VeT Beneficiaries

The following is an article on my trip back to Cat Lai to visit beneficiaries of VeT's project there.

December 9, 2009 – Beneificiary Visit - Narrative

On December 9, Vet VN Project Officer, Bich Ngoc Truong and VeT VN Communications Officer, Sharon Brown visited Cat Lai Ward where VeT has been involved in a six-year, two phase Life Conditions Amelioration Project For Low-Income Households in Cat Lai. The VeT representatives visited a few of the many beneficiaries of the infrastructure improvements and micro-loans provided through the Ward to learn how their lives have been affected by their participation in the project. Accompanied by Ms. Nguyễn Thị Hồng Loan, the project’s Executive Committee Treasurer, Ms. Ngoc and Ms. Sharon visited with eight project beneficiaries at their homes and places of business.

Our first stop was the home and small café of Executive Committee Secretary Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Hoa whose house sits along Alley 11, one of the alleys upgraded by VeT. Ms. Hoa explained that before the upgrades, the alley was covered with loose dirt which often invaded local houses and covered floors and future, requiring families to sweep up constantly to keep their homes clean. She also explained that when it rained, the alley would flood making it difficult for local people to travel to and from their homes. Now with the improvements, the homes and businesses along the alley are no longer troubled by a constant barrage of dirt, nor are their movements impeded when it rains. Both Mrs. Hoa and the customers of her café enjoy the benefits of the alley upgrade.

Our second stop was a the home of Chau Thanh Thuy, whose home lies along Sub-Alley 13, the second alley upgraded through the project. Also provided with a sewer/draining system as part of the alley upgrade, many of the homes along Sub-Alley 13 participated in VeT’s micro-credit program for housing upgrades which allowed them to connect their households to the main sewer line as well as to conduct upgrades to their personal property, including both cementing and raising the level of their front patios to improve drainage and building or improving walls separating their property from the alley. Mrs. Thuy was one of the beneficiaries who took advantage of the housing upgrading micro-loan and said that she was very happy both with the new alley and the upgrades to her home. She recalled how VeT had approached every family in the street to inform them of the project and to ask for their input on the alley upgrades. She also recalled how during the alley upgrades many of her neighbors assisted the workers by providing them with water to drink and sometimes even water to help mix the cement. She said that everyone was happy with VeT’s work and described VeT as an organization that makes people happy by helping low-income families improve their local alleys, and their homes and financial situations through micro-loans.

Along those same streets, we met with Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, a beneficiary of VeT’s micro-credit program for income generation. Mrs. Tuyen was sitting in front of a tarp laid with vegetables outside of a neighbor’s house surrounded by neighbors and customers. She explained that before joining VeT’s micro-loan program for income generation, she had only a small amount of vegetables to sell each day and, to buy them, she had to borrow money at high interest rates of up to 30% from individual lenders. Now, she says, her wares consist of seafood, chicken and a wide variety of vegetables which she buys from a large market and brings back to her neighborhood to sell to her neighbors in a convenient location and only has to pay 1.5% in interest on her loan. She mentioned that her husband had also taken a small part of the loan to purchase handmade brooms which he sells in markets in central Saigon. Mrs. Tuyen learned of the program from Ms. Hoa, the project’s Executive Committee Accountant, and said that now she and her husband and her small son are more secure financially than they were before becoming involved in the project.

The next stop was a small drink stand along the side of a busy road where Ms. Duong Thi Minh Chau and her small daughter sat selling coconuts, coffee and other refreshments to passersby. Ms. Chau explained that she had never taken out a loan before becoming a beneficiary of VeT’s project and was therefore only able to sell the few coconuts that she was able to purchase each day. Now with the help of VeT, Ms. Chau is able to sell a more diverse range of products to a larger customer base and has no problem paying back the 57,500 VND per week that she owes on her 2 million VND micro-loan because of the money she earns each day. Of the 57,500 that Ms. Chau pays each week, 40,000 VND goes to the principal, 7,500 VND goes to interest and 10,000 goes into a savings account that beneficiaries are able to access once they have paid off their loan.

After leaving Ms. Chau and her daughter, we visited Mrs. Pham Thi Bich Lan and her adult daughter, Mrs. Thanh Lan Phuong, both beneficiaries of VeT’s micro-credit program for income generation. Adding to the diverse list of incoming generating activities undertaken by the beneficiaries, Mrs. Lan used her micro-loan to purchase more tables, chairs and food supplies for her small noodle stand, enabling her to serve a greater number of customers and increase her family’s income over the four years that she has participated in the project. Her daughter, Mrs. Phuong, uses the funds from her micro-loan to buys used and recyclable materials to sell to recycling companies and other companies that purchase used goods. She says that with the money provided by the micro-credit project, she and her husband are now able to save and to better provide for their two small children. Both Mrs. Lan and her daughter say that they feel lucky to be a part of VeT’s micro-credit project and that they feel that VeT stands out above the rest because of the fact that they provide loans to lower-income households and immigrants, something not done by other local organizations.

