VietBlog

By: Joey Bailey

Most Americans have at least a limited knowledge about the nation of Vietnam. Unfortunately, the majority of what we know about Vietnam comes from our understanding, or lack there of, of the Vietnam War. Many of us have grown up watching movies such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket and have formed our understanding of Vietnam based on these films. We also form our judgments based on the fact that Vietnam is a communist nation that was closely allied with the USA?s former enemy, The Soviet Union. As a result, it is my opinion that many Americans have developed a stereotypical view of the nation of Vietnam that could use some reformation for the 21st century. Therefore, I feel that it is important for me to attempt to express how my views and stereotypes of Vietnam have been challenged and changed as a result of this trip. Below are a few of my observations on the Vietnamese people and the nation of Vietnam.

Vietnam and Religion:
Vietnam is a communist nation, which means that if you wish to be a member of the Communist Party you must denounce religion. With that said, I have been very surprised with the rich religious culture here in Vietnam. In our time here, we have had the opportunity to visit a Hindu Temple, multiple Buddhist Pagoda?s, a Mosque, and a Catholic Church. As an American, I have always held the opinion that religion is vigorously persecuted in communist nations. From my observations however, at least during times of peace, religion is tolerated and widely practiced in various forms throughout Vietnam.

Vietnam and Capitalism:
Capitalism is alive and well in Vietnam, as a result, so is the English language. Since our arrival I have been very surprised by the diverse economy of Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. It appears that this communist nation is consciously taking steps to liberalize and industrialize their nation?s economy. I believe that this will create some very interesting political, social, and economic developments in the coming years. In Ho Chi Minh City for example, we encountered a few KFC restaurants, a vivid reminder of the extent the American consumer culture has been able to spread its finger licking good fast food. By reading The Saigon Times, an English language magazine that extensively covers the Vietnam economy, I have attempted to gather an understanding of the business market here in Vietnam. From my observations I have concluded that capitalism is already well established in Vietnam and it will continue to expand in the coming years.

Vietnam and the Environment:
The majority of our time has been spent in the city of Long Xuyen in An Giang Province. This city is located in the heart of the Mekong Delta. Everywhere we go we are surrounded by wetlands, canals, and rivers. The population of this province is over two million people and the economy of this region is built upon the rivers and wetlands of the delta. It is also exactly the type of region that will be hit the hardest by the consequences of global warming and climate change. By visiting this region I have been reminded of the challenges that global climate change present to our global community. If the sea levels rise, regions like this will be devastated creating millions of environmental refugees throughout the world. Awareness of this fact is growing throughout Vietnam. In a recent article published in The Saigon Times titled Real and Present Danger, a comparison was made between the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar. The article speaks about the extensive damage wrought upon the Irrawaddy Delta by Cyclone Nargis and warns that such a cyclone would have a similar impact if one were to hit the Mekong Delta. This article reflects the growing awareness of climate change here in Vietnam and calls for immediate action from the government to prepare for such a ?real and present danger.?

Vietnam and Americans:
During our time here in Vietnam we have been treated with respect and acceptance everywhere we go by the Vietnamese. It is common for small children to exclaim ?hello? whenever they notice us, even if it is from the back of a motor bike cruising by on the streets of Long Xuyen. I must admit that this has been quite a surprise to me because I expected many Vietnamese to resent us because of the devastations of The Vietnam War. However, this has not been the case. Everywhere we go people are anxious to practice their English on us by asking such questions as ?what?s your name?? and ?where are you from?? To me, it is quite shocking how the people of Vietnam have been able to put the past behind and treat us with respect as individuals. Still, when you get down to the root of the issue, I believe that the Vietnamese don?t resent Americans because they won the war. As a result, they also gained their independece, something they had been struggling to obtain for many generations. Before the Americans, the French, Japanese, and Chinese all attempted to occupy and control Vietnam. As far as the Vietnamese are concerned, America is just one of the many nations throughout history that have attempted, and failed, to divide and conquer their nation. Besides, it is much easier to forgive and forget after a war when you are the victor, my study of history has taught me that much.

Traveling is probably the one way for us to expand our minds and truly become students of the world and its many cultures, especially our own in West Virginia.

Nick Blood has been thinking about it lately and writes for us some thoughts on the topic of culture:

As our last round of workshops draws to a close, some interesting questions have surfaced outside of class. This is such a unique situation, if you want to talk about cross-cultural interactions, where Western ideas about health and social work are being taught in an epicenter of ancient Eastern civilization, with traditions that are often strikingly different.

And in this situation, a natural question is the extent that Western ideas are culturally appropriate in Eastern civilizations. This debate has raged with particular fervor in our own society in the last century and a half.

