some photographs

these are links to my facebook albums, hey, look if you want to!

Life in Quang Ngai

Hoi An

A day on Mr. Viet's farm

Laos

Hue

our life stories and the history of the world are written by the same hand

in other words, what's for you won't pass you by...

incredibly, this week has been almost exactly what i predicted it would be but yet so much more.

there's just no escaping the truth sometimes and i'm enjoying every moment of it. now if only i had the brain power and patience and logic to think it all through and answer all my questions....i guess time will sort that one out for me.

there's no point in going into details because i'm not sure i can even vocalise it anyway but right now i feel like everything in my life is right and good and that just makes me very happy.

fin.

suil, suil eile

the famous eye, any ideas of what might have happened? you're as likely to know as me...

day one, thursday night, the orange is iodine

Day three, saturday morning, bloody painful and swollen..!

Day four, i've got one on my left shoulder as well...damn rat. or jellyfish. or whoever it was.
can you see my tan line on my shoulder?! yeah baby!!!
I've only got a tiny scar left which is nice, i can sort that out when i get home.
these are the things that happen, eh?!

a history of violence

a tale of unintentional self mutilation and downright bad luck

i thought Tuesday's child was full of grace...?!
my new nickname here is pretty much calamity Jane, so i would like to present to you a list of the injuries i have sustained since arriving in Vietnam...

• incredible bruise from climbing out of a boat at Cham Is. it was blacker than Ozzy's soul and looked horrific (i have pictures!)
  
• numerous coral scratches
• almost lost two toenails from bashing it off coral (yeah, i know it's endangered, i didn't do it on purpose)
• badly bruised and cut ankle from a moto falling on it (the bike came off a little worse!)
• very strange scratch marks on my right eye, i maintain it must have been a jellyfish but i didn't notice it at the beach or until the next morning. the doctor maintains it could have been a rat. so now i'm on a course of post exposure rabies vaccines. nice.
• numerous electrical shocks from the computer (shoulda worn shoes..)
  
• a 2.5" scar on my left leg after a lighter exploded beside us on the roof terrace and ripped up my leg
• a badly bruised tushy and water trapped in my good ear after falling in Dave's bedroom while it was flooded (the ground floor of the house floods when it rains...)
• very badly sprained toe due to messing too much with a CP boy at Binh Hoa, we fell over each other. (He's probably more graceful than me, yikes...)
  

eh, that's it for now. i'll keep it up to date i promise......

ode to the Moto

the Vietnamese motorbike. what a trooper!

the moto is: city runaround
the moto is: family car
the moto is: city to city travel
the moto is: tractor
the moto is: with a basket on the back, how you transport your cow or pig to/from the market
the moto is: the local travelling shop
the moto is: furniture removal truck
the moto is: how you get a coffin to the house where your family member will be placed in it
the moto is: school bus
the moto is: useless above 40km/hr because you'd have to break too quickly
the moto is: completely useless without a good horn
the moto is: still perfectly roadworthy without indicators
the moto is: third in the pecking order on the roads (1-bus, 2-car, 4-bicycle, 5-human)
the moto is: how this country keeps going
the moto is: where you conduct a Spanish Inquisition with a westerner...oi Troi oi!
the moto is: a really fun ride, but don't let it run away from you and fall on your foot
the moto is: usually a complete rustbucket, but if you're young and have a good job, it is p-i-m-p-e-d

and the horn, what does that mean?
well it goes something like this (regardless of vehicle)

passing on the right
passing on the left
hurry up
move over
light's gone green
hi i'm here
i'm bored what are you doing?
i'm coming through this junction now
i'm coming round this bend
i'm singing a song in my head and it goes with the tune
(ok, maybe not strictly speaking, but sometimes feels like it)

the last piece of this blog was brought to you courtesy of my fellow volunteer (and Irish-blooded lady) Jen, you can read her story here

Oi Troi Oi!

the vietnamese for "oh my God!"
we use it a lot!

so my vietnamese is improving slightly, slowly but surely!
if only i could stay for longer!