Our last stop was at the home of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh and Mrs. Nguyen Hong Khoa, both living as temporary migrants in Cat Lai. Originally from provinces in the Mekong Delta, both Mrs. Thanh and Mrs. Khoa came with their families to Ho Chi Minh City, where even though they are unable to secure steady work, they are able to secure work often enough on a year-round basis to sustain their families, as opposed to their hometowns where work is often scarce. Both families utilize the funds from the micro-credit programs to supplement their incomes when they experience a lapse in employment and to provide for emergencies both for their families in HCMC and back in their home towns. Both women reported that the funds from the micro-loan program allow them to feel a little more secure during hard times which inevitably come around in the lives of the city’s migrants. When asked if they would change anything about the program, both women remarked that they wouldn’t change a thing and that they were grateful for the manageable amounts of the loans and of the low interest rates, both of which allow them to manage financially without going further into debt.

Overall, all of the beneficiaries seemed to be pleased with both the infrastructure improvements and the micro-loans, as well as VeT’s handling of the project. Each beneficiary had something positive to say about their lives since becoming involved with the project. When asked about VeT, they all broke into a smile and expressed their gratitude for the improvements that VeT has made possible in their lives. They were also all very aware of VeT’s role in the project and their mission in Vietnam.

VeT Project Management Training

The following is an article I wrote about VeT's Project Management Training in December. I've added some of my personal notes at the bottom.

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Cat Lai Ward, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City


Project Management Training

December 2-4, 2009

Beginning on December 2 and ending on December 4, 2009, VeT, in partnership with the Cat Lai People’s Committee, held a community training on project management for selected members of the Cat Lai People’s Committee’s Poverty Reduction Committee, Women’s Union and Youth Union. This training marked the beginning of the end of a successful partnership in Cat Lai between VeT and the District 2 People’s Committee, the Cat Lai People’s Committee and the Cat Lai Women’s Union in which VeT coordinated with the community to provide much needed infrastructure improvements and micro-credit programs for some of the area’s lowest-income households.

Throughout the three-day training, 19 members of the three groups participated in various discussions, group exercises, case studies and role plays as part of a comprehensive training provided by the Center for Social Work and Community Development Research and Consultancy. Over the course of the three days, group members learned about project structure, successful project management, resource management, and the importance of teamwork, planning, oversight, evaluation and the involvement of project beneficiaries in each stage of the project.

The training marked the end of a project which spanned over six years and two phases, during which time two residential alleys were upgraded and 162 low-income households received micro-loans to use towards income generating projects. Due to the success of the micro-credit project, the people of Cat Lai Ward have chosen to extend the fund beyond the length of the joint project with VeT and requested this week’s training and another on Micro-Credit in January, to prepare them to take over the management and oversight of the micro-credit program.

Training participants worked together to draft plans in the areas of micro-credit, vocational training and economic capacity building for low-income families and were able to edit and revise these plans based on the new strategies that they learned throughout the training. Many participants stated that they had never made a plan before or thought about project management and found the training to be very interesting and useful for their future needs.

In January, Vet and the Center for Social Work and Community Development Research and Consultancy will return to Cat Lai to provide a final training on Micro-Credit and to official close the project in the Cat Lai Ward.

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I attended this training for two days in December and was really surprised at how similar it was to other training's that I have attended in the US. It started off with a warm up/getting-to-know-you exercise and was filled with brainstorming, group activities and group presentations. The trainers were really impressive, asking more questions than providing information the first few days to ascertain what the participants already knew and then the next day was more information provision and the utilization of that information in small groups where the group members simulated real projects. It was all in Vietnamese, but with all of the activities and a bit of translation from my co-worker, I was able to follow along more or less with what was going on.


