always think that there is much to learn from anywhere

Fusionoize Vietnam Trip Dec 2006 Reflections (Concept of IDEALs) (Edmund)

Intellectuals:
Vietnam, although being a third world country, not as developed and wealthy, it has a rich culture, heritage and history. Colonial rule, the Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh (a prominent political figure being much respected from almost all Vietnamese, some even worshipping him at home), these are only some of the significant events of Vietnam’s rich history. I got to know them more in-depth through the more detailed explanations from our teacher in-charge, Mr. Khoo, who was also a history teacher. I also got to learn more about the city of Hanoi, the life and culture of the Vietnamese people there, like the way its streets are arranged and the famous local delicacies. I also got to experience what it was like to take overnight trains through Vietnam in 4 people sleeping rooms. As we moved on to the Northern part of Vietnam, I got to know that Sapa is a famous tourist area, having many tourists visiting that area, and many tourism activities going on there, it is fast developing and has changed much from being previously a small town located on the mountains. As such, the lives minorities, like the Dzao, Hmong, and Tay people there have changed. I got to learn about their culture and heritage, their way of life, through home-stays. I also got to learn about how growing tourism in the area has changed the lifestyle of them. Many minority children drop-out from school to sell their traditional handicrafts to tourists, also at the same time learning how to speak the English language from tourists. Many have changed to resort to persistent selling, as they have adopted this as their work and means of survival. Many children in minority village schools have stopped wearing their traditional clothing but instead wear clothes being donated by passer-by tourists, which pose a threat to the loss of their culture and heritage. As this is the first time I participate in community work overseas, it was a whole new different and enriching experience. I have learnt that dedication, determination, the effort, initiatives and willingness from each and every individual and manpower allocation from the whole team is vital for the success of the community work. All in all, I have gained much valuable experience which I will never get locally in Singapore, and learnt much about the culture, heritage and history of Vietnam and its people.

Deliverables:
We managed to help the minority people in northern Vietnam by providing some basic needs. This was only successful on a small-scale as our manpower (nine people) and resources were low. We only managed to give some biscuits (which we bought before our trek in Sapa), stationeries (some which we gathered from donations by friends, families and teachers and others which we bought when we were in the city Hanoi, Vietnam) such as pencils, pens, erasers, sharpeners, chalk, some puzzle and card games and medical supplies (which we bought before our trek in Sapa) to villages and schools which we pass-by on the way through our trekking. We also created a mini English library in the San Sa Ho primary school in Cat Cat village, consisting of English books lower than Primary Three standard which we gathered from donations back in Singapore. The remaining books were also distributed to five other schools namely San Sa Ho secondary school in Cat Cat village, Xeo Trung Ho primary school, Ban Tru Hoang Lien primary school, Ban Ho primary school and Su Pan primary school. Our donations were greatly appreciated by the locals there, and seeing the happy smiles on their faces makes me feel happy. We were supposed to carry out community work at the Sapa town primary school. However, according to our guide, the school is already quite well-to-do so he recommended the San Sa Ho primary school in Cat Cat village which would certainly require such help more. We improved the schooling environment of the school by repainting the interior walls of two classrooms and the exterior walls of one of the two school buildings. For the two classrooms, we chipped off the flimsy coats of paint and filled them up with cement, then painting a new coat of paint over. We also cooked for them some egg and meat with bread (with much assistance from our guide) as snacks for them. It was a pity we only had four days to carry out community work there if not we could have actually done much more to help. The care-taker, teachers and students there greatly appreciated our help and in return kept treating us to tea and gave us gifts (nice handicrafts which they sew themselves which they were supposed to sell to tourists to earn money). I felt that they were really nice and warm-hearted people. During the last day of our four day residential project, we organized a mini activity day (which was thought of during the course our residential project) for the school children at the school. We exchanged performances, played games like musical chairs with them and distributed sweets to them.

