A summary account of what we encountered between 3-7 Jul 2007, bringing the media to Vietnam: one of the beneficiaries we are supporting in this year’s 30-Hr Famine:
Day 1
We were pretty impressed by the hotel we stayed in at Hanoi, neat and clean! It is called ATS Hotel, very near Hilton Hotel. Well, the media team did not expect us to stay at Hilton, haha! Dinner was hilarious, we had no WV Vietnam staff with us to assist us with translation, but i took courage, pin pointed on the menu and order dishes for the whole team! It didnt turn out bad. Poor waitress, she does not know English at all, and we do not speak Vietnamese, now I fully understand the communication power of body language!
However, we were quite entertained by the road scenery – you have hundreds of motorbikes roaming around you where ever you go in Hanoi!! And they do not wear helmets!! Quite a lifestyle, and it is not unusual if you see 2 -3 motorcyclists riding and talking to each other at the same time. On a daily record, each day 30-35 motorcyclists are killed in road accidents.
Day 2
We traveled 5-6 hours on van from Hanoi to Ba Thuoc town, we were all pretty amazed by their so called “highway to Laos”, the roads built by the govt comprises mud roads, rock roads and half-completed cement roads. And there are no stops for toilets! We finally stopped by a decent-looking house to ask for help – permission to use their toilet. The owner was very nice, brought out green tea, steamed peanuts and wild berries and treated us to a short break, but the whole team had their first experience of peeing on a field! The so called toilet is made of 2 papan set against a wall, so on one side is open to air! Whatever you do drops onto the ground. We wondered how do they do big business then….. anyway, at least the media team was quite excited after trying it (never tried before mah), but it taught us a good lesson: stop drinking too much water!
The hotel we stayed in at Ba Thuoc? It is called a guesthouse, and we were informed that it is the best guest house they had in town, no air-con no heater, just fans. With occasional electricity black out. Well, the rooms were clean, so no complaints made by the media. This team is good!
We visited a commune called Dien Quang, it is the school summer holiday break from Jul to Sept. We could understand why as it was very hot even though there seemed to be no hot sunlight! We were all sweating like mad while listening to the ADP Manager explain the condition of schools and health station, the situation is dire. No clean water, they all draw water from the well or streams; no sanitation systems; no access to health care, the only health station is 6km away from the village and they just have 1 hospital in the entire district of Ba Thuoc (Ba Thuoc has 23 communes, each commune has 1 health station, the hospital is located at Ba Thuoc town).
The health station that we saw at Dien Quang, gosh, it is rated as among the top 6 health stations in the entire district according to national standard, and yet….no clean water and toilet provided. No fans, no comfortable bed or pillow, no sterilized room for operation. It has 6 small rooms though, and is classified as a health station. 1 doctor, 1 pharmacist, and 3 assistants with no training in health care.
The pay:
- Doctors – USD60/mth
- Pharmacist – USD10/mth
- Teacher – USD80-100/mth (The Govt wish to encourage teachers to go to rural areas to teach)
Income:
- Average household – None. They plant rice, cassava (a type of tapioca) or maize for their own consumption. No extra to sell off. Rear some animals too. These can be sold if they need money to buy things.
- More than 67% of the households live on less than USD12/mth, which is below the national poverty line for rural areas.
Day 3
Visited another commune at Van Nho. We realized that if anyone there owns a motorbike, he is considered rich (1 motorbike cost around USD1000), most people travel by foot or by bicycle. The kids needs to get up at 4am, walk 2 hours to school, study for 4 hours (7:30am to 11:30am), and then walk back home for 2 hours to eat lunch. What do they normally have? Rice, Cassava (a type of tapioca), or Maize with some wild grass as vegetables. Adults will normally reserve the rice for children, and yet they do not have enough to feed their children….aiyo, heart breaking when an old man shared this with us.
All villagers stay in a shed made of wood and leaves, no furniture. We were all braver this time and drink the tea the family prepared for us using the stream water cooked in a darkened pot, and served with cups wiped by a darkened cloth.
To quote a saying from the Star Two editor: ” If a cup of water can kill us, it means that we are useless.” Hahaha! I really like this media team that comprised of reporters and deejays from 988 fm, Red FM, The Star, Sin Chew and Eastern Times. They are a group of easy going, understanding people.
