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Matsushima Maki
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Since last year I have been living in Hanoi to study the Vietnamese language
and, for the first time, this year I joined the tour of Japa Vietnam. I
think that somehow I got accustomed to Vietnamese life, but I had never
left Hanoi and thus I did not have an opportunity to see the country side
and experience the life of rural people. This time I really enjoyed this
tour, thinking that it would provide me an occasion to know a different
side of Vietnam.
Certainly, a lot of energy was needed to visit each program, bumping in
the car for long hours in the middle of the Vietnamese heat and meeting
with all kinds of happenings. I admire the members of Japa Vietnam that
continue faithfully these visits. I felt, once more, the importance of
the task to assure that the funds given by many people were rightly used
for the programs for which they were allocated. During the visits I had
to act as an interpreter, no matter my limitations and I could realize
how important was to meet directly with the people to discuss with them
the programs.
The scenery of the country side is rather similar to rural Japan and, as
for me that I got accustomed to live in soggy Hanoi the rural regions look
quite a different peaceful Vietnam. Entering the villages and observing
from the outside the lives of the villagers I realized the big difference
with the living patterns of urban Hanoi.
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This was my first time to participate in such visits and, with regard to
how useful the given assistance is, I could only guess it from the reports
people gave, although the villagers looked sincerely grateful. Judging
from the smiling faces of village people one could not feel their daily
hardships, but as soon as I talked to them, several people told me, "we
are poor, our lives are very hard." Reports show, often, outside realities
quite apart from the real circumstances people have to endure.
I regret not to have been able to hear more about the daily life of people,
because of my limitations in speaking the Vietnamese language. I felt encouraged
to study more Vietnamese so that I could again join the next Japa Vietnam's
tour and get a deeper knowledge about how useful is the assistance given
to the local people.
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