well i haven't been blogging much coz i'm kinda busy, kinda lazy, kinda not much time to sit in front of the computer.
but life here is going really well. some children from a placement up the road from us called Tam Ky recently had 18 of their children moved to an orphanage in a tourist town a little further up the coast called hoi an. it's the main tailor town and it's where we go for a few weekends coz it's pretty easy to get to and reasonably cheap.
so some volunteers from there are spending every weekend there so they can see their kids who were moved (because they were too old to stay at Tam Ky). i was rooming with one for the weekend and ended up going to the orphanage too.
oh man, it was so much fun and so so sad.
there was one baby girl there who's maybe a year or so old and has hydrocephalus. one of the volunteers this month is a nurse and she measured her head, it's the same as Suzy's waist. which i'm guessing is maybe 25 inches or so. the baby is just tiny.
i honestly wished her death as i left on sunday evening, it was the most horrible sight in the world. they won't do anything to help her and it's just going to keep getting bigger....

but i also made a few lovely little friends and had some fun with them. now if only the women who work there would treat the kids with some respect and dignity it would be great.
i wish...
this country will break my heart. the children are all so beautiful and get shortchanged in life so much for no reason at all.

any other news???? well i have a list of injuries i've sustained over the last few weeks the length of my arm. nothing major but they keep adding up
my left little toe is currently the same colour as my passport!!!
i think i might keep that as a separate blog, stay tuned for updates!

i'm off to Laos on saturday for a week and very excited about it.
one of our volunteers from Quang Ngai has decided not to continue with the program and seeing as she was supposed to stay two months there are now no volunteers to carry forward into August.
so guess what, i'm going to stay for a couple of weeks in august too! there's no obligation on me to stay but it will be a great help to our interpreter here (the wonderful Mr. Tuan) and it means i can skip off to Laos for a week now in clear conscience.
i'm a little angry at the volunteer who has left but at the same time i understand her situation. she seems to be very disappointed by our program here which makes me sad and frustrated. maybe she just didn't think it all through properly, i don't know.
c'est la vie. guess you just never can tell.

oi Troi oi she exclaims in exasperation...

month two, day one

what a sad sad day

today i said goodbye to Shae, Doreen and Karen, three of the lovliest Australian ladies ever made!
it was tough, they've all been here for three and four months and they've done so much hard work, i'm anxious about carrying on their work and how it will work with just four volunteers for july (we had 7 last month)
i look forward to getting to know my new housemates but our new house is awful compared to the one we lived in last month and i'm in bad form already!

we are however getting a western toilet installed tomorrow hopefully, we'll lose a squat, what a shame...
and the shower does have hot water afterall, you just have to flick the switch...doh

i'm completely exhausted after only two hours sleep last night and i feel sick (after the rum last night) and i'm worried about what this month will bring to our plates

oh well, always look on the bright side, eh?

rollercoaster

what a day. what a week.

ok, so a quick recap, we have lost our contract at the orphanage we work at. we have however managed to retain our placement in the hope that the contract will be renewed and in the meantime we can continue the work we do at the rural rehabilitation centres and english teaching. we are now under the banner of a community program rather than orphanage program.

there are four orphans who we tend to prioritise in light of the fact that they have disabilities. we intended to take them with us to our rural placements each morning. give them the stimulation and physical therapy they need.

nope. not happening.

ok, just one, just Little Phouc. he needs his physical therapy each day or he will regress. so we'll just take him for now and see how we go.

ok.

actually, nope. not happening.
he's too weak to travel.

bullshit.
bullshit.
bullshit.

i HATE the director of that orphanage and i've never even met her.
i HATE the state of this stupid corrupt system.

and i'm afraid.
i'm afraid for him. what will happen to him? he's made so much progress in the last three months, sure, in the last four weeks i've seen him improve. if he goes without physio he'll just end up back the way he was, a little ball of a body lying on his bed 24 hours a day in pain and bored.

