Nho VietnamAn Update for Alumni and Friends of the VIA Vietnam Program

Volume III, Issue II Fall 2007

VIA Launches New Summer Program in VietnamIn the pilot year of the Vietnamese-American Service Learning (VASL) program, four young Vietnamese Americans taught workshops, learned about anti-trafficking programs, and discovered their unique connections to a country their families left decades ago.

This past summer, four young Vietnamese-Americans and one VIA Summer Program Coordinator participated in VIA’s newest program in Vietnam: a 6-week English teaching and exchange program in collobara-tion with the Pacific Links Foundation and An Giang University.

The program was created by VIA to introduce young Vietnamese-Americans to Vietnam, build understanding of community needs, and to inspire future involvement in Vietnam. It was also intended to accommodate the growing number of Vietnamese-Americans applying to VIA’s other summer program in Vietnam, the popular Teach-in-Hue program.

Carol Duong, Tram Nguyen, Cam-tu Vu, and Oanh Ho were VIA’s first volunteers in the Vietnamese-American Service Learning (VASL) Program. Ranging in ages from 20-23, the volunteers are English, Law, Elementary Education, and Neurobiology majors at schools all over the country.

During the program, the small group shadowed local staff of Pacific Links Foundation (www.pacificlinks.org), a Vietnamese-Ameri-can NGO based in the Bay Area, and learned about its anti-trafficking programs through home visits and informal discussions. In addition, the volunteers taught two English workshops: a Social Issues in the US workshop to university students at An Giang University and a Beginning English workshop to middle school students and award recipients of the Pacific Links Foundation scholarship program.

The multiple program components kept the group busy throughout the summer but allowed each to observe and participate in a diverse set of experiences and to learn about different aspects of Vietnam, includ-ing gender disparity, poverty, higher education, university student life, and community development programs.

Through the program, Tram Nguyen, who had just completed her first year at Lewis and Clark Law School, discovered an interest in working in Vietnam or with the Vietnamese-American community. “Coming back to Vietnam, I realized that I am so intertwined with the culture and com-munity here. I really want to tailor my future career to working with Vietnamese overseas or come back and do international relations work.”

This fall, VIA begins recruitment for next year’s Vietnamese American Service Learning Program. For more information, visit VIA’s website.

Top: The volunteers pose in their ao dais after a ceremony at An Giang University. Middle: Volunteers teach scholarship recipients. Bottom: Cam-tu Vu (right) congratulates a scholarship recipient after an awards ceremony.

Read more about this program and see photos inside!

“This program has allowed me to realize a lot of things about life, for example, I have now

developed a better understanding of poverty. I have grown as a person in which I am more open-minded about life. I definitely feel that I am less

judgmental and more empathetic towards people. I know my help was little to the Vietnamese commu-nity in Vietnam, but I feel that with all the help of past, current, and future volunteers from VIA, we can help make a difference in Vietnam and make Vietnam a better country.” (Oanh Ho, senior at

UC Davis and VASL 2007 participant)

“Because of this program I have grown to love Vietnam. This is a perfect program for Viet-Kieus who are trying to understand their roots. I really appreciate the group

support when I was going through difficulties adapting to the culture in Vietnam. I don’t think my experience in

Vietnam would be the same if I traveled alone. Thanks!” (Cam-tu Vu, sophomore at Nothern Illinois University

and VASL 2007 participant)

Vietnamese-American ServiceLearning Program 2007

Photos and quotes on this page are from VIA’s newest summer program for Vietnamese-Americans, as featured on the previous page. Clockwise from top: (1) An Giang University students; (2) Volunteers, An Giang University students, and Pacific Links Foundation staff after a scholarship ceremony; (3) Volunteers hand out school books during a scholarship ceremony; (4) Oanh and an An Giang University student on a weekend picnic.

A VASL Volunteer Reflects:Can We Make A Difference?

Carol and I went with Chi Loan and Chi Van, Pacific Links staff, to visit girls who have dropped out of the scholarship programs. Our mission for that day was to investigate the reasons why these girls have dropped out and whether or not any of these reasons may be addressed by Pacific Links.