Emotionals:
During the course of the residential project and the home-stays, I realized how fortunate I am to live with ample basic necessities back in Singapore and how ignorant and selfish I am to actually demand for additional material comfort, when some of the Vietnamese people are not even able to satisfy their basic needs. Seeing how simple the kind of life which they lead, house made of wood and zinc roofs without any flooring, consisting of singles light bulbs power by self constructed hydro-electric generators, a few beds with thin mattresses, a bonfire at one side and a mini kitchen equipped with simple kitchen utensils, wearing traditional clothing, of if not thin clothing, eating simple meals consisting of sticky rice and some vegetable or meat to go with. They were so easily contented, from the little biscuits that we gave them, and bread with fried egg and meat which was already considered as a delicacy by them. Many things back in Singapore which I have taken much for granted, like electricity, lights, chairs and tables, being scarce in the minority villages in northern Vietnam. Also, I came to realize how lucky I was to be able to have such a rare opportunity, especially at such a young age to be able to go on this trip and experience. All the valuable experiences gained from all the first-time activities which I did, biking, being fetched on motorcycles, trekking (all on up slopes), kayaking and doing community work overseas, I will never get to do such activities when I am on holidays in tours with my family. The precious and valuable experiences and knowledge that I have gained from this trip, all being outside of school and the textbook, I will never forget.

Adversities:
There were many adversities which we faced. The major ones being the cultural differences and language barriers. Although we were both Asians, we still lived on different land and came from different countries. There are even minority races in northern Vietnam, something Singapore will never have. As such cultural differences are inevitable. We overcame it by having an open mind to receive the differences and adapt to their culture and way of life. Language barriers faced was the most major adversity we faced throughout the course of the whole trip. Many local Vietnamese could only speak their native Vietnamese language and not the English language, thus we had much difficulty communicating and interacting with them. Trying to buy things were tough and when we did not have our translator (teacher-in-charge, Mr. Khoo) with us, we had to resort to using pen and paper to write down the prices, or sometimes even hand phones and calculators to key in the prices. We wanted much to interact with the students at the minority village primary schools and know more about them, their life, however they could only speak their native minority language or if not the Vietnamese language which again we could not understand. Therefore, we rarely had a chance to interact with them. However, sometimes, there is our translator (teacher-in-charge, Mr. Khoo) to assist us in understanding them. Trying to carry out community work in a foreign land really is not easy. We were uncertain about the area there. As we had not been there personally ourselves prior to the trip, we did not have any knowledge of how the area and school looks like, and what kind of help they needed. However, planning still had to proceed and we tried our best to prepare as much as we could, bearing in mind anything could change when we get there. We also did not have any knowledge of where to buy essential materials like stationeries, foods like biscuits, meat, bread, egg, and sweets and painting materials for our community work and neither did we know how to transport the materials to the school (we did not even know of the location as it has been changed during the course of the trip). However, with the guidance of our resourceful and self-initiated guide, we managed to complete our project successfully. I do admit that we do owe much to him for the successful completion of our project. The other adversity which we faced was endurance limit especially during the trekking. For most of us, or for me at least, have never gone through trekking on such hard, rough, steep and uneven terrain before and being a first-timer, it was really tough. The feeling of total exhaustion, legs about to break when climbing up steep uphill inclined slopes and the fear of falling all down when going down steep downhill slopes sometimes actually gave us the feeling of giving up. It drained our endurance and totally stretched our limits. We endured and persevered and finally at the end of the day, we managed to complete our three days trekking, feeling much sense of accomplishment, achievement and satisfaction.

Learnability:
I went on this trip with the perception that I am going there to help them, to teach them, not thinking that I may learn anything from them, besides their culture, heritage and history. However, I have come to realize that I have a narrow learning mindset. To me, learning only has to do with academics or hard skills. However, I have come to learn many things about life from the local Vietnamese people. They being easily contented, treasuring everything around them, all that they have, focusing on what they have, making use of them, and not pondering on what they do not have. These values of life that I have learnt, I have never thought about and I do not think I would be able to learn them back in Singapore if I have not gone on this trip. This trip has indeed broaden my learning mindset, taught me to learn and receive knowledge with an open mind, and to always think that there is much to learn from anywhere, even from the poorest of countries and people.

Posted by mund at 11:29 PM |