We finally made it to Vietnam! After nearly a day of traveling, we touched down in an uncharacteristically cool Ho Chi Minh City. We were lucky to have a contact named Alan, a former employee of SJU and a Vietnam Vet pick us up at the airport. I still could not believe that I was actually in Vietnam. All the way on the other side of the world, a totally new country; it is amazing.
One of the challenges we faced early on, and this may seem funny, is crossing the streets. When you have hundred of motorbikes (Vespa's) some cars, the occasional bus and bicycle riders barreling down the street with no stop signs or stop lights, it makes you take a step back onto the sidewalk and think if you really need to cross the street or not. You would think that after the first few trips across the street you would get the hang of it; but no. Every time we cross a street is a big challenge that takes a minute or so in preparation. I've started to get somewhat comfortable with it, kind of just taking one quick glance and going, weaving my way in and out of motorbikes (a very literal statement at that), but i must stand behind and make sure Dr. Sama and Alina make it across too.
When I woke up this morning for our first full day here I couldn't help but think of Robin Williams next to me yelling, "GOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAMMMMMMM." The jet lag took its toll and I was wide awake at 6 in the morning with only 4 hours of sleep. The first day was a good one though. We went to Cu Chi, which was about an hour and a half drive north of District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City. A representative from Nike picked us up at our hotel and took us to the Women's Union in Cu Chi, where they have a microloan program. It was amazing to hear the stories that the leader of the Women's Union had to share. A lot of the aspects of her microloan program are related to the practices of GLOBE at SJU. An amazing statistic was that since the program began in 1998, the Women's Union was able to lift 6,000 individuals out of poverty. An even more amazing statistic is that these 6,000 individuals come from the 10,000 borrowers the Women's Union has had since 1998.
After our little meeting, we were able to go and visit a borrower of the Women's Union at her home. We were able to see this lady's operations for making rice paper. In a small hut 3 feet by 6 feet in size, this one lady made 10,000 rice papers per day. DAY. It was all very amazing to just watch this lady do her job, but I was caught by surprise when the lady got up from her station and handed me the instruments she uses to make the paper. Our translator told me that I was to give making rice paper a try. I was nervous, excited and anxious. (I would add a picture of me making rice paper, but lovely Vietnam is not accepting my laptop charger in any of the outlets, so you're going to have to wait until i return to the states) It was such an amazing experience making rice paper. Making rice paper for 3 minutes showed me how hard of a worker this lady is, and to think she is only making $3 per day doing it.
I learned a lot on this very first day in Vietnam. Most importantly how hard of workers people are here. From morning until night, these people are working at 110%. They are never slacking and never taking breaks.
Until next time,
Marco
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