It was a very intense experience. I’ve seen poverty in the States, different stages of poverty, and different types of poverty. Yet, it was different this time. This time, I could see myself in these girls which made me empathize with them. We left at 7 am and didn’t return to Long Xuyen til 7 pm. The entire day was spent tracking down six girls. We were only able to meet three of the girls, while the other three either were working or at a relative’s house for the summer.

The three girls we did meet all had compelling situations. All were extremely poor and all had little value for education. As Chi Loan and Chi Van counseled these girls, encouraging them to return to school, my eyes searched the face of family members, the house, the things in the house, all of which gave an insight into what these girls were facing.

At first I did not understand why these very young, naive girls were given the freedom to decide whether or not they wanted to go to school. I know that if I tried to drop out of school when I was young, my parents would not allow it. But then I realized that we live in different worlds. These girls are so poor, they do not have the luxury to look ahead, look towards their future. They are confined by their situation to only look towards the next day; what they

will eat the next day, how will they find money to feed their family the next day. They are consumed by these thoughts; they do not have the chance to plan for their future because their present has already dictated their life.

After realizing this somewhat daunting, hopeless situation I began to wonder whether Pacific Links was effective as they pour all of these re-sources into hopeless situations. But Chi Duyen reminded us that these hopeless situations continue to be hopeless with-out programs like Pacific LInks. For a lot of the girls, their family cannot afford for them to go to school, for those situa-tions Pacific Links can help, they can pay for school tuition, books, uniforms, and health insurance. But many situations are much more severe, where the family is so poor not only is it that they cannot afford school tuition but they cannot af-ford the next meal and these girls even-

Below, VASL volunteer Tram Nguyen shares her thoughts on a day visit-ing students who have dropped out of school. This piece was written as part of a reflection assignment that volunteers submitted throughout the program.

tually are forced to work rather then go to school. These situations are really tough, but Pacific Links will look for ways to help the family through financial aid.

At the end of the day, I’ve grown a stronger respect for Pacific Links and it’s mission. The staff are incredibly per-sistent and have unsurpassed patience. I also have a stronger conviction to the idea of affirmative action and other programs that help people who were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth. There is an enormous differ-ence between those who have the luxury to envision a brighter future and those who can only envision the next meal. I’ve always know that as a Vietnamese American, I was very lucky to be given a chance for a brighter future. But to realize that I was a product of intracta-ble poverty, I am floored by my parents relentless efforts to not only look to the next meal, but look to the future.

“After this summer, these four young women will have a deeper appreciation for their country of heritage. There

are many young Vietnamese-Americans who want to return to Vietnam and have a similar experience,” said

Christine Tran, director of the Vietnam Program at Volunteers in Asia (as quoted in Tuoi Tre Online, Vietnam’s

national youth publication).

On the last day of long-term training in Chiang Mai, volunteers pose for a final photo before catching a plane to Hanoi.

2007-08 New Vol FacebookBenson Chu (M/28) received a B.S.

in Management Information Systems and a M.S. in International Studies from Oklahoma University. Benson has years of website development and programming experience. Benson is teaching English to Hanoi University undergraduates and IT department faculty.

Walker Giersch (M/34) graduated from Hamilton College in 1999 with a degree in History. Walker has years of experience in sporting goods retail management and is an active outdoor enthusiast. Walker is teaching English to government officials through Vietnam Plus.

Tiffany Goodson (F/33) graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota in 1997 with a B.A. in Sociology and Communications. Tiffany was adopted from Vietnam as an orphan in April 1975 by a family in the US. She has many years of experience as an executive assistant. Tiffany is teaching English to Hanoi University undergraduates.

Candice Kortcamp (F/27) graduated from UCLA in 2004 with a B.A. in American Literature and Cultures and a minor in Asian American Studies. At UCLA, she wrote articles for various publications and served as Editor-in-Chief of an Asian-American news magazine. Candice is teaching Literature and International Studies courses at Hue University.

