Weblog
Saturday, 14 July 2007
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July 10, 2007
Today, Tu, Co Thao, and I visited the reintegration girls. This is the third way ADAPT seeks out to help prevent against trafficking young girls called Tai Hoa Nhap (Reintegration). They help by assisting girls with health and special needs such as providing girls jobs until they become stable again. The girls we met were twin sisters, very beautiful and intelligient. They spent two years in Cambodia and returned just recently at the age of 17. Motivated to learn English, one of the girl wants to become an Vietnamese-English interpreter, while the other girl is not sure. What amazes me most is their determination and will to learn English. The girls speak three languages- Vietnamese, English, and Cambodian. Although, I do not much about what they did in Cambodia, I am very happy to part of the ADAPT project and assist these girls in whatever needs possible. It makes life so much easier to help people who want to learn rather than people who are hesistant about the free service that ADAPT provides. Co Thao is amazing because her dedication to come and visit these girls on a regular basis- she cooks and buys them necessary needs/wants. I wish the best for these girls on their education and future career goals.
YAY!!! I am learning a lot of Vietnamese words now, maybe I can tell my parents about my job here in Long Xuyen!
-Oanh
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
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I feel like time here is going by too fast and too slow at the same time. Already it is the third week and still, walking the streets here it feels like I just got here yesterday. But at the same time I recognize that I have acclimated somewhat. Happily, I’ve gotten into the groove of eating Vietnamese food everyday. (And sidenote: it’s not that I ever missed “American” food, the terrible overly processed kind… I just need variety. My whole grains, my salmon, my pasteurized orange juice, and fortified silk chocolate soy milk. Haha, I suppose these luxurious items are actually American food. Okay, I do miss American food. I’m just afraid of saying it and sounding uncultured. Tangent…) Anyways, I feel a little more comfortable being here. My listening skills have gotten better. I hope to be more brave and try and have more conversations with staff.
I feel like there’s too much to process in this week… visiting the girls with ADAPT staff, all the people we’ve met and shall meet, lesson planning, and of course, keeping touch back home. But at the same time, I’m excited for everything. Meeting the students was amazing. We couldn’t have asked for a more gracious and welcoming group. I can’t wait to start lesson planning and teaching. I really hope that I can help to build their confidence speaking and feel that my learning Vietnamese at the same time will be a good perspective.
Anyways, yesterday Tram and I shadowed the ADAPT staff on their homevisits, ADAPT gives out scholarship which cover their school, book, and ao dai costs and offers Health insurance. Additionally, they have their
own private ADAPT stash (outside of the scholarship funds which are covered by Pacific Links Foundation) which is for other external factors that prevent their going to school, like a parent being sick, for example.
Anywas, despite this resource, for a lot of complex reasons, a lot of girlsstill drop out. One home visit was really hard for me to see. I've never been moved to tears before. The girl was an orphan living withher uncle selling fruits. All her family was congregating around her while she was crying. Sometimes, I don't get Vietnamese people and feel like they can be mad nosey and like, flippant or caustic. Like her family was laughing while explaining that she's a slow reader and doesn't have any money. Gosh, I hope this doesn't sound judgemental. I'm not trying to apply the American notion of personal space nor do I pretend to know what kind of survival mechanisms or methods of coping people in this situation must adopt. Overall, there was something about the coversations being in Vietnamese and the young girl refusing my tissue that my heart really gave out. What if she had dysllexia
and returns to school, what then? Do we not give out scholarship to people like her? Should scholarships be only merit and not need based?
In relation, Tram brought up this challenging question. She felt that ADAPT had to beg these girls to
take their scholarships and felt like resources should go to those who could take advantage of it, in a sense. It's so hard, in a lot ways I really understand her sentiment. And its totally valid, pragmatic, and honorable to think about the greater good. Tram made a good point when she said that the forces of family etc. have so much more influence than the 3 visits ADAPT staff are able to make. But if this is the case, does that necessarily mean that staff should not spend their resources encouraging girls? I’m not really answering any questions, I suppose. Just posing more questions. I guess what it boils down to is the fact that I believe in the home visits that the staff were making. Maybe it unnecessarily traumatized them, maybe it was just a blip, or maybe it showed them that they had resources who care. Regardless, it’s good that they follow up on the progress of their scholarship recipients. That’s a more holistic approach as opposed to just giving out scholarships and hoping that those who “want” to succeed shall.