What wasn't at all like my previous training experiences in the US was our lunch break. One of the women in the training, Mrs. Hoa, had invited my co-worker and I and the two trainers to her house after lunch. Mrs. Hoa, like many Vietnamese, runs a business out of the front of her house, her specialty being coffees and teas. We all joined her on the patio for some Vietnamese ice tea and the women all began to chat in Vietnamese, as Mrs. Hoa doesn't speak any English. After a few moments, Mrs. Hoa gestured to me and motioned inside the front from of her house. The other ladies explained that she was offering for me to take a rest on the hammock in her front room. Thinking that I would feel a bit awkward lying in her house in a hammock while the other ladies all chatted outside, I politely refused, but she insisted. Finally not wanting to be rude, I made my way inside leaving my shoes at the door and was pleased to see all the other ladies right behind me.

We all entered the front room and the women began unrolling mats onto the floor and lying down. I had forgotten about the Vietnamese custom of napping after lunch. While they all made themselves comfortable on the floor and began chatting and laughing creating a scene much like a middle school sleepover, I - feeling slightly bad for being in the hammock and not on the floor - made myself comfortable and was soon asleep, but not before I imagined professional trainers in the US kicking off their shoes and spreading out mats on the floor for a long afternoon nap.













 

Thanksgiving 2009

After a delicious take-away Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, gravy, stuffing, mac & cheese, mashed and sweet potatoes, corn, salad and rolls, Steven and I woke early the next morning for our three day trip to the beach on Phu Quoc, an island off the south eastern coast.. We stayed in a rustic bungalow on a semi-private beach and spent the days relaxing on the beach, snorkeling and exploring the island. It was a wonderful three days!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Morning Commute

I have been a working woman for a month now and have pretty much settled into a routine. Because my working hours are from 8:00 - 4:00 and Steven's are from 8:00 to 4:30/6:00 when he coaches basketball, I have been riding with him to the school, taking the motorbike to work, and then picking him up in the evenings. On many mornings, I find myself musing about my commute and wondering if anyone I know has as strange a morning ride as I do.

Steven and I leave the house around 7:30 for the 10 minute ride to his school. He always drives when we are together because the bike is hard for me to balance when he is on the back. Our ride from home takes us out of our alley ways and onto a main tree-lined street with center lanes for cars and side lanes, separated by low cement dividers, for motorbikes. Every so often the drive is broken up by cars and motorbikes turning onto the street from adjoining side streets, a situation that causes us either to speed up to get ahead of them, or to stop to wait for them to pass, as there are no stop signs or lights in these areas. We have one big left turn onto the bridge, which is made infinitely easier when we are part of a large pack of bikes muscling their way through the traffic running east and west along the road. Usually there are functioning lights and police at these intersections, so it is often smooth sailing.

Once over the bridge, Steven takes a short cut to avoid major road construction which takes us through more narrow local streets and over a bridge revealing rows of ramshackle houses lining a trash filled canal. Once back on the main road, we encounter the first - and most unpleasant - obstacle of my commute: a ride on the sidewalk against oncoming traffic through a sea of construction debris.

For a time - while we still had to ride the wrong way on the sidewalk to get to the school - it wasn't unpleasant, as the sidewalks, as poorly maintained as they were, were usually free of debris and the only obstacles to avoid were the oncoming motorbikes riding the right way down the sidewalk. Now, as the houses along the sidewalks have been torn down, the sidewalks are literally covered with big blocks of jagged cement, broken glass, twisted metal, and all other manner of hazardous objects. If I were driving, I would either brave the road construction and take the long way to avoid this part, or I would - which I have done in the past - drive in the road along the sidewalk - the wrong way - for the short stretch of rubble strewn sidewalk and then ride back up on the sidewalk for the less precarious portion of the ride to the school. But I do not drive in the mornings, so Steven prefers to take us straight through the, now worn, path in the middle of the debris. Each time I squeeze my feet in as close to the bike as possible and hope the we make it through safely - which we always do.

Once at the school, Steven hands over the reins, I don my mask and I am off on my own. The second worst part of the trip is getting from Steven's school back to the bridge. At this time in the morning the busy thoroughfare is packed due to all of the construction. I usually stay in second or third gear and hug the sidewalk, even though there are more bumps and pot holes, because it keeps me out of the masses and a little closer to a source of less-polluted air.

Once at the bridge, men in slacks and ties, younger men in construction overalls, women in business suites, couples with young babies, and countless other Vietnamese on their way somewhere, fan out onto the wide expanse of the bridge and hasten their pace.

From the bridge, I cross over the divided, tree-lined street that brought Steven and me from home on to Le Than Ton, one of District One's most popular destinations, lined with upper-class restaurants of every persuasion, where I enjoy a more-or-less smooth ride, until I hit Hai Ba Trung where I must make a quick right onto the road which takes me all the way out of District 1, through District 3 and into the Phu Nhauh District where the VeT office is located. This part of my journey is spent mostly trying to avoid kids on bicycles who seem to feel themselves above the unwritten rules of the road, one of which includes driving more-or-less in a straight line and not weaving all over the road causing those around you to constantly break to avoid crashing into you. As environmentally friendly as they may be - bicyclists on the road are my nemesis.