Michelle Labuwi (F/23) graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Communication. She has never visited Vietnam, but has traveled extensively through Europe and Central America. Michelle is teaching An Giang University undergraduates and fellows.

William Lampe, (M/23) graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Environmental Conservation Biology. He taught English classes in a rural elementary school in Costa Rica and studied sustainable living practices. Will is teaching An Giang University undergraduates and fellows.

Julie Nguyen (F/22) graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a B.A. in Sociology. At UCLA, she tutored and peer counseled high school and college students. Previously, she studied abroad in Vietnam for one semester. Julie is teaching

Can Tho University undergraduates and professionals.

Olivia Nguyen (F/24) graduated from UC Berkeley in 2006 with a B.A. in English and Molecular Cell Biology. She tutored at a local high school, taught computer classes, and coached martial arts. Olivia has never been to Vietnam but studied Vietnamese for and Vietnamese literature. Olivia is teaching Literature and International Studies

Community Fellowships!This year, VIA is proud to present our first ever Community Fellows:

Tiffany Goodson, Jessica Schaffner, Linda Tran, and AnThu Vuong. The Community Fellowship program offers students and community activists a unique opportunity to integrate their passion for Vietnam or the Vietnam-ese-American community with purposeful, hands-on volunteer experiences in Vietnam. Fellows volunteer at one of VIA’s 11 partner institutions in Vietnam and receive $1000 to design and implement a service project ben-efitting an underserved community in Vietnam and/or promote understand-ing between the U.S. and Vietnam. VIA’s Community Fellowship program is generously funded by the Ford Foundation. Check out the next issue of Nho Vietnam to read about our fellows’ service projects!

courses at Hue University.

Jessica Schaffner (F/22) graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in May of 2007 with a B.A. in International Studies and Psychology. She organized a student organization to raise campus awareness of Agent Orange. Jessica is teaching Hanoi Agricultural University undergraduates and providing English resource assistance to the its agricultural research center.

Linda Tran (F/23) received a B.A. in Asian American Studies and an M.A. in Sociology from Stanford University in 2007. She worked in youth leadership development, academic counseling, and mentorship. She has written papers on topics such as Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans Vietnamese community and Vietnamese refugee policy in Japan. Linda is providing English resource assistance to the An Giang Dong Thap Alliance for the Prevention of Trafficking.

Meet the 11 new volunteers who joined the VIA Vietnam family this fall!

AnThu Vuong (F/26) graduated from UCLA in 2005 with an M.A. in Comparative Literature, a B.S. in Biology, and a B.A. in Comparative Literature. She served as the Director of the Higher Opportunity Program for Education (HOPE) at UCLA and has previously visited Vietnam to conduct academic research. AnThu is teaching in the English, International Studies and Community Development departments at Dalat University.

Virginia Visconti (F/43) received an M.A.T. in English and a Ph.D. in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and Education Policy Studies from Indiana University, at Bloomington. She previously conducted ethnographic field work in Vietnam through the Fulbright program and as part of her dissertation research. Virginia is teaching English and providing English resource assistance to the Hanoi School of Public Health.

Lending a Helping Hand in Hue

Just before the great flood in Hue of ‘99, the van do village under Gia Hoi Bridge was relocated by the local government to Phu Hiep Quarter. Van do means “boats on the water” and the local government has resettled the majority of these communities formerly living on the Perfume River to land. Hue is home to over 2000 boat families living in van do communities on the Perfume River. Some of the major reasons for resettlement include the lack of clean water, river pollution, and the local

Last semester, Huyen Tran (‘06) volunteered her free time as a coordinator for the Bead Project in the Phu Hiep Resettlement Village for Boat People in Hue. Huyen, along with several of her university students, taught youth in the village how to make bead handicrafts.

government’s desire to preserve the im-age of Hue for tourism purposes.

Phu Hiep’s Resettlement Area for Boat People is now home to about 50 fami-lies and a growing population of over 300 residents. Many of the residents in this community, who once depended on the river for their livelihoods, now sell lottery tickets, collect and resell plastic and usable scrap or beg. Not much has improved despite being relocated to land.