Also, during dinner it was nice that Chi Duyen responded to Tram’s question and said that more girls like the one’s we visited would exist if not for organizations like ADAPT. Additionally, I suppose that there are so many reasons why the girls we visited yesterday were so seemingly apathetic. Anyways, Chi Duyen reaffirmed that organizations like ADAPT which work with at risk, marginalized populations are needed.
Anyways, yesterday was so rewarding because I feel like I'm beginning to understand myself more, and what it really means for me to have been born in the U.S. and my parents sacrafice. Plus, there was something really exhilerating (although eventually painful) about going on a 4 hour motorcycle ride through the country. Cham and I almost kept falling asleep on the bikes!!
Overall, I don't want to treat Vietnam like a pilgrimage cause in a lot of ways really it is what it is. But at the same time, being here I feel like I am understanding more about my parents. Also, I've been thinking that I need to stop acting out of a place of scarcity. Like I super worry about stupid shit, like whether I should apply to Brandeis, about how Seattle slowing me down and how I have ridiculous debt and feel like a failed model minority. And I think I need to start acting out of a place of abundance and realize that I already do have access to so much more than a lot of the girls I'll be meeting.
-Carol -
ADAPT Home Visits
Carol and I went with Loan and Van, ADAPT staff, to visit girls who have dropped out of the scholarship programs. Our mission for that day was to investigate the reasons why these girls have dropped out and whether or not any of these reasons may be addressed by ADAPT.
It was a very intense experience. I've seen poverty in the States, different stages of poverty, and different types of poverty. Yet, it was different this time. This time, I could see myself in these girls which made me empathizes with them. We left at 7 am and didn't return to Long Xuyen til 7pm. The entire day we spent tracking down 6 girls. We were only able to meet 3 of the girls, while the other 3 either were working or stayed at relative’s house for the summer.
The three girls we did meet all had compelling situations. All were extremely poor and all had little value for education. As Chi Loan and Chi Van counseled these girls, encouraging them to return to school, my eyes searched the face of family members, the house, the things in the house, all of which gave an insight into what these girls were facing.At first I did not understand why these very young, naive girls were given the freedom to decide whether or not they wanted to go to school. I know that if I tried to dropout of school when I was young, my parents would not allow it. But then I realized that we live in different worlds. These girls are so poor, they do not have the luxury to look ahead, look towards their future. They are confined by their situation to only look towards the next day; what they will eat the next day, how will they find money to feed their family the next day. They are consumed by these thoughts; they do not have the chance to plan for their future because their present has already dictated their life.
After realizing this somewhat daunting, hopeless situation I began to wonder whether ADAPT was effective as they pour all of these resources into hopeless situations. But Chi Duyen, relatively new ADAPT staff, reminded us that these hopeless situations continue to be hopeless without programs like ADAPT. For a lot of the girls, their family cannot afford for them to go to school, for those situations ADAPT can help, they can pay for school tuition, books, uniforms, and health insurance. But many situations are much more severe, where the family is so poor not only is it that they cannot afford school tuition but they cannot afford the next meal and these girls eventually are forced to work rather then go to school. These situations are really tough, but ADAPT will look for ways to help the family through financial aid.At the end of the day, I’ve grown a stronger respect for ADAPT and it’s mission. The staffs are incredibly persistent and have unsurpassed patience. I also have a stronger conviction to the idea of affirmative action and other programs that help people who were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth. There is an enormous difference between those who have the luxury to envision a brighter future and those who can only envision the next meal. I’ve always know that as a Vietnamese American, I was very lucky to be given a chance for a brighter future. But to realize that I was a product of intractable poverty, I am floored by my parents relentless efforts to not only look to the next meal, but look to the future.
