As you’re probably well aware at this point, this week has not been an easy or straightforward one for our group. While it’s true that we’ve been reckoning with hard emotions and upcoming changes as we work to create new norms with our group moving forward, we’ve also had an incredible opportunity to continue our learning in Vietnam with an organization called Friendship Village. In this blog, we hope to share the aspects of this week that have grounded us all and served as a reminder of why we came on this program and what we hope to gain from our experiences.
On Saturday we had the incredible opportunity to visit the ancient village of Duong Lam, about an hour west of Hanoi. We learned that a lot of infrastructure in Vietnam is relatively new given the destruction that came form almost a century of war (Chinese border/sovereignty disputes, French colonization and independence, the Vietnam-American war, and border disputes with Cambodia). Duong Lam is a rare case of a village that has been around for over 500 years. In 2006, it became the first village recognized by the National Monument Committee, and is thus a popular destination for international and Vietnamese tourists alike. Here, we got to see unique architecture and learn about folk beliefs within the country. In the afternoon, we visited a candy shop and got a chance to participate in making traditional peanut brittle like candies by cooking and mixing peanuts, sugar, malt, and sesame seeds and helping put them into a machine for packaging. We got to take a bunch back for ourselves at the end of it! It was super fun to see and try for ourselves. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to coffees, expanding our horizons by trying some of Vietnam’s unique caffeinated creations — egg coffee, salted coffee, or coconut coffee — or other fun sweet beverages. They were super delicious and we’ve since been on the hunt to keep trying new coffees here :). At night, we watched an incredible show called the Tonkin Show which showed the history and tradition of folk like in Vietnam through water puppets, actors, light spectacles, water props, and music. It was beautiful and incredible and we had so much fun!
On Sunday we made sure to get our laundry done and follow up on our coffee endeavors. We started to plan Student Planned Module, a week later in the semester that is completely unplanned until we fill it in! In the afternoon, some of us found a gym to work out, others relaxed and read, and others visited the Museum of Ethnology. Here, we learned about different ethnic and linguistic groups that make up Vietnam and got to see and enter models of houses and boats from different areas of the country. It was a lot of fun and very informative!
The next few days were spent at Friendship Village. During the Vietnam-American war, the United States released a chemical called dioxin into the environment of southern and central Vietnam as part of a mission to defoliate the forests and expose the locations of the Viet Cong — a communist group in the south of Vietnam — and prevent them from receiving more resources from the North. Dioxin is a highly toxic chemical that can live in the blood stream, breast milk, and soil, and can lead to birth defects and health complications both in people exposed to dioxin and their offspring. Friendship Village is an organization supporting people impacted by agent orange by offering years of intentional community, school, and vocational training. It also offers a few weeks of free health care to war veterans. It was founded in 2005 by a US war veteran to promote international engagement and awareness of the impacts of Agent Orange. During our time at Friendship Village, we participated in gardening projects and cleaned up some classrooms to prepare for students to return after their holiday. We also got to see some of the vocational skills taught here such as computers, embroidery, and flower making (paper flowers put on earrings or cards etc). We were thoroughly impressed with the delicacy and intricacy in these classes, and thought about how hard these skills would be for our clumsy hands. We participated in Movement class and had a lot of fun dancing together! We had the opportunity to purchase some souvenirs which directly supports the artist that created the item! Overall it was a unique and interesting experience and we are glad we got to learn more about the impact of Agent Orange in Vietnam and programs that support repair.
During this week, we also had the opportunity to participate in an exchange with a high school in Hanoi called Alpha School. We spent the morning playing sports with students (soccer, basketball, tug-o-war, and an incredibly fun game involving jumping over bamboo sticks). This was an energy release we had all been craving and we had so much fun running around and connecting with students our age. We also got to share an interactive quiz about the US and ask questions to our peers about our differences and similarities in our education systems. This day was a blast and definitely a highlight for most of us!
This week, we’ve been enjoying sushi, ramen, pizza, burgers, and milkshakes. We’ve been having a lot of fun at our meals and have been realizing how far some good comfort food can go. We’ve even had to go back to the same restaurant a few times because we’ve been enjoying ourselves so much!
We are looking forward to getting to know southern Vietnam a little better in Ho Chi Minh City this weekend!