Earlier this year, Huyen Tran began volunteering her free time in the Phu Hiep Resettlement Area. Huyen became a coordinator for the Bead Project, a program sponsored by a U.K. NGO work-ing in Hue. The goal of the program was to help generate sustainable income for the community. Huyen, and several third-year university students that she invited to help, learned how to make bead handicrafts and taught this skill to young people in the community.

Huyen recounts her involvement with the Bead Project and some of the busiest days of her year in Hue: “March, April, and May are perhaps the hottest months of the year in Hue. Everyday, I would wake up at 5:30 am, prepare for my university classes, check email and

read up on the latest world news. At 7:30 am, I’d head out and bike across the bridge to teach a 3-hour bead class at the resettlement village. Afterwards, I’d race home for a quick shower before biking out again to teach at the univer-sity. After class, I’d meet with a director to discuss the Bead Project, design new products, or package the products to ship to Singapore and the UK (Yes, we had international markets!). By the time I grabbed a quick dinner and headed home, it was already 8-9 pm!”

Huyen completed her one-year con-tract with VIA in June 2007 and has since returned home to Philadelphia. Despite being thousands of miles away from Hue, Huyen continues to assist with the Bead Project, selling handicrafts in her com-munity and researching additional buyers for the handicrafts.

For more information about the Bead Project, please contact Huyen at trahuyen@gmail.com.

Large photo: Phu Hiep Resettlement Village is made of a small street lined each side by 25 or so homes. Above: Huyen Tran’s 3rd-year students help her rebuild roofs in the village.

An Giang University Students Were Asked:

How Has Learning with Foreign Teachers Changed the Way You View Your Own Culture and Others?

Tran Ngoc Hoa, DH5D1

Being an English major student at AGU, I have a good chance to study with foreign teachers who not only teach me major knowledge but also give me their own culture which I have never heard before. Through that process I can have a look at both American culture and Vietnamese culture. I can clearly see that learning language with someone from a different culture takes me to a new world where I can learn many posi-tive figures: good working style, flexibil-ity, and open-mindedness.

Foreign teachers’ flexibility is the one that I think is very essential for them. Actually, I am sure that my foreign teachers might encounter some problems at the first time they came to Vietnam such as food, weather, transportation…But so flexible that are they familiar with new environment after a very short time…

The next interesting this is their open-mindedness. When being a fresh-man, unlike my classmates, I was very shy to speak any word in English. That worried me a lot. One day, on the way

Left: Volunteer Lillian Forsyth (‘06) facilitates classroom discussion. Right: Students walk to class at An GIang University in Long Xuyen.

coming to class I saw a foreign teacher. At that time I was too shy to speak any word, he realized that and he got closer to say “hello” to me while I just bowed to him and ran into my class as quickly as possible. I felt ashamed of what I said nothing, even a very simple word “hel-lo.” But now I am more confident when speaking with foreign teachers because of their friendly and enthusiastic ways.

Nguyen Van Vien, DH5D3

Through working with foreign teach-ers, I recognized that I still know very little about Vietnamese culture. For example, one time Mr. Scott asked us to describe a Vietnamese traditional treat-ment for any common disease, it took me much time to finish the job because was not sure of any treatment! Almost every cultural comparison between Vietnam and other countries which our teachers raise can be beyond my ability to discuss. Sadly, these classes made me realized the lack of my background knowledge of my own culture.

Thanks to learning with native teach-ers, my awareness of culture has a little bit developed. Actually, I say a little bit because the word “culture” itself frightens me every time I think of it. I am not interested in this field, which requires a lot of reading. Then things changed when I work with our current native teachers. You know what, they are studying Vietnamese, and they give me lots of nice surprises. I still remem-

ber Mr. Eric first appeared in our class, introducing himself in Vietnamese! That impressed me greatly. At the age of 20, I am still bad at going shopping. Mean-while, Ms. Lillian already knows how to bargain at market, Mr. Eric can manage by his own using Vietnamese street lan-guage. Friends are learning things about us. It is bad of me not to study Vietnam-ese culture carefully.

