A Refreshing Change in Hoi An

We hit the road again the following morning with our next destination of Hoi An. On the way, we briefly stopped at the Lang Co Beach  to take quick picture (including a few failed attempts at jumping pictures). We also stopped at Hải Vân Pass, which was at the top of a lush mountain that served as the official dividing point between Hue and Da Nang. The breathtaking views gave us many picture-taking opportunities. 

After a long morning of traveling, we finally arrived Hoi An. We were all starving, we immediately went for lunch at open restaurant that featured many options. We enjoyed local cuisine such as Cao lau and my quang, which are traditional noodle dishes. For the rest of the afternoon, we were free to explore the city. We saw ancient houses, temples, and small museums. We were surprised to see the Chinese and Japanese architecture and cultural influence.  This quaint city was a wonderful chance to do much-needed, at least for the girls! 

During the two days we spent here, we enjoyed our free afternoons by exploring the city on foot or bike, visiting the many tailor shops to get custom-made clothing, and practicing our bargaining skills at the shops in the small city. This was a nice change of pace from packed days of working or touring. During both of our free nights, we had two amazing dinners. Our first night, we had spring rolls and curry, among other local dishes. For the second night, we were surprised by Italian cuisine. This was one of the few nights that we didn't have any food left over. :) 

After dinner, we were free to explore the Lantern Festival, which celebrated Hoi An as a World Heritage Site. The festival featured many traditional performances, artists, boat rides where we released floating lanterns into the water after making a wish. We were amazed by the beautiful lights and scenery, which included a full moon. 

One Day in Hue: June 23rd

After two exhausting yet rewarding weeks of service work, we hit the road to spend our last week touring the central and southern regions of Vietnam. Our first stop was Hue, which was capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945. We started off the morning with a visit to the Tomb of Tu Duc. The Emperor Tu Duc designed his tomb himself and lived there for the last few years of his life. The grounds of the tomb contained temples, a palace where he lived, a tea house next to a lake filled with lotus flowers, and a forest. Being there was a refreshing break from the emotionally draining visits to war sites. During our visit, we learned a lot from the history and architecture of Vietnam from the 19th century. 

Lunch was a pleasant surprise as Truc took us to Mandarin Cafe, owned by Mr. Cu, who is Truc's close friend and an awesome photographer! We enjoyed a delicious meal with Western options, as well as Vietnamese cuisine. As half of our group munched on much-needed hamburgers, we flipped through Mr. Cu's beautiful photos of Hue. After lunch, we couldn't stop ourselves from purchasing many of his photos, while ordering desserts such as fried bananas and fruit pancakes with ice cream. 

After lunch, we headed into the citadel, which makes up most of the city of Hue.  Our hotel was located inside the citadel, which was a unique opportunity. Our first stop in the citadel was the Imperial Closure, which was a citadel within a citadel. This was where the emperors resided. We saw beautiful temples, pagodas, and palaces. We were amazed by the beautiful architecture, especially with the gates. Then, we entered the Forbidden Purple City, which is the center of the Imperial Closure. In this area featured the Royal Theatre where we hoped to see a traditional performance. However, it was closed due to a visit by the UNESCO delegation. We were extremely disappointed (especially Truc!), we continued touring the remains of the Forbidden Purple City. 

We spent our free and only night in Hue crossing the Trang Tien Bridge which was lit up with a variety of beautiful changing colors, including maize and blue. Once we crossed the bridge we explored coffee shops and the night market.

Touring the Khe Sanh Military Base

June 21st, 2013

Today we started the day by visiting the Khe Sanh military base. We explored the museum at the base and Truc, our tour guide, explained the significance of the American base to the war. The base is located slightly south of the DMZ (located in central Vietnam). The base was a strategic spot for U.S. troops as the U.S. intended to block the invasion of the North Vietnamese troops from entering the South. Outside of the museum there were some C130 American planes on display. As we walked around the base and explored, we discussed American intentions behind the war and the unexpected consequences. As a Chinese American, I couldn't easily pinpoint my connection with to the war but standing on the grounds of the military base, I could feel the importance of the base as a landmark of and pivotal location of the war.

Final Day at the Compassion House & Visiting the Ethnic Minority Village

June 20, 2013

For our final day helping put the finishing touches on the Compassion House, we decided to work a full day. We began sketching and then painted the mural in the new studyroom. The mural represented both our experiences traveling through Vietnam, and included a map of Vietnam with labels for each city we visited. We also incorporated a set of books and a turtle to represent knowledge and education. The top of the mural sports the Vietnam flag along with the state of Michigan and the moon and star of the Turkish flag. Together, these symbols represented the diverse cultural backgrounds of our GIEU team. Thuy, the woman who would live in the new home, enjoyed the mural and mentioned how she especially liked the turtle.