Hai Ba Trung starts out in District One and, like the rest of the district, it is well paved, well maintained and lined with attractive buildings, shops and restaurants, but once it hits district 3, it is another story altogether.

Where Ha Ba Trung meets Dien Bien Phu, there is one of Ho Chi Minh's City's ubiquitous green construction fences surrounding one of many holes in the roads and blocking a large section of the lane of eastbound traffic. This leads to all of the eastbound traffic taking up the west bound lane, which leaves all of us westbound commuters routed up, over a broken sidewalk and into the parking lot of a park, which has become somewhat of a temporary replacement road, yet with none of the informal rules that lend themselves to driving on the regular roads. Once you hoist your bike up and over the curb into the park, you are often confronted with the impatient drivers of eastbound cars driving through the park on which ever side of the "road" the desire and also, often reducing the available space on the curb to the width of one motorbike causing a build up of motorbikes waiting to jump the broken curb to get into the park and around the construction barrier.

Once through the park, I drive back out onto the main road and continue a few intersections to my next obstacle. A short distance from Dien Bien Phu is a local market which causes its own distinct set of obstacles. Drivers leaving the market enter the road, again without lights or stop signs, merging into oncoming traffic, often with the intention of crossing to the other side of the road causing them to enter traffic at an angle and continue at an angle through the east bound traffic to the other side of the road. If you come upon a surge of income bikes just before or after their move, it is usually easy to speed up and ride in front of them or to slow down and swerve behind them, either way both avoiding them and the need to stop and wait for them to pass, as stopping in the middle of traffic is probably the most dangerous thing one can do, as it is just not done and therefor not expected by the countless riders behind you. The street in front of the market is also swarming with pedestrians either going to or from their morning shopping and must be avoided as they walk across the road. Finally, eastbound riders coming off the bridge from Phu Nhuan wanting to go to the market, often ride against traffic in the westbound lane to make their left turn into the market without having to cross oncoming traffic forcing westbound traffic to drive straight down the middle of the street between two streams of eastbound drivers. Through all of this, I am joined on the road by pedestrians, bicyclists, cyclo drivers, women pushing food carts, men on makeshift motorized vehicles transporting all manner of construction materials and bulk products, taxis, luxury cars (as most cars in the city are), hundreds of other motorbikes and the occasional bus.

Once past the market, I cross the bridge form Distrct 3 into Phu Nhuan and the first of my four Phu Nhuan construction fences. As by Dien Bien Phu, the fenced areas take up most of the road, leaving no eastbound lane and only a small rutted portion of the westbound lane. Luckily for us westbound commuters, the majority of the morning traffic on this stretch is westbound and those heading east simply ride on the sidewalk on the eastbound side of the fences.

Most days the only inconvenience caused by these fences is the need to slow down as the traffic clogs the narrow space left for us to ride and to avoid any bicycles, hand carts, cyclos or other manner of slow moving vehicles that happen to be going through at the same time.

After four fences, I make my turn onto VeT's road and drive through a mass of vehicles and pedestrians heading in all directions on the local street, up a few blocks to our alley, where I make a quick right and drive down the alley to the end, into VeT's courtyard, where my journey ends...until the drive home.

A year ago, I would make this morning commute with trepidation, but these days it is just another part of my life that once seemed strange but now seems normal. I realized just how normal, the other day as I was riding with one of my local co-workers and a visiting French staff member to lunch. We had come to a stop at a light, me on my bike and Thomas on the back of Ngoc's bike, when Thomas, looking out at the mass of pedestrians, bikes, cars and all other manner of assorted vehicles on the road, remarked, "This is crazy!" Immediately both Ngoc and I turned to him and said innocently, "What's crazy?"

Vietnamese Cafes

Lunch in a Vietnamese Cafe is always a treat. Not just because the food is delicious and inexpensive, but because urban Vietnamese cafes are environments like no other. Often a mix of both indoor and outdoor seating, the cafes are often filled with plants, trees, water fountains and even koi ponds. Often their many stairs and levels give them the feel of a luxurious tree house. Throw in a lunch special consisting of a main dish (fish, meat or vegetables), a plate of rice, a side of vegetables, a small cup of soup and a banana for desert, and lunch is always an enjoyable affair.