Trips to Ethnic Minority Areas Vietnam 2000 - 2003 : Anthony (Tony) Bloomberg

 

In Vietnam ethnic minority children had significantly worse social economic indictors compared to the majority Kinh (or Viet) ethnicity[1]. Clearly UNICEF programming needed to prioritise attention to them.

Central Highlands

Several months after my arrival in Vietnam I made a trip to the Central Highlands. The ethnic minorities of the Central Highlands were collectively termed ‘Montagnards’ by the French colonialists and later by the Americans during the Vietnam War. The Montagnards had a history of resistance to Kinh (Viet) attempts to control the Central Highlands. They were strong allies of the USA during the ‘American War’. After the reunification of Vietnam in 1975, the Government encouraged Kinh settlement in the Central Highlands and the Montagnards were by now definitely subjugated by the Kinh (Viet) dominant regime. Nevertheless, the Government official policy was to treat ethnic minority development benevolently.

Mothers bringing their children for immunization, Gia Lai Province

At dinner with the Vice Chairman of the Kon Tum Provincial People’s Committee [2] the table is strategically placed so that the 20 odd people participating in the banquet can watch the South Korea-Italy World Cup game. Steaming bowls of food are placed before us and the Vice Chairman insists on personally dumping a generous portion of each dish on my plate. I recognize the vegetable as my favourite – pumpkin flower but I cannot identify the meat, surely it is too dark to be pork. I look up and realize that all eyes are on me waiting expectantly to ensure I am enjoying the delicacies. My increasing skill at manipulating chopsticks is now on very public display as I carefully extract some brown meat and navigate it into my mouth without fumbling and dropping it on the table or my lap. I chew and nod my head in what I trust is indisputable indication of great appreciation and pleasure. The other diners relax, smile and mutter satisfaction and tuck into their bowls with gusto. My national officer Vinh, accompanying me on this trip, sitting to my right bends to whisper that I am now chewing porcupine, a forest delicacy here in the Central Highlands. I realize that he is watching intently for my reaction – it seems I am on trial even before my own national staff. I say with a deadpan face that it is ‘rất ngon’ – very tasty. He turns away disappointed to speak to the Chief of the Provincial Water Department on his other side. From the start we have been served jugs of beer by beautiful young serving women in their flowing ‘áo dài’ dresses always at the ready to replenish with movements so swift there is no time to decline. The Vice Chairman raises his mug to toast me ‘trăm phần trăm’ (100%). This is a colloquialism for ‘bottoms up’ and I quaff the beer lustily banging the empty jug upside down on the table as is customary. More bowls of mystery food are elegantly served by our pretty waitresses, their uniform long hair swaying in the evening breeze in harmonic motion with their ‘áo dài’. Again the Vice Chairman serves me a hearty portion and again everyone stops eating and watches with rapt attention as I again safely navigate a morsel of slimy meat to its correct destination. My appreciative chewing and nodding allows the other diners to move into action their chopsticks clicking dexterously as they tuck into this latest delicacy. Vinh again bends over to whisper in my ear – ‘turtle’ he says watching me expectantly. I say, ‘No, I think it must be tortoise’ and take another slimy portion with apparent indifference. Vinh mutters ‘tortoise’ and turns away with resignation to his meal. The table roars in approval at the TV and I know without looking that South Korea must have scored. I smile benevolently whilst the Provincial Director of Health appears at my shoulder raising a full jug of beer and declaring ‘trăm phần trăm’, downs the whole mug in one long gulp and slams it down. I stand up thinking ‘no one told me this was in my job description as UNICEF Representative’ and stoically down my beer and slam it empty on the table. Vinh, with an evil glint in his eye, approaches me arm in arm with the Chief of Provincial Water. I know that once this man issues the challenge ‘trăm phần trăm’ I will be lost since all the other Chiefs will surely follow. Just then there is a howl of protest from the assembled host – Italy has scored an equalizing goal. I turn to one of the pretty waitresses and ask for a toilet ‘anh cần một nhà vệ sinh’. She smiles and I follow her swaying ‘áo dài’ to safety.

