Factory Work

Quite expectedly, there was a stark contrast between the state own factory and the foreign-owned Yamaha factory with the latter being of a much better quality. While one would assume that a foreign company would establish a factory in Vietnam for the benefits of minimal health and safety regulations that was certainly not the case in the Yamaha factories. The working conditions were quite exceptional with there being lots of space and a nice clean environment. This was in comparison to the Vinamex factory where the environment was very stress-inducing and at times unbearable. While the machines pound away at your ear drums, the heat and smell stifles you and its hard to imagine ever working in such space. This was in contrast to the Yamaha factory where the floors had been waxed so much you felt as though you would simply fall. Further, I noticed that brooms and sweep pans were always within reach and the temperature was comfortable. To be fair, the Yamaha factory seem to have regular visits as evident by the benches situated throughout the factory as though they were randomly and strategically placed. Also accompanying these benches were Japanese writing which could indicate that either it was tourist attraction or that Japanese executives frequented the place often. The gender distribution in terms of employees were also different with the car factories seeming to have more males workers whereas the other factory the women heavily outnumbered the men especially in the stitching portion of the factory. Nevertheless there were similarities in the factories.

Include All

The issues of exclusion and inclusion are very applicable and significant when it comes to Xa Me. While ideally, we would like everyone to participate and we do try to include everyone, this is never the case because of many reasons. Obviously age plays a factor and with so many children ranging from six years old all the way up to eighteen, it is not possible to find an activity to capture everyone’s interest and keep them involved. Another factor seems to circulate around this issue of gender and how the boys and girls can only play harmoniously when they are segregated from one another. The reality is boys and girls are more comfortable playing with the same sex and infrequently will play with the other. In the incidences that they do interact, the results are often negative, ending in name calling or physical conflicts. Finally, there are just some children who like to keep to themselves and I’ve noticed a few that have this tendency.

The eldest boy rarely hangs out and interacts with us, due in large part to his age, however, when we do make an effort to sit down and speak to him he’s generally very open with us. For me, I feel that due to my lack of Vietnamese there is only so much to talk to him about and it creates a barrier between myself and him. I have made concentrated efforts to sit down and talk to him but often times it was brief because of the limited amount of things that can be said. This has led to his exclusion due to my inability to communicate and include him. Nevertheless, I will continue to try and communicate with him and one possible solution is to have either Kristine or Thuy Linh help. Unfortunately, this could make him intimidated or ruin the dynamics by having a conversation with a girl. For example, I recall talking with him and some of the older boys about girls and how in America people generally find tan skin more attracted. He said he preferred girls with whiter skin because they are more beautiful and because it means their family has money. Kristine and Emily was also there and when one of the boys ask who was prettier between the two, it seems that he become somewhat embarrassed and from that point became more reserved. While I can easily ignore this and keep this boy excluded, it is really important for me to talk to him because at eighteen, it is a very important time in his life. I have a younger brother his age and to me I guess naturally I want to play that older brother role, but at the same time I know I am not and I do not want to force him or put him in uncomfortable situations.
With the issue of exclusion and inclusion in regards to gender, the difficult thing here is how to find ways in which to include the boys and girls and have them interacting with one another in a peaceful and efficient manner. Unfortunately, the boys will generally keep to themselves and the girls as well and even when they come together to play games, the boys will often be on one team and the girls on another. While I understand this has a lot to do with it being the tendencies of children to segregate by gender and perhaps in some way a culture thing, I think it’s important for both girls and boys to get along especially since them live with one another. The physical and verbal attacks definitely take a toll on the kids, especially those who are targeted most often. We have tried to alleviate the tension and create harmony with the two by for example, I say that boys should not hit girls and we intervene when fights break out, but the progress has definitely been slow. Perhaps nothing will ever change but if we can lessen the “brutality” then I think we would have definitely succeeded.

While I can’t speak for the other members of the group, I am not satisfied with simply helping a few kids and making an impact on them. I have tried to go over it in my mind, however, personally, if I can’t help every kid in one way or another I know I will feel as though I have failed. I know that doing so will be very difficult and perhaps not feasible at all, but it is something I think about a lot when I reflect on my experiences at Xa Me. Why couldn’t I help this kid, why didn’t I try harder to get him/her involved, or what can I do to include this kid? These are all questions that race in my mind when I think about exclusion and inclusion.