Often it has taken form as a great Clash of Civilizations, East and West, as it was once put by an American political scientist. But there are many other manifestations of this debate.

In some disciplines it is called nature vs. nurture, and the argument centers on whether culture or biology plays a stronger role in our development as humans. In other fields, it is an argument between relativist (roughly nurture) and innatist (roughly nature) perspectives.

But in essence, the argument is about people, who they are, what they are. Are we nothing but the sum of our culture? Are we defined and contained within culture? Or are there human universals that reach beyond and across every culture?

For me, it is truism that we are all members of the genus Homo; we are all organisms who share the same human ancestry, and the same shared evolutionary history. And to me, this is such a wonderful thought. While I believe that the richness and diversity of human cultures is a truly magnificent thing, a testament to our impulses for creativity and adaptation, I am infinitely encouraged by the idea that there are many universals we share across the human species.

One of these universals, there is strong reason to believe, is an intuitive psychology, as well as a general developmental plan that spans across human populations. The more we learn in fields like neuroscience, cognitive psychology and the vast array of evolutionary disciplines, the more evidence there is to suggest this elegant truth: our bodies and minds share many fundamental, universal components across the species.

And all of this comes to bear on our situation in these workshops. There are those who argue it is folly to assume Western concepts of psychology and social work can be helpful to people in Asian cultures. Such people can be described as extreme cultural relativists.

They subscribe, consciously or not, to the belief that people are nothing but the sum of their cultures, that there are little or no human universals, like an intuitive psychology, and so ideas which work in the West should stay in the West.

Often they are concerned with cultural and intellectual imperialism, with the forcing of ideologies of the most powerful upon those less powerful. And here is where a crucial concept in reasoning about people and their cultures comes in. It can be summed up in one word: nuance.

We must be able to hold nuanced views on human nature and culture. Imperialism exists, today and in the past in many forms. Too often our ideas have been used in harmful ways against people in the developing world, to justify exploitation, to degrade and subjugate peoples with different ideas.

And indeed, the ideas of cultural relativism (the nurture side of nature vs. nurture) have done heroic work in the last century, combating the racist and ethnocentric thinking which has all too often characterized our ideas about other cultures. This work continues today, and there is still much to be done. We should recognize this truth, at the same time as we recognize the beauty of human commonality, of our tremendous amount of shared experience in body and in environment.

Though these concepts, nature and culture, are often presented in violent contrast, I see no contradiction. As long as there is a place for nuance in our ideas, and uncompromising commitment to self-determination for all peoples everywhere. I believe there must be.

Susan Newfield writes about her experiences about teaching across cultures and how much humans have in common:

?We are all more human than otherwise.?—H.S. Sullivan

Each time I teach in Viet Nam this quote, from H. S. Sullivan, is confirmed. Having just completed the first week of workshops on Human Development and Behavioral Management, I was again impressed with its truth. The context was an international gathering of social service workers.

This year we were privileged to have Cambodian social service workers join the Vietnamese social service workers and WVU students in our workshops. As I presented concepts related to child development and parenting, I asked each contingent to share their experiences with the topic.

The discussion on parents? expectations for their children demonstrated that there were common desires to have children succeed in all of the attending countries. At times, this desire is so strong that children feel a great deal of pressure and this in turn may lead to depression and anxiety.

Teen use of self-injurious behavior, more specifically cutting, generated the same amount of concerned discussion as one might see in a similar gathering in the United States. Both Cambodian and Vietnamese social service workers indicated that this was a problem in their countries. The discussion focused on causes and treatment. All agreed that self-injury of this type evolves from attempts to numb emotional pain and that it is most important to address this pain with counseling, providing the teen with alternative ways to cope with the emotional pain.

Spanking for discipline also occurs in all of the countries represented. It is accompanied by the same reasoning as is used by parents in the United States. These include: ?I do this because I love you,? ?This hurts me more that it hurts you,? and the belief that if children are not spanked they will not learn right from wrong.

All attendees agreed that this is a difficult social/cultural attitude to change. This evolved into a discussion of the use of positive reinforcement, again with agreement that it is easier to see what children do wrong rather than what they do right. There was agreement that this is important to teach parents and child care workers to utilize positive behavior change strategies.

As I share this journey of learning and discovery with the workshop participants and consider the wisdom of H. S. Sullivan, I leave with the hope that each participant leaves with a greater understanding of these commonalities. I look forward to having the opportunity next year to continue this unparalleled shared learning experience.

Ho Chi Minh is THE Man in Vietnam. His mythical presence is felt in almost every sphere of public life.

Of course, for the Vietnamese people, he is all the U.S. Founding Fathers rolled into one. He’s written books on political philosophy, he was a freedom fighter (though that is still controversial in some corners, but we have to face facts) for Vietnam.