Around the middle of the day, a small group of our team ventured into the neighborhood to take a break from work. We passed by several homes, and we were surprised when many of the families began to invite us into their homes. Linh Dien stated that it is common courtesy for families to invite guests into their homes, and guests may even stay the night if they wish. I found this concept unusual at first, given that travelers are often not treated with such hospitality in the United States. However, visiting each home we were invited to proved to be an incredibly rewarding experience. At the first house, the family helped Stephon to learn how to play chess. With the help of Linh's translations, Stephon was able to learn the moves of the game and play against an older gentleman while several other young men watched the game. Each of us had a wonderful time watching the match, and we thanked our hosts profusely as we left to continue our walk.

The second home we visited belonged to a family with a small baby girl. The baby's cute smile instantly won us over, and the family graciously allowed us to hold her. As we sat at the table, Linh explained how many of the family members were teachers in Saigon and at our location in Quang Tri. The family offered us tea as the baby began "talking" to Stephon. All in all, the friendliness of the family and their comfort with allowing us to hold their child continued to surprise us.

After saying goodbye to the family and shaking the hand of the eldest man, we traveled farther down the road until an older woman called out to us. She immediately invited us inside when we told her we were working on the house nearby. Inside we met her granddaughter and her two friends. They were studying for their college exams, and the older woman explained how she wanted her granddaughter to receive an education to have better job prospects than she had herself. We were instantly touched by the woman's genuine kindness. She told us stories from the American War, when planes relentlessly bombed the very same neighborhood where we were working. Despite these painful memories, she mentioned how it gave her great joy to see both Vietnamese and American individuals sitting at her table in peace. You could see that she meant every word with her sincere smile. We decided to take a picture with the woman before saying goodbye to document our day filled with friendly smiles and wonderful new experiences.

During the creation of the mural, our team also finished painting the outside of the home and cleaned the floors on the inside of the building. We worked in pairs to make the process more efficient, which helped when we needed to dry the floors after cleaning them. After a hard (and hot) work day, we left the neighborhood with a newly painted home and we brought with us a sense of gratification with the progress we had made.

June 22, 2013

Today we visited the village of an ethnic minority, and got a chance to interact with the families there. The children played around the village homes by chasing a tire with sticks. They were shy at first, and did not approach us until we brought out some snacks as a gift. After seeing the cookies and crackers they crowded around our group, creating a sea of smiles. We were surprised when many of the children started hiding the snacks they received in attempt to get more, but we were happy to be able to interact with them at last. ThuyAnh mentioned how most of the children did not know Vietnamese, but older villagers with more education were able to speak the language. Our group discussed in debrief how the children of this village differed from those we encountered at EcoPark and the social center. Several teammates mentioned the disparities in education between the groups, and how many of the children and families of ethnic minorities often fail to achieve high education levels due to family responsibilities and work. This creates a vicious cycle similar to that seen in the United States, with those born into families with less education having a significantly smaller chance of continuing on in their education. Yet, we also discussed how content the children of the village appeared. Did education impact the life satisfaction for the kids to the extent we think it did? In the end, no matter the level of SES or education, the children all appeared happy and energetic. This left me in a positive mood, as well, as we departed from the village in the afternoon.

-Kyle

The 5th day in Quang Tri province

Friday, June 21st, the fifth day in Quang Tri, our group left the hotel at 8.00, being ready for another amazing day. In the morning, we visited the mushroom producing center, named MWM (Mushroom with a mission), another project belonging to RENEW Project. RENEW has three main operating fields: education about landmines for local people; UXO clearance (with one field site that we visited on Monday); and victim assistance. The victim assistance field includes medical training for local medical staffs, microcredit projects for women of UXO victim families; and MWM. At the MWM, we have chance to experience the mushroom producing chain. At the center, the materials are processed carefully until the mushroom seeds are planted to bags of dirt from rubber trees and afterwards sent to UXO victim families that cooperate with the project.  The staff there are so happy working with the new and modern machine system sponsored by the Japanese Embassy two weeks before. And we suddenly think about how hard the work was for the workers without the support of those machines before. Anyway, we are so happy knowing from a staff of the center that this project has helped improve those families' income significantly.

Leaving the mushroom center quite early, around 10.30 am, we come to a family with a woman who is one of the beneficiaries of RENEW's microcredit project to help poor women who are suffered from the war and UXO to improve their living condition. The name of the woman that we visit is Le Thi Quyen. She lives with her only son who is 16 years old and following a vocational school in the downtown of Quang Tri. Actually, the income that the woman can earn from this microcredit project is not very much, just about 1 million VND per year (about 50US$), but at least she has an additional amount of income that can partly support her son's studying. The woman grew up with her leg injured in the Vietnam war/American war by a bomb or something that even her can not remember when she was very little. She still talked about how harsh the war was, how destructive the US bombings caused to her neighborhood. But now, she and her son are living in a compassion house sponsored by American Red Cross. For me, the war belongs to the past, we don't feel happy about that but we can not change what has happened. The more important thing is now the two countries have been friends, helping each other to fix the consequences of the war, directing to new missions together. And for me, that is peace!

Now, I'm sitting here, sharing my thoughts about the trip, beside my American friends. We have become very good friends, freely talk with each other, happily laugh with each other, without any barrier (except for the language barrier sometimes). And for me, that is peace!