Foreign Frenzy in Hectic Hanoi

The 1000 year anniversary brought hundreds of thousands of people from all around the world to Hanoi for what was supposed to be a once in a lifetime celebration. Millions of dollars were poured into preparing the city to be a “magical place” with grand decorations and millions more were spent on events. While this may have helped Hanoi by bolstering nationalism and boost the local economy, in my opinion everything else was mediocre at best. Every night for ten days the streets of downtown Hanoi was littered with foreigners not really being able to appreciate Hanoi for what it really was¸ a cultural center of Vietnam and the locals abhorring the traffic and mess caused by the 10 day affair. For me everything is geared towards projecting an image of Hanoi that is not really Hanoi because the target is not towards the residence but to the international community. Inherently, during this process certain things (primarily positive) will be emphasized while less appealing things would be concealed. Unfortunately, this process of selecting certain aspects to accentuate and conceal obviously lies in the hand of the government and not the people. There are no forums into which people are able to input their feelings and opinions and subsequently, the government agenda dictates the course of action, which is true for all aspect of people’s life. While many argue that the government has lessen their grip, this is one big example of government control.

Initially, I was very excited by the 1000 year anniversary and I planned to go downtown every day leading up to 10/10/10 and after attending the first day and seeing the spectacular firework show, I was even more excited. However, my enthusiasm was not matched by my fellow peers, both Hanu students and a majority of the UC students. In fact, they were counting down the days when all the mayhem and chaos would be over. To them the 1000 is more of a hassle than celebration because it signifies congestion, filth, and a bunch of foreigners running amok. One very notable observation was that the Old Quarter was dominated by foreigners particularly at night. While there were some Vietnamese out and about, these people were generally dressed impressively and thus, I suspect they were higher class and rich folks who could afford being out and about. Besides these higher class Vietnamese, the majority of people wondering the streets at night were foreigners because the average Hanoian was busy hard at work. In a sense, the 1000 year anniversary was no longer a celebration by the Hanoians to celebrate their tradition and culture, but rather an opportunity for advertisement. This is what provided the turning point and made my opinion about the celebration change drastically. I did not want to contribute or take part in this “phony” celebration and coupled that with the congested streets, I too joined my peers in wanting it to all come to an end. Finally, that day came and besides the garbage that still litter the streets and lake, Hanoi has returned to is normal state.

Not Organize

Organizational structure, or the lack of it, is a significant concern in regards to Xa Me. The owners of the organization seem non-existent in terms of their presence and the rules that are supposed to be in place. Besides the past week in which we were informed at the last second that we had to change the dates in which we could volunteer, I have only saw one of the two person in charge for the second time. In our encounter I was quite shocked by her attitude and honestly quite angered and irritated because she was very nonchalant about it. She could easily sense that we that we were not particularly happy about moving the dates¸ especially no one had notified us in advanced. Rather than being apologetic she shifted blame onto us by stating immediately after that she was not informed about us missing a week due to the central trip. In a very sad, overly dramatic tone, she said that the kids were worried, which worried her because she didn’t know what was going on. We told her that we were under the impression that our teacher had inform her and we had already informed the children. This was not a matter of changing days and inconveniencing us that bothered me but rather because of her attitude and from an organizational standpoint, her wanting us to communicate to her about specific details but for us to not expect the same treatment. Nevertheless, both owners are hardly ever there and there are both negative and positive implications.

