As I read Marco's and Alina's posts, I relive the last few days' experiences through their eyes, and understand the true value of the GLOBE Student Fellows Program.  To experience the various faces of poverty, as well as the helping hands that work so hard to improve conditions for those living at the margin of modern society, is an extraordinary opportunity for these young people, as it is for me.  We have learned so much, and in doing so, we increase our awareness about the "other" in the world. We get outside of our own perceptions to challenge them in the context of a new framework.  Everything here is different, yet, as Alina wisely said yesterday, we are ultimately the same.  It is a gift to be here....

All readers of this blog have no doubt grasped the enormity of the kindnesses here. It seems the less people have to give, the more they give.  It makes us realize how fortunate we are, and how much more we need to do to make the world a more just one -- one in which goods are distributed more equitably, and peace is the byword of all encounters.  This last point was driven home yesterday as I watched our friend Alan, a Vietnam vet, meet the father of one of his students who had been a Viet Cong soldier during the war, and who had fought against Alan in a battle they both remembered vividly.  The meetng was pre-arranged, and Alan was clearly anxious about it.  But as someone who came of age in the late 60s and early 70s, witnessing that scene yesterday was, for me, the epitome of grace and the best evidence of why we need to educate our children and our children's children about the value of every human being's life, without regard to differences in culture, customs, or perspectives.  If only....

While I am less optimistic about GLOBE's ability to operate here in Vietnam, since the Daughters would likely have to register as an NGO with the government to work with us, and the red tape may be constraining, it is nonetheless a most instructive trip.  And there are opportunities here for partnering and cooperation that could involve GLOBE.  In speaking with Habitat for Humanity today, the microfinance director made it clear that student interns from GLOBE could be valuable for their organization, as would any tools or instruction materials we could share regarding literacy training. I explained that St. John's is in the process of launching a national literacy training center on campus, to train the trainers domestically, and that there may be useful aids derived from that effort that we could share. They were quite happy and also very impressed with GLOBE.  Every visit has taught us so much, and the students have soaked it all in and ask very good questions. 

To describe life here in Ho Chi Minh city (or Saigon, as most natives still call it) is nearly impossible.  Navigating the sidewalks is a challenge, as you sidestep crouched merchants who are busily selling their wares or fruits, or eating a bowl of pho with chopsticks.  Crossing the street is literally life-threatening, although I have to say, we are getting rather fearless about it. This may not be a good thing! The markets are hot and crowded, filled with color and smells that overpower the senses.  The people are kind and also shrewd business people, eager to increase their incomes through sales to westerners, and driving a hard bargain in the process.  As mentioned in a previous blog, they are a people focused forward, on the future, on progress.  Construction is everywhere you look. This is a city on the move and motion is everywhere.  Yet I harbor this nagging concern that the very poor, who lurk in every corner and alley and exburb of the city, may get left behind in the lustful pursuit of this concept of "progress" -- which in the end would not be progress at all. 

I am so grateful for all the wonderful people we have met, from Alan and Spring who greeted us at the airport with huge bouquets of flowers, to Sr. Kim and her fellow sisters at the Lovers of the Holy Cross, to the women borrower of the Women's Union in Cu Chi who generously let us impose on her production of rice paper to try our hand at it, to the taxi driver who, noting I had given him too much, returned the excess bills (would THAT happen in NYC???), to the Habitat for Humanity staff who hosted us warmly and shared their expertise. And of course the Daughters of Charity and their many good works -- the Embroidery Club, the HIV/Aids home (what an amazing and hopeful place, yet filled with pain...), the Single Mother's Home, and the credit union (these last two we have yet to visit).  We are welcome guests everywhere, and we are blessed to be in such good company.

More later, I hope. Keep us in your hearts and prayers as we continue our adventure...