i'm so disappointed and frustrated and so so sad for my little darling. he's such an amazing little being. my heart swells with love and admiration for him every time i just think of him.
the saddest thing of all is that if we had just known sooner we could have somehow made efforts to bridge the gap and make sure he gets his physio somehow...

however, i am here for another four or five weeks and who knows what will happen before i leave. i know you don't know this boy but please, if you read this, send me some positive vibes or pray for him or do whatever it is that you do in times of need.
he needs.

i'm sorry, i know it looks long, but i use small words for you, i promise! ;)

i'm having to learn how to use simple english as well as trying to learn vietnamese!

also, i don't expect any of you to read it all, but this really is the very least amount information i could commit to this blog.

so, last time i wrote i had experienced one day in this lovely town.
there's a lot more to the people, the places and the life that i hadn't seen then, and God knows, i probably still haven't.

i could go into even brief detail about each placement but still have you all bored to tears! in short, these children are all beautiful. apart from the three english groups we teach, our work is exclusively with disabled children. in the rehabilitation centres and in the social protection centre. we give them attention, affection, physio therapy, facilitate the community support and hopefully give them a sense of importance in this world and society where disability is regarded akin to the old notions of leprosy.

it has been a massively gratifying week and a half so far and i'm enjoying every aspect.
so much so that i've decided to stay another month!

when i initially applied, i though one month would be a long time, but now, 8 working days in i can see that it will pass in the blink of an eye and there is so much more i could be doing here instead of seeing statues and famous buildings and beaches and monuments [all of which i can see in the two months afterwards!]

but today was a particular roller coaster of a day.

last week we were informed that the program would possibly not continue to run here in Quang Ngai due to difficulties with contract renewals at one of our placements, SPC.
Mr. Viet, our boss, Toan, our translator and all the volunteers even met with the dept. of foreign affairs on tuesday to try to plead our case. [a fun excursion were it not for the gravity of the matter]
the work we do at SPC concentrates on 4 children. one in particular, 'Little' Phouc, is left lying on his rattan mat on bare wooden slats for twenty two and half hours every day, he has cerebral palsy, an unfunctioning left arm [possibly agent orange defect], is blind and at 9 or 10 years old, stands at a little under 3 feet tall.
and he's beautiful, oh is he beautiful!
we had to fight for him. he needs someone to care for him and do his physio therapy with him. [two months ago his muscles were so constricted that they could barely pry him from his 24 hour foetal position, today, wearing leg splints he can stand for great lengths and is even beginning to try to take steps, amazing and exciting!]

anyway, without the SPC contract, we couldn't have this placement operating. simple as.

so today, with our hearts heavy with fear and grief for all the children we try so hard to help, we went off to teach english at the local kindergarten. almost certain in the knowledge that our days were numbered as a volunteer presence.

we returned to find Mr. Viet in the house waiting to tell us the bad news. the SPC contract was not renewed and without an orphanage at the placement, they could no longer operate the program...
but what about little Phouc, and all the other children too?
the physio, the support, the attention?
what about the bright young things who gather for english conversation every week who can truly benefit from talking with the 'only westerners in town'?

we talked about plan B's, questioned the situation, threw out suggestions and pleas. searched for answers and tried to hold back the anger, frustration and tears. thoughts of Little Phouc lying practically unattended in the backs of all our minds especially.

so guess what, if the program can't operate as an orphanage program with no orphanage, how about we call it a 'community program'?!
yep, it was simple as that!

the relief, the joy, the cheers! the creativity!
we will take our three disabled orphans with us to the rehabilitation centres and the work can continue!

it is quite possible that i am not relaying the full facts of the situation to you, for reasons of discretion and to keep your interest! it is impossible for me to describe the work and the people justly but know this, simply put, i am very happy here, learning new things about the world and myself everyday. i'm teaching and learning new skills and i believe that the work being done by the volunteers here is really making a difference. both today and for the future.
and even though it was never the plan, i'm already excited about the second month!

in other news, the mosquitoes have found me, ouch... we went to Hoi An at the weekend, swam in the sea, ate a lot and i got a dress made. it's 1.30m and i've been up since 5am for my run. we went to the beach here this evening to celebrate our victory and then sat up on the terrace listening to music and talking and drinking strawberry wine and cheap orange rum!
the geckos are still singing away to each other but i think it's time i called it a night

i promise i will get some photos uploaded soon. i miss you all and love you.
[i'll send postcards too, soon hopefully!]


