The Deep Countryside

There are cities, and suburbs, towns, the countryside - - and then there is the deep countryside.

I mean, we were way out into the boonies in the mountains southwest of Hue. It's where the ethnic minorities of Vietnam live. They are not Vietnamese - they don't even speak Vietnamese.  There are 57 such groups, and we were in the land of the Katu (say cut too.)

The land is not only infertile, but it has been badly bruised by centuries of slash and burn agriculture.  Life is hard - and the people are poor.  Outside one of the five health clinics we visited, this old man waited patiently to see the doctor.  The medical professionals try to provide good health care, but are severely limited by the lack of water.  In this village, UNICEF had drilled a well a few years ago, and on another occasion, the government too had drilled a well.  Both have gone dry, and the only source of water for the clinic was this common garden hose that tapped into a nearby stream.  Sometimes there was water - sometimes there wasn't.  It was shared with those who lived in nearby houses.  To get to the water source, the nurse or midwife from the clinic would also walk by this pen with a large sow and her brood of piglets.  Yes - that is raw pig sewage to the right side of the photo.  It stank too.

A few of the villagers are wealthy enough to own motorbikes, but that can be a bane or a blessing.  This lady waits for her husband to get treatment for the minor injuries he sustained in a motorbike wreck on one of the steep mountain roads.  Realize for a moment that someone washed his wounds before putting on bandages.  Maybe the water used to bathe him was safe - maybe it wasn't.

This was my first time visiting one of the minority areas.  Unless you have business in the mountains (as we did) or you are with a licensed tourist guide, foreigners are not generally allowed in the central highlands.  But I hope to return someday and learn more about the people and their ways.

And see if the old man is still there.

Comments

[Tom Murray]

The mountain people are a very hard working, family oriented group of people. They seem to live mostly as their ancestors of hundreds of years ago. I visited a different tribe west of Khe Sanh in Quang Tri Province. These people were reported to have incomes in the range of $5 to $10 a month. The tribe I saw did not put clothes on the youngest children until their bowels are trained. The school I visited did not have a bathroom for the students or the teacher.

These people are so poor. It is rewarding to see you are out working with these people. Keep up the good work.

[Triet]

Perhaps my most treasured memory and experience of Vietnam was visiting Sapa back in 2004. The area around Sapa is -- in my opinion -- the most beautiful part of Vietnam (and that's saying alot, because Vietnam has many gorgeous areas). The town was quaint, and chock full of tourists (Vietnamese and others) and Hmong, Zao, and other minority groups.

However, I knew Sapa was not indicative of the province, because of the huge tourist presence. While I was there I befriended two sisters, Sa and Zao. One morning I arose early and accompanied them the many miles on foot through winding dirt paths, off limits to foreigners, through the mountains back to their village.

Such dichotomy! All the huts in the rice fields were simple, one room structures made of odd pieces of wood pieced together as best they could. The roofs of the rich were tin (without holes). My day was spent helping the family make indigo die and clothes, while sitting on the hard, dirt floor. Dad was sick, and on a cot about 5 feet from the two makeshift bunkbeds that the many children shared.

I spoke in a few Hmong sentences I knew and English, because they knew English better than Vietnamese. The government didn't allow them to go to school for years, and now that the government is trying to educate them, many don't have the money to afford to send their children to school--they need them on the farm or selling tin trinkets in Sapa square.

At the end of the day I bought a specially tailored Hmong outfit--like they wear daily--and overpaid for it gladly because it represented a huge boon to their finances. What they probably don't know, is that they paid me innumerable times over by letting me live --even for one day-- with them and experience their life and culture.

I hope Doug, that you have the chance to return back to the village you visited many times over.

[J. Bradford]

What is the ethnicity? Are these the folks we knew as Mountanguards, (-5 for spelling.....)

[J. Bradford]

What is the ethnicity? Are these the folks we knew as Mountanguards, (-5 for spelling.....)

[Russ]

See it all Bro. I can hear you thinking. Can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks.

[tấn]

Hi Doug
I'm a việt now living in the U.S. I'm from the làng trúc lâm (bamboo jungle village), that's north of chùa thiên mụ (cross the river and you're almost there). If you have a chance come visit! hehe...anyway I want to say thanks for all the things you're doing to my home city. I miss it so much.