Finally, foreign teachers have helped me more tolerant of cultural differ-ences. Mr. Scott, Mr. Eric, Ms. Lillian, etc. are all from other countries. Still, they work with us quite well and joyfully so far. Even I learn from these teachers things typical for an industrial lifestyle such as punctuality, flexibility at work. Especially, I enjoy their informal classes, though Vietnamese teachers’ classes are also fine. That intensifies my belief that besides keeping our identity, we need to adopt new things from the outside world.

Lillian Forsyth (‘06) orga-nized a speech contest at An Giang University. Here are excerpts from two student speeches.

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Our Landlady on “Main Street,” Long My

Puttin’ on the Works at Nha Trang University

We live in a house on “Main Street.” Our landlady comes over every evening and sets up a little street stall out front. She serves fertilized duck eggs and homemade rice wine, plus a variety of dried fish. Her name is Sau (6), she’s sixty years old, and doesn’t speak a word of English except “ok,” “no,” and “I don’t know.” She has an infectious smile and laugh, is bossy and caring, and one of the most delightful people I’ve ever met.

Every day she asks if I’ve eaten rice yet, then invites me to go walking with her after she closes up shop. We’re frequently joined by her daughter and five year old grandson, a friend with a 13 year old daughter, and sometimes Jeff (my post-mate). It’s not much as far as exercise goes (unless I let little Phuc Nguyen chase me), but we’re out and

At Nha Trang University (NTU), couple Tom McCauliff and Janella Pennington (‘06-07) support a two-year old English department. One of their many responsibilities as volunteers at Nha Trang University includes hosting the campus English Club, which features informal student skits, discussions, and other activities to motivate students to practice their English skills outside of the classroom.

Tom and Janella work with their Vietnamese colleagues, student representatives, and the head of the English Department to coordinate quarterly English Club meetings.

“The students’ excitement at each of these English Club sessions has been so enormous and so very palpable that it makes the many hours of coordination and planning that precede the big event worthwhile.”

This month, Tom and Janella returned to Nha Trang University to begin their second year as VIA volunteers. Both will continue team-teaching with each other and their Vietnamese colleagues.

Right: Janella and fellow English teacher Khanh pose on Women’s Day. Khanh is a former stu-dent of VIA volunteers at Dalat University! Bottom left, NTU students prepare for an English club banner. Top left, Tom and Janella with their students at an English club meeting.

moving in the cool of the evening. We joke about everything you can imagine. There’s a lot of gesturing and poking and arm grabbing, and we manage to have a great time without a common language. Our little group spans the generations, with people 5, 13, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years old.

Last month she pointed at the full moon and asked if we had this in my country. She’s full of questions. Some of them are the same every day. “When do you go to sleep?” “When do you get up?” The answers to these never fail to amuse her. She can’t fathom sleeping past 5 or 6am. Most of her questions stem from curiosity about our personal habits. The way I dress is always a topic of discussion. I don’t wear my clothes tight enough. Loose clothes are not “dep” (beautiful), loose hair is not “dep”, how much do I weigh, I’m very fat. At least they think I look younger than I am, so that makes me “dep” for my age. Jeff looks older than he is, because only old men have beards. He is “dep”, his beard is not (making a cutting motion with her hands).

She wants to know about so many things, and I don’t know how to answer all of her questions. They tease me because I say “co le” (maybe) so often.

They taught little Phuc Nguyen to say “I love you Kristi”, and he adds his own “co le, co le” to it. She has us over to her place almost every Sunday at 11 for a home cooked lunch, and there’s always some fruit for me. Her place is down a quiet little lane with views of a pond, a reminder that this town is quite small and we’re only a few blocks away from the country.

Even though we rent from her, it’s still her house. She walks right in, opens the refrigerator, looks through our things and asks about them. No room is exempt. It’s just curiosity, she’d never steal a thing. Sau enjoys taking care of us, and runs interference when the motorcycle taxi driver who’s confessed true love for me shows up. She spent a full day preparing curry for Jeff’s birthday party, but wouldn’t leave the kitchen.