His name means “He who enlightens.” And the younger generation refers to him as “Uncle Ho”.

Uncle Ho is also on each paper bill of Vietnamese dong, from 200 dong to 500,000 dong (exchange rate here).

I think it sends a message to the many workers and businessmen and women in Vietnam. “You’ll never be richer than Uncle Ho.” (But that is just my impression). A common expression in Vietnam for being short on money is to say “I can’t buy it because Uncle Ho won’t let me.”

Posters hang in public parks and buildings depict all show the great Ho blessing the patriotic deeds of the Vietnamese worker, businessman or soldier. It reminds one of the mythical imagery that you even see in the States. Any child can imagine a picture of Uncle Sam asking Americans to be better patriots.

In the classroom or the bookstore, busts of Ho Chi Minh remind the people of his greatness. After all, without him, would there be a Vietnam?

What is striking is not the presence of this man. What is striking is my classmates and I are of a generation without a living memory of the conflict. To us he his a historical fact. For our parents or grandparents this man means something else entirely.

For young Vietnamese he is a patriot saint, a myth, and a father figure. For their parents and grandparents he is their hero, their leader who led them out of imperial control.
And despite the turmoil and violence of the past we are here in Vietnam working to bridge the divisions of our countries. But more of that later.

Here are some of the posters we’ve run into in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and around the country (Sorry no translations… yet):





A huge painting in the General Post Office in Ho Chi Minh

Mr. Bailey stands next to the bust which sits in our classroom at An Giang University

Some more information about Bac Ho (Uncle Ho):

Time Magazine has a profile on the mythical Vietnamese leader.

If you want the more democratic wiki take Wikipedia has something for your addiction.

Finally, sometimes to fully appreciate a communist leader- why not get the Marxist version of the story.

Writings (from Marxists.org) from the Legend:

• Some Considerations on the Colonial Question

• Equality!

• The Imperialist Aggressors Can Never Enslave The Heroic Vietnamese People (An impressive read, I might say…)

A list of Biographies

David Halberstam. 1971. Ho. Rowman & Littlefield.

William J. Duiker. 2000. Ho Chi Minh: A Life.

Jean Lacouture. 1968. Ho Chi Minh: A Political Biography.

Special Guest Blogger Jay Dryer sends us a farewell. Jay is our fellow traveler Kapsoo Kim’s husband and accompanied us on many journeys during the first two weeks of the program. I have little doubt that what he writes is only a sneak peek for what the rest of the crew will experience next week when we head home (re: be sure to treat all of us very very nicely).

Up at 4AM during a thunderstorm for a 30 minute taxi ride to Tan Son Nhat
Airport for a 5AM check in for my flight home via Hong Kong and Chicago.

Yesterday I took a (to say the least) harrowing four hour car ride from Long Xyeun to HCMC, dodging trucks and motos on roads that varied between country roads to multi-lane highways. I witnessed two accidents where a moto was crushed by a large freighter truck.

I always experience a bittersweet melancholy feeling every time I return home from
Asia. Perhaps I lived as an Asian in a previous life, if you believe in such things.
I am especially sad leaving my wife, Kapsoo, as she continues with the class;
and I will also miss the good conversations and time spent together with the
students and instructors, along with all of the Vietnamese and Cambodian
friends, the shopkeepers, and waiters and also Mr. Cam.

Mr. Cam was our host at the Hai Lui Restaurant. He was a gracious host and constantly monitored our meal service to make sure everything was satisfactory.

He referred to our relationship as “brotherly”. And the price was right: just $22 for two for our first meal and $15 for our last meal.

As I look out the window of the 747 climbing out of SGN over the South China Sea I can see the flat land of the Mekong Delta converge into the mountains along the coast northward and I wonder what this scene looked like forty years ago.

The concrete shells for fighter aircraft are still present along the airport runway.

The sea was likely full of warships and aircraft carriers along with all their support vessels. Fighter planes buzzed back and forth like bees on their missions. Now, there are just beautiful white thunderheads building in the morning heat.

War in any form, in my opinion, represents man?s inhumanity to his fellow man. I was so impressed that the Vietnamese did not seem to hold resentment toward Americans.

The human tragedy is still apparent when you see the elderly, maimed and disabled Vietnamese along with our own disabled veterans in America.

Goodbye Vietnam. I hope to see you again. Now, take me home, to country roads.

Vietnam is home to a variety different religions.

Religious life in the public sphere, however, remains primarily secular as Jim pointed out last week.

Most are Buddhist, many are also Catholic from the many years of French colonial control of the country (The Vietnamese alphabet chu quoc ngu is also a legacy) .

