Takeuchi Rintaro

Hung Trung village is located in the upper center of Vietnam in Nghe Anh province. We were sitting around a table of a big hall. In front of us we had 7 local persons, the same number as we from Japa Vietnam. They had sunburnt dark faces. It was lunch time and the leader, neatly dressed invited us to a delicious Vietnamese meal. We were near exhausted from a 400 km journey from Hanoi. The last 2 hours were especially tiring because of bumping roads.

The village leaders, mostly women, gave us a tour of the houses raising pigs. A year before Japa Vietnam helped them to launch "the pigs bank," a program delineated and executed by about 40 families in community. In most of the houses the newly born little pigs were together with the mother pigs that were feeding them. Although the pigs are raised next to the houses they are usually kept well washed and clean.

The village is very poor, but they have developed a program, combining the raising of pigs and the plantation of mini-lemon trees, from where they are increasing their incomes.

Walking around the village we passed through places with big holes. They were craters produced by the American bombing of the North, during the American war in Vietnam. The region had been an important North Vietnam military base that supported most military operations directed to the invasion of the South. The war casualties were still fresh in the hearts of the farmers there. All these historical facts and the barren land had forced the people to leave their lands. The brothers of the leader had also left, but he decided to remain with the people.

Before leaving the village, the leader brought us to the construction site of literacy classrooms that Japa Vietnam was assisting to build. Most of the women in their 30s or 40s that were born during the war times could not have the opportunity to receive basic education. The construction was going ahead and finally the women had the chance to know how to read and write.