It is the middle of the day and I am with ethnic Gia Rai [3] elders gathered around the rice wine urn in their ‘nha rong’ - traditional meeting house. Two tubes stick out of the mouth of the urn and I am given the honor of sucking out enough rice wine so that the surface drops to a specified marker. The village leaders and local government officials are seated with me around the urn – eagerly watching my performance since only after the level of liquor has reached the marker can they themselves imbibe. I take a few sips and then invite my two accompanying national UNICEF colleagues to fulfill the drinking obligation. This seems to satisfy everyone, as there are contented sighs and grunts from all and sundry. The Provincial Water Director explains to the assembly that on entering the village we found that no water came out of the communal taps. The water was supplied by a gravity system installed with Unicef support. There had just been heavy rains and it was thought that the filter had become clogged with debris at the source high up the mountain. I had declared that we should hike up to the source and sort the problem out, and off we went with a village elder of about 70 years – stocky and strong – and myself in the lead. At the first muddy stream we forded we left behind the provincial international liaison official, an elegantly dressed lady in high heels. Gradually as we ascended the rice terraces, climbing over fences and sloshing through irrigation ditches, we shed the more senior government officials. After a 45 minute invigorating hike up the mountain we arrived at the source and the village water caretaker cleared the filter and we inspected the concrete catchment tank and the whole system was explained to me to my full satisfaction. Now sitting around the rice wine urn in the ‘nha rong’, those who underwent this experience are conspicuous for their superior air of camaraderie as well as muddy shoes and trousers and sweaty shirts. I ask the villagers why so few of their children go to secondary school – primary education is compulsory in Vietnam. There is some shuffling of feet and shifting of buttock position before the chief explains that the secondary school is 4km away and they don’t have the funds to support their kids in secondary school. But, I say, I understand that there are possibilities of scholarships for ethnic minority children and 4km does not sound like such a long way if you think education is important for your children. The village elder fusses with the organization of the rice wine drinking and doesn’t seem interested in pursuing this discussion. I continue ”So what do the kids do if they don’t go to secondary school?” I am told that they stay at home and help in the house or the fields. “What do they do for recreation?” I ask. They like to hang out at the communal water points. “Well what do you consider are your priority needs?” I ask. They would like more water points since they only have 3 in the village at present. “Well how about if we put water points in the secondary school, then maybe the youngsters will want to go there to socialize and also learn something”, I suggest. The villagers seemed bemused by this idea and make a beeline for the rice wine urn whose level is fast diminishing.

At the Water Source after unclogging the filter. 
UNICEF WATSAN Officer Vinh far right

I am in a ‘bia hơi’, an open-air tavern mainly frequented by men for the purpose of drinking beer and eating snacks. Unusually, in this establishment I see entire families sitting around tables and there is a noisy boisterous friendly atmosphere. After a long drive from the Central Highlands we reached this secondary port town called Qui Nhon late in the afternoon. Apparently, my national water officer Vinh had asked the provincial water department to make the hotel booking on our behalf, and three gentlemen from the department had invited us out to eat in this ‘bia hơi’ next to the port. Qui Nhon was notorious as a smuggling port early in the 1990s. Apparently, Chinese goods came in and other things went out, as reflected in the significant incidence of intravenous drug abusers in the town. In the mid 1990s, Vietnam and China finally settled their border dispute in the north, opened the border and now the action for Chinese goods has moved to the northern land border with a new fast road connecting Long Son in the north with the Hanoi-Hai Phong axis. When entering a Vietnamese restaurant you are given a refrigerated towelette inside a sealed plastic bag to wipe the sweat off your brow and wipe your hands before eating. Vietnamese like to open these sealed plastic bags by banging them between their hands causing a micro explosion that tears open the bag. My hosts may well have asked me what I like to eat but if so I did not catch it and a pretty waitress has dumped a huge plate of giant prawns on our table. Actually, I have never seen such large prawns in my life and having long ago compromised my kosher principles when it comes to prawns I tuck in with delight – they are delicious. I am introduced to ‘bánh do’, a crispy flat bread which was supposed to have been invented by a general from Qui Nhon some hundreds of years ago and introduced to the north when the general rallied the locals to defend Hanoi against the Chinese during one of their periodic invasions. When challenged to a ‘trăm phần trăm’ I decide to drink only half my mug of beer – after a tough tour of the Central Highlands, tough in the sense of heavy drinking with locals, I feel almost off duty and also need to dry out badly. Our pretty waitress comes around to my side, pours herself a glass of beer and ‘trăm phần trăm’s me. This is most unusual but of course I am delighted and we both down our glasses together. My fellows around the table guffaw with appreciation at this special attention and make all sorts of jokes that I cannot follow. A huge plate of crabs is dumped on our table and I look at it disconsolately. I explain ‘anh không ăn cua’ - I don’t eat crab. My hosts chatter away and I understand that they want to know what would be an acceptable alternative dish. I say ‘cá’ - fish. In no time my attractive waitress appears with a plate of something or other, which I cannot identify. The creature doesn’t have scales as such but on dismembering one I find a cartilage sort of backbone so I bite off the head, spit it out and take a chunk out of its body and chew stoically. My hosts now visibly relax, smile, joke incomprehensively and tuck into their crabs. Suddenly my lovely waitress appears by my side and explodes a towelette bag dramatically between her hands and delicately wipes my brow. My companions are beside themselves laughing, bent over double and slapping their thighs. When we are ready to leave my host gives me a pile of ‘bánh do’ to take back to Hanoi and tells me: “I know you will come back here to this ‘bia hơi’ and that pretty waitress will remember you”. With that I retired to my hotel room to dose myself with decongestant tablets to clear my sinuses so as to be in condition for whatever drinking challenges await me in Da Nang where we are to proceed next day. 

