

tative for nearly the last four years.

Justin, a trained social worker and

former international volunteer with

Australian Volunteers International

(AVI), came to VIA with over 5 years

of experience living and working in

Vietnam.

Justin moves on to an exciting

opportunity in Phnom Penh, teaching

English and providing counseling to

AVI volunteers.

We wish you the best of luck,

Justin!

VIAs gather in Hanoi to bid farewell to In-

Country Representative Justin Hart.

VIA Nho Vietnam Alumni Newsletter (Winter 2007)

Documents

Transcript of VIA Nho Vietnam Alumni Newsletter (Winter 2007)