After work we often sit in front of our house with her and relax while neighbors and staff from VN Plus stop by and eat eggs, and there’s a little snack party right outside our door. We have a great time talking with people and making friends because of Sau and her neighborhood shop. It’s hard to remember that when we first arrived, she wouldn’t even consider renting to foreigners.

Kristi Smith (‘06), a vol-unteer at VIA’s most rural post in Vietnam, Vietnam Plus in Long My, describes one of her favorite people in this small town.

On Saturday, August 11, Vietnam hosted its first ever international triathlon in the historic city of Hoi An. For-mer Teach-in-Hue volunteer (‘98) and Vietnam Program Director Ann Le (‘01-03) completed a 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike ride, and 10 km run in 3 hours and 22 min-utes. Ann trained 5 days a week over 4 months and was featured on VTV before and

Congratulations to new parents Ky Lam (‘01-02) and Shelby Hunt (‘01-02)! Kaden Lam Hunt was born on Friday March 2, 2007 at 3:42am weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

Focus Group:Van Tran, Darin Neeley, Jennifer Davoli, Patty Esposito, Adrian Khactu, Elicia Berger, Thien Hua, Kate Dunham, Mai Tran, Virginia Player, Stefan Schear, Greg Tung, Kim Bui, & Laura Dang

A new guidebook called To Asia With Love will be published next spring and include three submissions by alumni Lorene Strand (‘01-02). In these submissions, Lorene suggests readers visit Cu Chi tunnels, a church in Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Dalat, where she served as a VIA volunteer. Below is an excerpt from her submission on the University of Dalat:

“Hello, hello!” the students shyly call to me as I walk up Phu Dong Thien Vuong Street towards the University of Dalat. There is a group of them, and they have just finished their lunch at a local com sinh vien and are heading back to school. Eager to practice their English, they join me, their musical voices inquiring about where I’m from, my family, my job, my life. . . They are eager to share and show me around their university.

Together, we stroll through the 40 hectare university campus amongst the pine trees, rhododendron, cherry, mimosa, and hydrangea flowers. There is the sport stadium, outdoor amphitheatre, student café, bookstore, library, labs, greenhouse, and assorted buildings that dot this beautiful hillside campus. The University of Dalat is the most beautiful university campus in all of Vietnam.

The first time I came here was in August 2001. I had always wanted to come to Vietnam. You see, my step-father is a Vietnam veteran; he was in Cu Chi in 1968, and is 100% disabled from the war. In 2001, a new century was underway: Vietnam was a country, and I was going there in peace.

Through Volunteers in Asia, a non-profit organization located at Stanford University, I arrived at the University of Dalat and settled into a small apartment in a row of housing that lined a hill above the university soccer field. From here, I joined a small group of non-native faculty members who taught various English and French classes for the Department of Foreign Languages...

For more information about this guidebook, please visit: http://www.kimfay.net.

Alumni Races in Vietnam’s First International Triathlon, Hoi An

All About... Alumni

VIA Vietnam Family Albums

“To Dalat with Love”

Proud husband and father of two shares a family photo with VIA. Pictured here are Andrew Demo (‘00-01), his wife Hoa, and children

Amanda, age 15 months, and Joshua,

age 3 and a half.

after the race.“It was so much fun! I wish you were all there. Anyone for the Hoi An

triathlon, summer 2008?” asks Ann. Congratulations Ann! For more information about the Hoi An Interna-

tional Triathlon please visit: http://www.vietnamtriathlon.com.

Nho Vietnam Contributors:Tram Le, Lillian Forsyth, Tom McCauliff, Huyen Tran, Kristi Smith, Shelby Hunt, Ky Lam, Ann Le, Drew Demo, Lorene Strand, & Janella Pennington.

Thank you’s:We couldn’t do it without

you!

Orientation Welcome Lunch for New Vols:Kristy Kelley & Sarah Bales

And...to everybody who completed our online alumni survey! Results are coming in the next issue!