Flower Hmong women benefiting from UNICEF supported
income generation

Northwestern Mountainous Region

Besides the Central Highlands, the other part of Vietnam with the highest concentration of ethnic minorities is the Northwestern Mountainous Region. So I made several visits to the Northwest Mountainous Region to see how our programmes were working. The major ethnic group in this area is the Hmong people. They are thought to have originated from Southern China and are now dispersed in Southern China, Vietnam and Laos. The Hmong were allies of the USA in the ‘American War’ and after reunification in 1975 many fled Vietnam for USA.

I travelled for several days with the Vice Chairman of the Lao Cai Provincial Committee. We visited UNICEF supported projects and discussed how to strengthen the Government response to improve the wellbeing of disadvantaged ethnic minority children. Naturally, the Vice Chairman and I shared all our meals together. As a special treat, he told me, he was traveling with his own supply of rice liquor with which he plied me breakfast, lunch and dinner. After two days of matching him drink for drink, he declared me his esteemed friend and was suddenly much more receptive to my suggestions as to how he could do more for disadvantageous children.

 

Children and Teachers at UNICEF supported school Lao Cai Province

One of the major constraints to reaching ethnic minority children is that they live in really remote mountainous areas. Many live in communities too small to be classified as a village and must trek hours to reach the nearest basic services. I visited a community centre in Sa Pa District and spoke to Mai, a little girl of Black Hmong ethnicity, who walked several hours down and back up the mountain to participate in cultural and recreational activities in the centre. She told me she did not go to school since she was busy looking after the animals around her family compound. Her mother had died and her father had remarried. Her stepmother’s children were going to primary school. Mai said she was 11 years old, though she looked small for that age.

 

With Mai outside UNICEF supported community center Sa Pa District

It was time to say goodbye to the Vice Chairman of Cao Lai Province and cross the border into neighbouring Lai Chau province. We were met on the border by the Chief of the Provincial Water Department and proceeded to visit UNICEF supported projects. After a few days we reached the provincial capital and a scheduled dinner with the Vice Chairperson of the Provincial People’s Committee. Even before we sat down at the table the Vice Chairperson asked the Provincial Water Chief ‘người đàn ông này có thể uống?’ - Can this man drink? He evidently didn’t expect me to understand Vietnamese, but I had been studying it quite seriously all through my time in Vietnam. After two days traveling with me the Provincial Water Chief could answer definitely in the affirmative. The chairman made an approving grunt and sat down saying ‘sau đó chúng ta có thể làm kinh doanh với anh ta’ – then we can do business with him. It had been many years since the UNICEF Representative had visited this remote province and there was a lot of business that needed doing. The Vice Chairman started without delay by challenging me to ‘trăm phần trăm’ – bottoms up, and we were off to the races.

From my left: Driver Kinh, Education Officer Minh Chau and WASH Officer Vinh

On another occasion I traveled to Sa Pa for one of the semi-annual conferences hosted jointly by the World Bank and Ministry of Planning. These conferences were now driving the development agenda in Vietnam and it was a struggle to insert some idea of priority for children as compared to economic prerogatives. After the deliberations there was an optional day to see some projects in the surrounding district and I joined in. The morning was bright as I looked over the countryside from a mountainous village where some new project was being launched. I spotted a waterfall in the far distance and after two days of sitting in a conference room had a sudden and powerful urge to visit that waterfall. I approached the head of the local NGO involved with the project and expressed my wish. “Well, it will take you all day to get there I think”, he said. I am a lifelong hiker and fancied I could make the trek in less time than he imagined. He quickly found a wiry young man to be my guide and my driver Kinh dropped us off at the nearest point from the road. It was a magnificent hike, passing through several ethnic minority villages completely off the road, and through beautiful rice terraces. After several hours my young guide suggested we turn back since he thought we would not be able to make the return trip before dark. I insisted we press on and we made it to the waterfall by mid afternoon. On return, we needed to pick up our pace so as not to be caught in the wilds when dark fell, and I was pretty tired but very satisfied when I climbed the last stretch to the road where my car and driver were waiting.

Ethnic Day children watching the UNICEF Rep hike past, Sa Pa District

Rice Terraces on my way to waterfall, Sa Pa District

Last stretch before the waterfall, Sa Pa District 2003

_________

[1] The Kinh for Vietnam are equivalent to the Han for China – the majority and dominant ethnic group with a defined traditional culture. Whilst the Kinh (Viet) ethnicity is thought to be derived from southern China, and has a Confucian cultural outlook, the ethnic minorities of the Central Highlands speak Malayo-Polonesian languages and have a quite different culture.

[2] The People’s Committee was Communist Party jargon for governing body. The Chair of the People’s Committee was the political leader with the Vice Chair the person to actually run things.

[3] The largest ethnic group in the Central Highlands.

Tony Bloomberg may be reached at anthonybloomberg@yahoo.com

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