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Sato Midori
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It was my second visit to Vietnam. I was there last year as a visitor.
I could observe at that time the vitality of the Vietnamese looking from
the window of my hotel at the motorbikes running through the streets of
Ho Chi Minh and the crowds crossing the Mekong River by ferries. This time
I joined the team of Japa Vietnam hoping to know the inner power of the
Vietnamese. I soon realized that I had little knowledge of the past American
war there and I regretted the little I knew of the social, political and
economic situation of the country.
I could only join the second part of the program in the South, but I was
deeply impressed by the people in the places we went. We traveled about
4 hours by car from the city of Ho Chi Minh and reached Binh Phuc, a mountain
people area. The children staying at a residence run by Sisters looked
delighted to meet again with Japa Vietnam members. There are 85 belonging
to 7 different ethnic groups. They go walking to school from there. The
Middle School is 6km far from there. Japa Vietnam has been assisting various
programs there for more than 8 years.
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In the region of the Mekong delta I observed how the people moved around
the canals with small boats, transporting goods and sleeping on the boats.
We spent also a night in a big room, lying on simple beds with mosquito
nets. The programs I saw there of wells for fresh water, vital roads and
replacement of gmonkey bridgesh made me reflect on what does real development
mean.
Back in Ho Chi Minh we visited two street childrenfs institutions and
went for a picnic by boat along the Saigon River. There were 60 street
children in all and we hired 4 boats. No matter the heavy rain the children
were excited playing with water from boat to boat, from beginning to end,
and although it was almost impossible for the volunteers to control them,
the children will invite all of us to join them in their water games. How
different from Japanese children! What a vitality! After almost three hours
on the boat the children were totally wet, but it did not matter. They
went again into the streets of the city like that.
They gave me a beautiful postcard of the city as a souvenir. I wish I could
meet them again.
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