On the one hand, it gives us a great reign of freedom to facilitate and teach whatever curriculum we so choose. In this regards, I feel that the flexibility if harnessed in the correct way can be very effective in helping the children. Unlike many of the other stories I hear from my fellow peers about their organization and the strict structure, there is no supervision and we are free to do pretty much anything we want. This way we are not constrained by guidelines or rules that say we can’t do this or that, but it definitely has its downfall. In the first couple weeks, I think we fell victim to this very relaxed and unconstrained environment and we also had a lack of structure and formal instructions. We “hung out” a lot with the children and although it was necessary to build a relationship and gain the children’s trust, it was not going to teach them the things they would need and eventually use. At the end of the second week, I began to feel somewhat useless and because we had gotten so use to the unorganized/informal setting, I think everyone was a bit frustrated. Further, I could see that the children were becoming more restless and rowdy because they were under the impression that our objective was to come and just play with them. When there is down time, it seems that the children are more likely to fight and argue with one another. These occurrences seem to be very frequent and in my opinion it is due to living with no real structure and guidance. So we decided to change that immediately by introducing structure and although we encountered some turbulence along the way, the transition has been overall smooth and the results more effective.

With this new knowledge and ability to harness the freedom derived from the lack of organizational structure, we ourselves have begun to implement our own structure into the organization and it has gone a long way. Having a structured plan and implementing it has been very effective in teaching the children English as well as relieving the stress on ourselves. Every day in which we come and volunteer, the children now know what to expect and so they can prepare themselves. For us, there’s no longer stressing over what to do next or how to control the children because in this setting, the children are very well behaved. Regardless of the children’s background or how they were raised, every children can learn to function in an organized, structured environment given the time and patience. I can see that a lot of the children want to learn and by giving them structure and providing with them with a platform to learn, I think they can achieve their goals.

Rice

This past Sunday we traveled to the outskirts of Hanoi to harvest rice in the fields of a very pleasant and welcoming farmer. Waking up at 6 am and driving 1 hour was not exactly an ideal way to start the day, however, the excitement was quite obvious among my fellow peers. I could infer from the look on their faces and the conversation that this was an opportunity to have an “authentic” rural Vietnamese experience. Working as day laborers they were expected to harvest the entire field just as many wage laborers in this farming village often did. After speaking with some of the locals they told the story of a village with a very bleak future, one in which has become very reliant on wage laborers. The appeal of community and tradition can no longer sustain in this new age of globalization and therefore, many of the younger people are either leaving the village or going out and working in the cities. All that is left are the elders who eventually become too old to tend the fields and thus require assistance. As a result, many of the wage laborers are hired to do this particular work and for a few hours my fellow peers were able to walk in their shoes. I, myself, would not get the opportunity to harvest the rice, but I helped prepare and cook the lunch for all the “day laborers,” nearly 45 people in total. My experience was interesting nevertheless and I was able to learn a great deal working alongside the women cooking, such as cooking is a very long and strenuous process. Further, as I venture out into the village, playing with the kids and talking with the locals, I also gained some insight into what has created the current environment of the village.

According to the locals that we spoke with, land distribution during the war was based on the number of people in a household and thus, the more children you had, the more land you would receive from the government. This fact was quite notable because it possibly explained why in older generations, such as my grandmother, families tended to be larger and have more children. It wasn’t that they were bored and had “nothing to do” as I once suggested to my grandmother, but it was in fact beneficial to do so. In reality, having a large family was ideal because not only did you receive more land, but you would have the resources to ensure the land was utilized efficiently. However, the government began introducing birth control programs during the 1980s and the maximum number of children in one household was typically two. The land was no longer distributed by the number of people in the household and the household kept the same land and subsequently, having many children without the resources to provide for them became very unwise. In the locals opinion, this was the turning point or the downturn of the village. The families could no longer support themselves and thus the dynamics of the village also began to change. This in turn led to changes in the farming techniques and agriculture. In addition, to the reliance on wage laborers, there was also a great increase in fertilizers, pesticides, and other artificial agricultural tools. The locals also revealed to us that they received their new harvesting machine this year and in my opinion, this will decrease the need for laborers. It is very evident from the shift in farming procedures and tools that the forces at work, for a lack of a better word, globalization is influencing every aspect of Vietnam. I feel as though eventually, the village itself will become obsolete because the demands of the government and outside entities towards development will force the people to change their lifestyles. We are already observing it slowly beginning to happen and with its location only 1 hour away from the city, the future of this village as a farm land will be no more.