The reach of Islam also makes its way to this corner of Southeast asia. The class took a trip this past saturday to visit to a Cham village in a border city of Vietnam, Chau Doc. The town lies on the border with Cambodia (where we will be heading to later this week!). Cham people have traditionally inhabited this region and once had a substantial empire.

Let’s go on a little journey through the village guided by our blogger-adventurers (Photos courtesy of Neal Newfield, Joey Bailey, and Andy Barnes):

We first stopped by the local mosque.

Young Girls learn to sew at the mosque.

Then we walked down the road a ways into the village and the real adventure started:

We ended up walking down a long monkey bridge that led us to the river.

We found some boats along the way… grounded and waiting for the upcoming rainy season.

We took a break from the hot sun to enjoy some sugarcane. Very sweet indeed.

A few of the neighborhood homes.

Here are a Few Friends we made on the way:



This family graciously invited us into their home.




Older Cham Man (I believe almost 95 years old!)

From Kapsoo Kim. An observation about the musical Vietnamese people:

The Vietnamese enjoy singing as much as the South Koreans and West Virginians do. Whenever and wherever they find some reasons or an occasion to sing, they do sing. These two countries (Vietnam and S. Korea) have something in common:

First, they are countries on peninsulas, where the bright sun and sea may make them sing.

Second, the vigors of agriculture based on rice paddies demanded solidarity and several historical crises cultivated their collective resistance.

They used to sing whether in peacetime or during war, when they were happy or sad. Who knows if the egg or if the chicken comes first? Were they born to sing about their experiences or did their collective experiences bring them to singing?

From five o’clock mass at the cathedral, they sing from beginning from the end. In my room, I can always hear a someone or large groups singing karaoke from the downstairs of the hotel. (Probably the WVU students have added to the many voices.) In Ho Chi Minh City the singing goes all night long- until 6 in the morning.

This trip has been one of musical exchange. Nearly at every stop we were greeted with songs and graciously returned the favor. I have to say we’ve have all become better singers (even Neal too! j/k).

We have as been saved by our resident Rock Star Nick Blood too. He has performed many great tunes, impressing our friends in Ho Chi Minh and Long Xuyen.

Jim Keresztury steps to the mike today to lead a workshop on healthcare and social work. Jim started the workshop with a bit of background about West Virginia and Appalachia. He then had the WVU students sing to the class our unofficial state song, Country Roads. It was a little rough, but we’ve gotten better at singing it since the beginning of the trip…

More on music later!

From Chatman, who just finished his workshop on abuse this past week:

On June 2nd, 3rd and 4th I had the privileged opportunity to conduct a workshop on domestic abuse.

The first day was somewhat awkward as I navigated how to covey concepts of abuse; what is; how to prevent it; and
how treat it. This is no small challenge in any classroom let alone in a room full of individuals from multiple cultures and nationalities speaking three languages.

However sometime during the first day I leaned into my awareness of how important trust is when dealing with people who have been abused. Trust in others is vital in order to build relationships.

This awareness stayed with me during the next two days. I also leaned into
trusting the intent of our participants and their hunger for knowledge. However, we had to be creative in finding a venue for group engagement.

Therefore, with the help of some Vietnamese, Cambodian, and American participants we unleashed the awesome power of community through music, song, and dance. Our Vietnamese and Cambodian hosts jumped at an
opportunity to teach us about their culture.

Talking about domestic abuse and the human suffering created by this tragic and complicated aspect of the human condition became highly meaningful on a moment to moment level as the three groups leaned into
becoming co-facilitators. Through artistic exchange we learned traditional dance, songs that speak of the human spirit, and then blended these together to gain a deeper understanding of many aspects of abuse.

As a teacher,and a social worker, I was humbled each day by the level of energy released within the group. What resonates with me now is a recognition of how important trust is in all relationships, and almost always badly
damaged if not destroyed through abuse.

We created the opposite. I think not being able to freely speak to each other without layers of interpretation created a space for the workshop to become a platform for free flowing acceptance and understanding of a rather tragic aspect of all
societies. The interaction in the room became grounded in experiences.

The human being is one of few animals on this planet who consistently harm their young at will. In our workshop we created a space for sharing, learning, and even some healing. From my position as a teacher it doesn’t
get any better than that.

It can be summed up like this “the teachers appear when the student is ready to learn.” I learned a great deal about the amazing cultures of Vietnam, Cambodian, and America as well and through cultural exchange I think we learned a great deal about abuse as well.

Those three days were noting less than a precious gift for all. I have great respect for the visionaries who are pulling this initiative together!

We’re taking a break for the next two days. The Vietnam crew will head to the Beach of Ha Tien for some much deserved rest. We’ll get back to Long Xuyen on Sunday and get back to getting you the latest from the ‘Nam!

Have a Good Weekend!