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Published: November 17th 2007
Grandma’s Library
Gũng and I made the 71 KM trip East of Hanoi to Đoan Tung Village, Thanh Miện District, Hải Dương Province to see the construction of the new small dream library project sponsored by the Library Project of Vietnam. The Library Project of Việt Nam is led by Executive Director Chuck Theusch.
The library is complete and is ready for the books and some more furniture. Also, it is of need of a computer to be hooked up to the internet. When that is done it would be able to join the system of libraries being developed in Việt Nam that will be similar to the library systems enjoyed by all Americans. Even the small town of Garfield KS, less than 300 population has a library and a computer hooked up to the internet. Anyone can go there and use the computer, connect to the internet and bring the world in many ways right there. If they don’t have the book you want, they will order it from other connecting library and it will be there in a few days. The computer/computers will also have English teaching software so the patrons can study English if they wish.
Recently, I had a young Vietnamese tell me that by studying English it opened up a whole new world. Many of the great ideas of civilization are expressed in English literature.
The library inspiration is 102 year old Cụ Nguyễn Thị Ngoan. She is the Grandmother of my Rotary Daughter Ngat Dao. It was my visit two years ago that brought Ngat and her Mother Ban North to meet me and be reunited with their Northern family they hadn’t seen since 1954. It was the best of Rotary International’s object of bringing people together to create understanding and world peace. It is also the same object the organization People to People has as created by its founder President Dwight Eisenhower. This objective is the same for the Library Project Organization. As our founder Chuck Theusch says: “We place bricks on bricks to build libraries, but the ultimate object is bringing people together to create better understanding and world peace.
Grandma’s Library will be dedicated Dec. 2, 2007. It will be the first library visited on the library tour.
After the library inspection I was treated to a wonderful dinner by Grandma’s family. All cooked out doors. They
served a Vietnamese slaw that I never had before and it was really good.
I was soon drowned in hot tea. As I walked around the village I couldn’t pass a house without being invited in and the teapot brought out and served up Vietnamese hot tea.
The hospitality of this village of 1000 is hard to beat. To get there the roads have been greatly improved. Just one small bad stretch which is under construction. Those that go there will see this and maybe realize that all the roads were like this as late as 1992.
More later when we have the dedication.
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Ray Gaskill
non-member comment
Grandma's library
Kent: I enjoyed your visit to Grandma's village. Especially the pictures. They were very clear and interesting. I have used some of the first ones in my club bulletin. Thanks for keeping us posted on your activities. Ray