VietBlog

My name is Rebecca Dole, and I am this year’s blog editor for Dr. Newfield’s social work trip to Vietnam/ Cambodia. This year the blog is mor eof a reflection on the trip, rather than a day-by-day documentation.

This past mid-May, twelve female students at WVU, four Vietnamese WVU students, and several faculty members and other travel companions ventured to the Southeast Asian country of Vietnam, where we spent the next three weeks. Upon landing in Ho Chi Minh City, we toured various tourist spots, locations of cultural interest, and social service agencies for the first few days. Then our group traveled into the Mekong Delta to the town of Long Xuyen in An Giang province. There the Newfields, along with WVU and An Giang University, hosted a two week long workshop on social work. There our group minxed with students from all over Vietnam and Cambodia.

Finally, on our last week of the trip we travelled to Cambodia, where we observed NGOs and social agencies at work, along with how the development of tourism can lead to the social problems that are common to that region of the world, including human trafficking, sex tourism, HIV/AIDS, and drug abuse.

This trip was composed of students from all walks of life. There was representation from journalism, public health, women’s studies, business administration, political science, and of course, social work on this trip. The participants were Katie Denton, Miki DeMary, Hillery Chadderton, Caitlin Sussman, Taasha Wamsley, Kate McCarthy, Angie Miller, Wendy Spaw, Melissa Carpenter, Amanda Honaker, Arnita Sitisari, Le Thi Minh Hieu, Doan Thi Ngoc, Hong Van Pham Thi, Julian Nguyen, and myself. Also in attendance were Dr. Neal Newfield, his wife, Susan Newfield, his sister Fae Newfield, Jame Keim, and Jim Keresztury. Joanne Smith also accompanied our group.

During the workshops and An Giang University and on our other journeys throughout Vietnam and Cambodia, we made friendships, learned about several different cultures, tried exotic foods, and learned about a developing profession in a country where social work did not exist before 1975. Being able to take part in such a movement was the experience of a lifetime, and in future visits to the country, WVU and the Newfields are sure to continue making a remarkable difference.