We met up with very lively children and they have sang very beautiful songs to us! But my heart sank when I realized that all of them were wearing dirty clothes, were bare footed and thin.
The meals? Hm, we are lucky in a sense that we had always eaten in the city/town. Though they said Vietnamese food resembles Chinese food, but I have to admit that it is not our ‘cup of tea’. The chicken meat was rough and tough; vegetables were wild grass and cooked with water only. They ate a lot of bamboo shoots, in which none of us can take because of its smell. One good thing about their food is their rice, very sticky and fulfilling, you can only eat a little bit and you feel very full afterwards. And yes, you will enjoy the fruits of the season – dragon fruit, watermelon and lai chee!!! So sweet and yummy! I do not mind being a vegetarian if I need to stay in Vietnam. Another good thing – Pho Bo (Beef noodle)! If you like noodles, take this one, I am afraid that it is the only good noodle I have tried so far in Vietnam. If you do not mind they sell toasted bread along the roadside using simple charcoal stoves, the bread is yummy! (Aiyo, if we can eat Ramli Burger, why not this one? You will not die one. ^-^)
Day 4
Depart to Cam Thuy District, to see another ADP at North Cam Thuy , WV began work there 5 years ago. The results are good! Health and sanitation systems have improved a lot, the rate of malnourished children has dropped by 11%, the rate of children attending school has increased to 97%, agricultural and animal husbandry production has increased by two fold. The challenge WV Cam Thuy ADP is facing now is how to help the farmers market their products so they can continue to support the children to school. Parents are also trained in proper health care and food preparation.
I nearly fainted under the hot sun this time round, we had to walk at least 40 minutes into the village! (The van could not go up there with so many passengers as the road was muddy after the rain). The mud is fine, just that I was down with the flu and I had my menstrual at that time! On our way back, I was the first one requesting an interview to be done inside a house. Most of us were exhausted. Thank God the van came by when we finished the interview, we are truly grateful to the WV Vietnam staff and the driver who had made it happen for us.
Good meals at Cam Thuy, this time we requested no bamboo shoots, no chicken, and no water steamed vegetables for our table. Did not wish to waste their food, even though WV Vietnam staff tried their best to introduce their local delicacies to us. I did not know how to convey the message that these things are not normally eaten in Malaysia. I know we are pampered Malaysians, sigh.
Day 5
We headed back to Hanoi! As it was our last night in Vietnam, the WV Vietnam staff – Ngan (she was our translator, very helpful!) brought us to a Vietnamese buffet restaurant, we ate a ‘Million VD Dinner’ there (around USD10/pax). Then, she brought us to the night market for shopping. Hm, it looked like the night market at Petaling Street. I am always amazed with Ngan and her ‘price cutting’ negotiation skills and patience with us. I was rather silent as the team shopped until 12 midnight! I was not feeling well and was really tempted to take a cab back to the hotel immediately to rest. After seeing Ngan’s patience with the media, guess it sort of humbled me to stay cool. At the end, guess the team brought 110 key chains, 10 packs of chopsticks, more than 20 handbags, 4 greenish communist caps, 2 red coloured with yellow star communist t-shirts and some tea leaves and lotus seeds. Whoa….. ok, I only bought 2 packs of chopsticks and a cap. No mood for shopping.
The last night at ATS Hotel was terrifying. Haha, why? We were woken up by a lady’s loud and sharp scream at night, twice. One at 4am, another one at 5am. It was so loud that the hotel lobby boy came up to our floor to check what had happened (we are staying at level 3). Needless to say, we all did not sleep well that night. OK, the next day, they said that nothing happened. Maybe some couple quarreled inside the room and made some noises….. ok, the incident of the screams really disturbed us. But ironically, the men at Level 2 did not hear anything at all! Hm….. my first fishy encounter at the hotel, luckily we were staying in pairs.
Overall, this trip was fun and fruitful for us. The media team had been cooperative and understanding during the entire journey. Hope that the trip will open up more media angles for them to write about the plight of people in Vietnam. 80% of the population rely on agricultural production to feed their families, i was amazed at how many padi fields we saw along the journey, traveling from one town to another, and yet they do not have enough to feed themselves.
When we ask the people of Vietnam what they hope WV could do for them: Their request is simple – “Give us the skills and training we need, so that we may have enough to feed our families”, “We hope our children can grow up healthily.” May we work together to answer their prayers.
Could someone pass me a biscuit?
