Returning and Beginning

I posted below the update on my involvement with a project to build an elementary school in northern Vietnam. It's the same thing I posted on facebook, so many of you will have already seen it.

I'm leaving on Weds, July 1 to spend a month in Bac Ha, where rumor has it the internet access has vastly improved since last year. I'll be using this space to share thoughts and photos, and will also write a brief version of how this school project got started in the first place and what we did and where we went last summer when technological obstacles thwarted my blogging ambitions.

An update about the school building project in Vietnam

Dear Friends,
I'm way overdue in sending this update about the project of building the elementary school in northern Vietnam that many of you have so generously contributed to. We have made great progress toward raising the amount needed for basic construction, and hope to have secured all the necessary permissions in order to build in November.

I'm pasting below an excerpt from a letter that Phil (Deering, my Minneapolis-based partner in the project) wrote. But first, an update to the update: I will be in the village of Bac Ha, the market town closest to the school, for the month of July, working with local contacts and writing about the process, the people, and the region. I'll be posting updates on my facebook page (be my friend, if we aren't already) as well as on my (now moribund, but soon to be lively) blog (www.brightenthecorner.blogspot.com).

Here's what Phil wrote:

We want to update you on progress (and some minor setbacks), so that you'll know that your money is being put to good use.

When we returned from Vietnam last June, we had our mission clear: to build a new school in the village of Tong Thoung. Here's what we've accomplished:

1. We've raised over $23,000 dollars – enough to build the two-room school as planned.

2. We have a complete architectural building plan, which has been reviewed and approved our friends at Sunflower Mission.

3. We have strong support from the local community

And here are the setbacks:

1. Phil was laid off from his job this winter. With tight personal finances,he wasn't able to go to Vietnam. As a result, we have to put the actual building off until November, 2009.

2. We've had consistent problems with the bureaucracy in Hanoi, and getting official Vietnamese Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) status for Sunflower Mission (our sponsoring US non-profit). This prevents us from some advantages that we would get from oversight by the federal government, but is really a minor inconvenience, since we are well positioned at the local level.

The plan is for Phil and Elisabeth to go to Vietnam in November of this year and work with a local company to build the school.

The children of Tong Thoung still need your help. Especially, help from young people in the US. Here's some things that would be really great:

1. If you or your school, religious group, or other group like Girl or Boy Scout troop would like to take on Tong Thoung school as a service project, please let us know. We have lots of support material to share and can promise an interesting and rewarding project.

2. If you want to make another donation that we will use to buy school materials or add to the basic plan to further improve the school with electrical generators, better hygiene facilities, etc. please make a check to: Sunflower Mission – BacHa School Project, and send it to Phil or Elisabeth (just ask for mailing address).

And now a final word from me (Elisabeth)...
Thank you for your interest and your support -- financial and otherwise. One of the greatest joys of this project for Bruce and me is witnessing the flowering of generosity from so many extraordinary friends, relatives, and colleagues. For more pictures and some video see www.bachaschool.org.

Yours,
Elisabeth and Bruce (who won't be able to go to Vietnam, but whose love and support make it possible for me to go)

Our friend and translator Thanh talking with a student at the school

Children in class

And then what happened ... eight months later

After letting my blog lie fallow for months, I'm back, and planning to use this space to write about a number of things, but especially about the amazing events that have transpired after my trip to Vietnam in July 2007. Along the way I hope to fill out and complete the narrative of that trip, while also writing about the one that begins on May 11 of this year.

So, stay tuned. The first tale to tell is about the school in the north near Bac Ha that I am helping to build.

Back to Texas

Got back home to Austin last night shortly after midnight. Will catch up on stories and pictures soon, but for now I need to lie on the couch and watch some golf.

Adventures in train travel

Took the night train back from Sapa to Hanoi last night and was so grateful to have kept my hotel room here while I was gone. While other people were staggering around tired and grimy waiting to be able to check-in somewhere, I went straight to my room where all my stuff was intact, opened a cold diet coke and drew a bath. Ahhh...

This relief was particularly sweet considering the adventure of the train. In Sapa I got on the train and claimed my expensive reserved sleeper berth, this time one of the lower ones, and waited to see who else would be sharing the compartment, expecting a similar group to the genial Finns and the woman from Singapore. This was not to be. First, a young (Vietnamese, I think) couple comes in and perches on the other lower bunk. They stow some luggage and then leave. Then only he comes back, followed by two grinning men in matching tan shirts and two tarted-up, gum-smacking, giggling apparent prostitutes -- oops, I mean sex workers. I'm completely claiming my space and lying down on my bed, but the men decide to sit on it anyway so they can face the girls and have a chat. I'm having none of this, and make an unmistakable "get off" gesture, which just makes them move to the opposite bunk, so that now four people are staring at me like I'm crashing the party. I'm thinking, yes, I am well aware of the legendary and often heroic patience and forbearance of the Vietnamese people, but y'all ain't winning this one. Eventually the tan-shirt dudes leave, and the girls ratchet-up the gum smacking and cell-phone yacking while I turn my back and pretend to try to sleep. After a while they start playing a game by clapping suddenly and giggling to see if I'm still awake, but I am in no mood to be mean-girled by a couple of seat-scamming sex workers. They're still sitting up and making a racket when it seems the right time to lock the compartment door for the night, which just escalates the battle, of course. I lock. One grabs my arm and shakes her head to say, no lock. I nod, point to my chest, glare, and lock. This happens a few more times. Then there comes a loud knock on the door and one of the girls opens it. Here we go, I think. But, no, it's the conductor. He looks at the two of them in one berth, says something, points, looks at their ticket (?), then just laughs and shuts the door. Thanks a heap. But I lock the door after him and put on the chain so that even he can't get in, flash another dirty look, turn on my side, wrap my arm around my bag, and actually go to sleep. Victorious.

Sapa and Hill Tribe Villages, Day One

Arrived here in Sa Pa around 6:30 this morning by night train from Hanoi, and after breakfast I headed out into the steep, mist-covered hills terraced with rice fields in a steady rain with my guide. I am the only one on this particular tour, so it was just the two of us making our way along the muddy track among, meeting the occasional water buffalo and hill-tribe villager along the way. It was magical and wondrous -- and very, very wet, a welcome respite from Hanoi's heat, I might add. In an hour or so I'm going back out with my guide Thanh on his motorbike to go see some off-itinerary sights (we made a little side deal). We walked through villages of both the Black Hmong and Red Dzao people, both of whom dress in elaborately layered and embroidered outfits. I saw women hand dyeing the cloth from the indigo planted in their fields (Thanh thought the dye smelled worse than the water buffalo dung. I disagreed). I also saw two women spinning and weaving the cloth by hand and foot treadle. Will try to get some pictures up soon.

Hue to Hanoi & Hanoi to Sapa

Flew from Hue to Hanoi early this afternoon, and am resting for an hour or so before I leave on the night train to Sapa for a short trekking trip with Handspan Adventures. Don't think I'll have any access while up there among the hill tribes, but I'll post a note as soon as I get back very early Weds morning, which will be Tues evening in the US.