I love you all, my beloved GIEU friends!
Phung Chu Thuy Linh

Compassion House and Spending My Birthday in Vietnam

June 18, 2013

I was lucky enough to spend my 21st birthday in Vietnam. On the day of the 18th, we began our work at the Compassion House. The Compassion House is a project sponsored by the Lotus Humanitarian Aid Foundation. The foundation builds and renovates houses for families in need. We met John Ward, the country director of the foundation in Vietnam. We learned that the lady we will be building the house for, Thuy, is a single mother with three sons. We arrived at the village expecting to build a house from the bottom up. We were surprised to find that the house was almost done and only needed to be painted with a few touch-ups. So we jumped right in and divided up into small teams and started our work. Some of the team painted the interior and exterior of the house with homemade brushes. We worked under the instruction of the two contractors with the help of the Vietnamese students as translators. Many of us struggled and had to adjust to using the makeshift brushes. I was part of the group that worked outside moving sand and gravel to level out the ground in front of the house to plant trees later on. It was a very hot day. We took turns shoveling and moving the gravel. The heat made the work extremely difficult. Halfway through the work I had to take a break because I was feeling nauseous. Many of my group mates had been feeling sick for a few days and we were also exhausted from traveling. The following day at the Compassion House, we planted flowers and trees in front of the house. We also continued the paint job.

In the afternoon of the 18th, we returned to the hotel and had a time to wash up for dinner. We ate dinner at the hotel and it was delicious as usual. At the end of dinner, one of the Vietnamese students, Linh, turned off the lights. Our program leader ThuyAnh and Truc came out with two birthday cakes. I was so surprised that tears were brimming. Everyone gathered and sang Happy Birthday in Vietnamese and English. It was my first ever surprise party so I was overjoyed. The cakes were delicious and the moment was beautiful. That night we also went karoaking, another new experience for me. We sang songs from "Lean on me" to "We will rock you." As we linked arms and swayed, I felt a strong connection to the group and it felt like a gathering of close friends. After rocking out and singing the night away, we headed to bed. My birthday in Vietnam was like no other. I was able to volunteer and contribute to the making of a lovely home and spend the day with my GIEU family. It was an experience that will stay with me for all the birthdays to come.

PROJECT RENEW & 17TH PARALLEL

After a long and arduous bus ride, we happened upon one of the destinations we had been waiting for a while now: the dividing line that separated North and South Vietnam during the war we had been learning so much about. The first thing we noticed at the site was the giant monument reaching towards the sky, then we headed into the museum. A stark contrast from a museum in the United States, the pictures and facts inside were presented from a strictly (northern) Vietnamese viewpoint. It was odd for me to be put in the situation where you see the atrocities your country, but not you specifically, had completed in the past. It's hard not to feel guilty when the numerous bombs dropped are laid out before you underneath the pictures of maimed children and burnt flesh.

We crossed the Ben Hai River, the true dividing line between the north and the south, and did so with our Vietnamese students alongside us. It was difficult to imagine the anguish and blood that was shed because of that seemingly arbitrary division, especially when it looks relatively plain now. The landscaping around the river and bridge is nothing special, besides the few monuments and the museum, and there were chickens freely walking around having a great time. The people who were separated by the line, and tried so desperately to cross it to reach those they love, certainly contrasted against the serene river and cars and trucks zooming by on the freeway above.

Later upon reaching Quang Tri, we met up with Project RENEW (Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of War), an NGO backed by international aid organizations. We saw videos and a presentation about the short and long-term effects of UXO (unexploded ordinances) on the local people. It was harrowing to walk around the center of Project Renew, which had once been Kids First, a local center for children, which is now completely barren. Looking at murals painted by GIEU groups in the past adorned the walls outside, but there is no longer anyone to enjoy them. We left hopeful for the future of the organization and thankful for their time informing us, but we weren't finished just yet.

We then were shipped out to an area where they were actually sweeping the area for bombs. And after signing away our lives and giving away our blood types, we were taken up close and personal to the actual UXOs that had been found. It was interesting being feet away from unexploded cluster bombs, but it hit the point home that these people find UXOs like this quite often, and without the help of project RENEW, it would be tough for them to make a living otherwise. I definitely felt a sense that the people at Project RENEW know their stuff and have nerves of steel, and I send good vibrations to them in helping clear more farmland for the local people to gain sustainable agricultural opportunities.

Perhaps my favorite excursion of the past week was going to the Vinh Moc tunnels, buried underneath a heavily bombed part of the area. Claustrophobic and damp, you could really get the sense of anxiety and panic that would overcome people who were running through inside and doing things like giving birth while explosions rained above. Though it's cool how effective they were..apparently no one died while inside of the tunnel, and in a way it kind of shows the human spirit and will to survive, and the lengths people will go to in order to save those that they love. We exited the tunnel and found a bizarrely peaceful and beautiful view of the ocean, where we took lots of photos and played with crabs. Then Truc showed us rubber trees and showed us how it drips out like sap, which is super neat. In other news, my cravings for pizza have reached critical mass.

xoxo
casey