[moral of the story? expect the unexpected!]

day one at Quang Ngai

the g is silent

so i just spent a lovely weekend in Da Nang. met all of the old volunteers, some of whom are on their way home and also most of the new ones coming in.
we had orientation yesterday for all the placements in the Da Nang house which is where i was supposed to be placed but as the day went on it appeared my services might be required elsewhere!
the ladies in the Quang Ngai house put out an appeal for an extra pair of hands and so i sat and thought about it and thought about it and in the end i went with the decision i'd already made within the first 90 seconds, and so here i am in 'real Viet Nam', Quang Ngai.

ok, so first off, Da Nang is a pretty big city. it's touristy and incredibly noisy and a bit touristy and a lot like any other city in the world.
and i'm a county bumpkin really so that was one really big reason.
the rest was just gut instinct. it was six of one and half a dozen of the other but my gut was just telling me that if i had the choice, Quang Ngai was the place to go.

so we all piled into a scorching hot car and headed off on the 3 hour journey south.
and woohoo, i was right!!!!

it's amazing here. i saw stars for the first time since i left home. we cycle almost everywhere (mostly on dirt tracks), we have 2 inch long geckos crawling along the walls& ceilings all evening chatting away to each other, we have a massive upstairs balcony that looks out onto paddy fields and .... we're the only white folks in town!
deadly!
they all think my septum ring is the most hilarious thing they've ever seen and none of us have experienced celebrity status like this, "hello, what is your name, where are you from, hello, hello" - everywhere! it's great craic.

and the placement, the work, i think it's going to be wonderful. (phew!)
this morning we went to Binh Hoa which is a sort of meeting place for disabled children and their parents and siblings where they can play games, get some physio and we give them fruit and milk aswell. it also seems to be a great support for the mothers, they are such hard workers and disablity is such a taboo in this country that they must have a lot to deal with.
every monday and tuesday morning, they will carry their children or load them up onto a moto or bicycle and make the journey out to Binh Hoa for just an hour and a half - and it seems to be well worth it to everyone.

this evening then i took my first ever english class.
it was mad!
there were about 15 students, from 13 to 37 all with only a little more english than i have vietnamese and they were great fun.
we asked questions and played a game and man it was so hot. hot hot hot!
but it was good fun and i'm looking forward to next week when we'll be talking about travelling, entertainment (i think they meant hobbies and interests..) and jobs.
great! ha!

we have breakfast here at 8, lunch at 12 and dinner at 5. so far so good on the food front, it's all quite tasty and there's a bit of everything. we eat out of tiny little rice bowls though so i'm not sure how much i'm actually eating in one sitting. i leave the table full anyway, have no doubts!

this evening though as we ate dinner it started to rain a bit, which apparently is really very rare here, i obviously took it with me! the Aussie ladies were delighted until Doreen looked out into the hallway from the table and noticed that it was flooded.

completely!

the drains in the two ground floor bathrooms had blocked and we were ankle deep in water throughout the house for about an hour! it was madness, we had buckets and brushes and jugs and towels trying to get the water out onto the street, happily, we don't have a front door per se, just a pair of galvanised shutter-doors on guides so the whole living area opens out right onto the road.
we all sleep on matresses on floor here and poor Dave's room is on the ground floor and so his matress got soaked. bedlam!
but it was sort of fun all the same and no real damage was done. there are pics around somewhere, i'll do a bit of uploading soon enough. wait til you see this place, it's real picture postcard stuff!

so that's all for now, i'm off up to get in under my mosquito net and sweat the night away under a [rotating] fan, if i could only train myself to breathe in as the fan crosses me!

til next time,
tam biet