-Tram
School children 
One of the house we visited
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
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July 9th
Julie arrived last night, so we had our first meeting in Long Xuyen with Julie this morning. We discovered the coolest cafe in Long Xuyen. The drinks are great and cheap, there is also Wireless Internet, and the best part is that is it right next to where we live. We decided that it will be our favorite hang out place from now on =). During our meeting we went over some general questions, ideas, and concerns about our workshops at An Giang University. I'm actually really excited that we will start soon! I can't wait to meet all the students!!!! I'm sure the following weeks of teaching will breeze by.
We also had a meeting with the ADAPT's staff and learned about what are visions and roles in the office. I can't wait to go on home visits and vocational training visits with them. After that we spent most of our time researching and learning more about issues on trafficing, adapt, and pacific links we also have a reading assignment on Viet Kieu and Being a Viet Kieu. I feel like we have a lot of do this week. During the day we have to shadow the Adapt's staff, sometimes it might be from 7-5pm and sometimes it's half a day. And add on to that we have to do our reflection, blogging, reading assigments, group discussion on the reading, and lesson planning. It's good that we have things to keep ourselves busy but a lot of things going on at once can be really overwhelming and the quality of the work wouldn't come out to the best of what we can do.
Oh yeah, we hung out with the an giang students at night. The four students were Thu, Truc, Huong, and Mai. The girls english were outstanding; they suprised on how well they speak english. I really look forward to have workshops with them. We felt really comfortable to be with the students and I think they feel the same way about us because Huong was cracking jokes, aha. they were all so cute. We went around to get some food and then WE took them out to play pool for the first time. We were the only girls there because what the students told us was that there are usually only men playing pool because it is inappropriate for women to be there. But we couldn't careless because if men can be there we can be too, also the students didn't seem to be uncomfortable to be there either. It was really funny because we played some men surrounded our table and watched us play and they were making comments here and there, weird. we sure did have a great time last night =).-Camtu aka "UT" aka "cutie" hahaha
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July 7-HA TIEN
Saturday morning- we all woke up around 6am to go to Ha Tien. Carol felt sick so she stayed home. It took us about 3 hours to get there. We were very happy that Chi Duyen joined us! We first went to Mui Nai and walked around exploring the place. We managed to get around in a circle again. Tram and I decided to go kayaking so we rented out a kayak for 30 minutes. It was horrible...we didn't get anywhere because the waves kept pushing us back to the shore. I couldn't even remember how many times we flipped over =(. Tu and Chi Duyen sat watching and laughing at us. Also, we got a taste of real jackfruit!!! mmmm....
Lunch time- we had real good "lau" finally!!! it was so good- shrimp, squids, and fish! then we had crabs - "ghe", i think thats what its called. Im always the fastest to finish, so I had more than the others. hahaha. i was on my second one and finishing it while Tu was finishing the legs of her first one! gosh, i need to slow down on my food.
after lunch, we drove to a temple. it was up in the mts. we walked up and got very nice view from above. Then, we went to another temple and visited Hon Phu Tu rocks (not sure if im spelling it right). Our night came to an end at 9pm. the driver was a punk, never seemed happy and he overcharged us.
-for great pictures -->click on photos to view
-Oanh
Viet_Am
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- Name: Carol-Tu-Tram-Oanh
- Gender: Female
- Member Since: 7/3/2007
About Me
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The program will take place primarily in Long Xuyen, An Giang Province. Long Xuyen is a small but busy and bustling capital city of An Giang province, with a population of approximately 200,000. It is located by the Mekong River Delta, six hours from Ho Chi Minh City and three hours from the Cambodian border. Learning about Social Issues in Vietnam/ Shadowing Staff at a Vietnamese NGO: Over two weeks, volunteers will learn about various social issues in Vietnam. They will be teaching English at An Giang University on social issues in America and Vietnam. Volunteers will also shadow Vietnamese staff at a local anti-trafficking project called ADAPT (or An Giang-Dong Thap Alliance for the Prevention of Trafficking). ADAPT’s mission is to prevent the trafficking of young girls and women by enhancing their education attainment and improving their vocational choices through a supportive web of services. The final two weeks is to mentor/teach young girls English.
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