Typically, tending to the field and harvesting is a communal effort by both genders, however, a household duty such as cooking is done exclusively by the women. I thought it would be interesting to disrupt this dynamic and do a job typically assigned to women. I, myself, generally love to cook and am quite capable of handling my own. However, in this situation, the cooking process was very different what I imagined. First off, cooking for so a large number of people made it difficult to gage how much food to cook and so we overestimated the amount of food needed. Secondly, the Hanu students seemed to naturally take charge and from what I can derive, they seemed very comfortable and familiar with the task at hand. I did feel out of place at hands because of my gender, but I think the UC people felt that way in general.

Invading Space

The kids are confined to the house and while some do sneak out at night, they are very limited to public spaces. Sometimes they are taken on field trips but I believe this is an infrequent occurrence, which often times make them very restless. In my opinion, this is the main reason why they are often verbally and physically attacking each other. This is very common among many children who have very few outlets to express themselves and utilize their energy, so I don’t really blame them. The only thing inside the house to occupy the children is a television, a small game room with a foosball and ping pong table, and some old playing card. Further, the lack of private spaces particularly for the older children, augments to the fighting and bullying. I couldn’t imagine being able to live with 20+ other children in a limited space. For me personally, it’s very difficult to imagine this and often times when I see 10 kids trying to fit on one bed, it really saddens and bothers me. The conditions are very bad and its hard to place myself in their perspective. Growing up I shared a room with my brother until the age of 14 and sharing a room with one other person was already difficult enough. The relationship that the children have with one another is in many ways similar to the one I shared with my own brother. We were constantly bickering, fighting, and at each other’s neck. Looking back on it, I can say that it was due in large part to the limited space we had to share and being unable to have our own private space. One could never be alone and the other always knew what the other was up to. Also, growing up I would hear stories from my mother who had nine brothers and sisters and they would often have to share one bedroom in very cramp spaces. At the time and still now, it’s hard for me to understand or even imagine what it would be like. While I understand that it is certainly better than living on the streets, I can’t deny that it’s a very difficult and uncomfortable situation to live in and seeing that bothers me sometimes.

In terms of the physical space, most children seem to disregard what we typically refer to as a person’s “personal space.” I want to analyze this in two components, in relation to the children and in relation to myself. First, they are constantly in each other’s face with verbal barrages and physically attacking one another on a daily basis. Again, as I previously mentioned, this is due in large part to the fact that they don’t have their own personal space and are forced to share. In my opinion, what makes this situation worse is the fact that these children, from what I can see, was never really taught the idea of respecting someone’s personal space. As a result, I hear many of the children complain about the other kids going through their personal items and sometimes I hear about thefts. One cannot and I personally do not put the blame solely on the children not because they don’t know better, but because they tight and closed-off environment they are in forces them constantly be near one another. I will see boys go through the drawers of the girls or the girls screaming in the faces of the boy. It is important to note that the physical and verbal attacks come from both the boys and the girls. While one may be quick to assume that the boys are solely responsible for the physical abuse or the girls tease one another, from my observation, it is nearly equal among both the boys and the girls.

When I am there, both the girls and boys love are constantly all over me, whether it’s tickling from the girls, “boxing” from the guys, or horsey-back rides for both. For me, growing up with many cousins, this is not such a big problem, however, I know that for the other volunteers, this can often times be a problem because they are not use to it and it makes them really uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the children are unable to pick up on the cues and will persist and even when we tell them to stop they will sometimes continue. Again, I cannot blame the children for this because they were never taught the idea of personal space and being in such a tight closed environment, perhaps the rules change or perhaps it’s a culture thing. I have observed that the Vietnamese culture, particularly among the same sex and of younger people, people seem to be much more intimate and touchy-feely. While as Americans, in our culture it is more appropriate to keep our distance, maybe we interpret the behavior as the children as not normal but in fact is normal in the context of the Vietnamese culture. I have notice that boys and girls of even college age still have the tendency to playfully hit one another or tease each other frequently. Subsequently, the idea of public, private, and personal physical spaces are different from my own views and I must take it upon myself to recognize it and view the children’s behaviors and actions in a different context. I think this is a great realization and will be very useful in the future.