Is it possible that our trip is winding down to an end? It feels like yesterday when we arrived, gawking and lost in a haze of jet lag -- and yet sometimes, it seems like weeks that we have been here, so adept have we gotten at crossing the harrowing, motor-bike filled streets and so many have been our encounters and strange experiences. This is just one of the many paradoxes that come to mind when I think of this place, this journey... A journey for which I am already nostalgic, while of course aching a bit to be home where all is familiar and my friends and family, much missed, in close touch.... This place of tastes that are simultaneously sweet and sour, of movement that is simultaneously quick and slow, of progress that is at once fast-paced and inevitably delayed, of people who are unbelievably kind, and yet incredibly determined to make a profit from you whenever they can. This is a wonderful, exciting and welcoming place, with such promise, and so much to lose if that promise goes unfulfilled. If we can do our small part to bridge the gap between those who are wealthy, and those who have so little, and between the east and the west, we have then made an impact of which we can be proud. Whatever the outcome, we have learned so much, that my mind is exploding with all the possibilities.
The last week has been a grand success in terms of our key objectives for this journey. We made so many terrific connections -- first with Habitat for Humanity on Monday, who are keenly interested in our program and how we might help them with their micro-credit efforts (the loans for which are used for the poor to improve their homes). They are especially eager to learn what we can share with them about financial literacy training, so our newest initiatve at STJ in that regard will be a great source of information and inspiration for them. The afternoon at the Single Mothers Home was a fascinating visit. We learned that in Vietnam, there are more abortions than live births, due to the negative stigma associated with pregnancy out of wedlock. Many young mothers have nowhere to turn, and seek late-term abortions that are often unsafe. This home, run by the Daughters, provides a safe haven until the child is born and a bit afterwards (we witnessed one young mother return to the home with her newborn just after we arrived). While there, they are taught basic skills that they may then translate into household skills or business skills when they return to their, often rural, homes. The Daughters and staff also work with the mothers' families to accept them back, with their child in most cases. We purchased a few items that the young mothers had made and sell for a small profit. The Daughters seem to believe that there may be a good application of GLOBE for these women, and we are excited to pursue this opportunity. A special ed teacher from the US (Vietnamese-amercian), Dawn, who is volunteering with the Daughters (she is ending her year there in June) was particularly helpful in translating our program goals for the Daughters and sharing her excitement about our program with them. This bright young woman was a wonderful assist for us, and is a delightful person. She shared a great deal about her experiences in Vietnam with children who have special needs, and the educative process needed to get the families better prepared to handle their challenged children and to allow them to be more self-sufficient.
The students have shared much about Da Lat and the visit with the Daughters there. They were very excited about our program and are intending to work with us, as the students' blogs reflect. They were so gracious to us, inviting us back in the evening for dinner, at which time I brought my USB and downloaded the needed loan forms to their computer The lovely Therese Lien, my contact from Natalie Boone (thanks, Natalie) and a Lady of Charity volunteered to translate the application into Vietnamese for the Daughters. Sr. Leonide was a joy, as were the many Daughters we met there who operate all manner of activities, including Vocational Training, several classrooms including those for the deaf and for autistic children, gardening, and even the making of wine.
Our return to Saigon brought us back in touch with the Daughters there for a full day on Friday. We finally met Sr. Pascale, who is an extremely intelligent and talented Sister and who knows much about operating a microcredit program -- they have one already (a group lending model) in the Mekong Delta, in the town of Cai Mon. We traveled with them (again, Dawn accompanied us and helped with translations, but as it turns out, Sr. Pascale is completely fluent in English!) to Cai Mon on Friday, leaving at 7 am and returning around 5pm. The Delta is a lush, verdant region famous for growing coconut and various fruits. many of which we sampled while there (we politely declined the embryonic duck egg). The borrowers homes were a bit off the beaten path, so the group leaders came to the church parking lot in the center of Cai Mon to pick us up on their motorbikes. Off we went on the back of these bikes to the borrowers homes. We spent an hour or more conversing, with Sr. Pascale ably translating, so we could understand how their model works. They have been successful in having loans made and paid back, and also have a very robust savings program. All we have learned about the value of group lending applies here, and it was so interesting to see first-hand how this model works in reality. Sr. Pascale is adamant about loans being re-paid. She is convinced that the borrowers learn nothing and gain no dignity by being forgiven the loan. They also pay back with interest. So our ability to work with them would be faciitated by all that has gone before. We have some minor issues to work out, but I think we made important progress in introducing our program to her. After a wonderful lunch made at the house of the local group leader, we visited one man, stricken with polio -- one of the poorer members of the cooperative in fact -- and he spends his day in near total paralysis making baskets from bamboo that his wife must cut for him. He has two young daughters who appeared to be sorely under-nourished, but happy. When I arrived on the back of the motorbike, the littlest girl of 5years quickly got me a stool to sit on, and seeing that I was distressed from the heat, ran in to get a bamboo paddle fan and started fanning me. How cute is that??? In the end, Sr. Pascale suggested that this man might be a good start for our efforts to work with them. He will ask for a loan of $300 to buy a machine to cut the bamboo, which would significantly increase his production capability. Currently he earns about $1/day from his craft. So we will probably be getting a loan application this summer. We are so excited at this prospect.
Our last day today in Vietnam is one of well-deserved rest, and we visited Spring's "souvenir" shop in central Saigon. The first floor is a shop, the second a foot massage and manicure salon, the third a massage parlor. Quite an outfit!! We were treated to foot massages. AHHHHH! Tonight, we are meeting with a few of Alan's students one last time, who want to ask me more questions about studying in the U.S.. They are all hungry for an American education. Something so many young Americans take for granted. It gives one pause....
It is impossible to imagine leaving, and equally impossible to imagine staying. We are foreigners here, and our aspect will always make us so. But we were welcomed as family and friends nearly everywhere we went. For that, the memory of Saigon and environs will linger happily with us for a long time to come. I hope that my own road takes me back here in the not too distant future, and that the students too may have a chance to visit again. Heraclitus is credited with saying that no man steps in the same river twice, since the man will change and the river will change. How true that would be of my next visit to Vietnam. It is changing so quickly, and experiences like the one I have enjoyed these last two weeks change me inevitably too, as they will continue to do.
Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible, and to all my new friends and colleagues in Vietnam.
Signing off from my temporary home at the Nhat Ha -- see you all soon!
Linda (aka "Teacher Linda" here in Vietnam!)
