Hien of Hoi An


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Asia » Vietnam » South Central Coast » Quảng Nam » Hoi An
April 8th 2011
Published: April 8th 2011
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Nightscape in Old Town.Nightscape in Old Town.Nightscape in Old Town.

Many restaurants and shops are along the river and the area is a great place to relax on a warm evening.
Vietnam is a country that is very popular as a tourist destination with hotels, restaurants, bars, tailors and souvenir shops dominating the old centre. It is becoming more popular each year.

A visit to Hoi An is a highlight of any trip to Vietnam. It is a town oozing charm and history and has been lucky to have largely escaped the destruction of successive wars. Hoi An Old Town is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and is governed by preservation laws, that seem to be working, to retain the history and feel of the place.

It is a great place to walk around - exploring the narrow laneways or strolling along the river; you can hire a bicycle or motor bike and explore the town and surrounding countryside and beaches. You can have clothes, shoes, bags, jewellry etc made here - even design them yourself or chose from the many catelogues. At night the light and colors of the silk lanterns displayed everywhere make the old town seem like a fairyland, and the food at the many restaurants is nutricious, fresh, delicious and very cheap.

We have been lucky enough to visit this town three times now
Hoi An laneway.Hoi An laneway.Hoi An laneway.

There are hundreds of laneways in this town and we enjoy exploring them - this one is in the Old Town.
and have stayed for an extended visit each trip. We have been amazed this time that many local people have remembered us and an instant friendship has been renewed.

It is great to stay in the one place for a while, to fly just under the wire in this town and be treated as more than a tourist. This means that you get to really engage with another side of Hoi An that the "fly in, fly out" tourists do not. For example, through daily contact with the disabled people in 3-wheel push/pull carts trying to sell copies of the English language newspaper or with the touts approaching you in restaurants trying to sell trinkets or the touts encouraging you into their restaurants. You get to know these people and they get to know you. These the touts and trinket sellers, who many westeners find annoying, are trying to make a living to provide for their families. They have the same dreams that we have, but they do it very tough as there is no safety net as we have at home.

If you give yourself time you can take a look into the local orphanages and sheltered
River areas in Hoi An Old Town.River areas in Hoi An Old Town.River areas in Hoi An Old Town.

This was the scene a couple of nights ago as we wandered down to have a meal at a riverside restaurant.
workships. These people are struggling - but they usually have a roof over their heads and some food. If you go slowly you will be able to observe the men and women who sit in their small boats all day on the river pleading with Westeners to accept them to ferry them across the river; the elderly parents who do not receive a "retirement" pension who look after their grandchildren so that their parents can go to work; the children who cannot go to school because their parents cannot afford the fees; the elderly or slightly disabled selling raffle tickets; the older women carrying heavy loads of fruit and vegetables around town.......and the list goes on. It is a very hard life for so many of the poor in Vietnam, but it is a rich community life with lots of genuine warmth and a willingness to be inclusive even of us aliens.

Therefore, the following story.....

In September 2009, while eating at Cafe 43 - a restaurant in the residential laneway of Tran Cao Van in Hoi An Central Vietnam, we met a street girl selling Tiger balm, postcards and other trinkets to the many tourists attracted there
Hien's family house.Hien's family house.Hien's family house.

This small house is owned by Hien's husband's father and mother - the house has been given to them under some arrangement because they are poor and have no income at all.
by the Lonely Planet Guide book. Her name is Hien and she has lived in Hoi An all her life. She is in her late twenties and has three young children, a largely unemployed (bricklayer) husband and his dependant elderly parents to support. She has to provide the majority of the family income as her husband averages only about 15 days a month work and earns around 85,000 Vietnamese Dong a day (about $4.00).

When we met Hien she and her family were terribly poor - often battling to get food onto the family table, often failing to. At today's prices, the family of seven needs approximately $70.00 a week to live - this includes food, school fees, medication, electricity, water, rates, petrol - basic necessities. This budget does not include any unexpected expenses - like someone getting sick, clothing, motor bike repairs, etc.

We communicated with Hien mainly using body language along with the smattering of English which she speaks. We soon discovered that she suffered from extremely painful joints, as she winced on shaking hands. She developed this painful condition immediately after the birth of her third child. She told us that a Vietnamese Doctor had
HienHienHien

Making arrangements for hew shop.
diagnosed bone cancer and that the treatment she was receiving was herbal medicine from the Buddist monks.

We had heard of a clinic run for poor people in Hoi An - a non Government organisation called the Hoi An Foundation*, which was established and is run by Dr. Josh Solomon, an American doctor who visits Hoi An regularly. We took Hien to the clinic to get a second opinion. We were delighted to learn that Hien does not have a fatal disease, but unfortunately she does have Rheumatoid Arthritis which is incurable and progressive.

Rheumatoid Arthritis causes pain, swelling and stiffness in many joints in the body - the hands, the wrists, ankles, hips, knees and neck. After sleeping or laying still for more than a few hours a person with Rheumatoid Arthritis will experience periods of severe to moderate stiffness for up to several hours after they resume movement. They can have nodules develop in various parts of the body eg. the fingers and the spine, and they suffer fatigue, weight loss and lack of appetite.

Once properly diagnosed, Hien was started on a regime of drugs to prevent progression of the disease and to give
Bamboo bowlsBamboo bowlsBamboo bowls

Display of bowls in one of the many souvenir shops around town.
her some pain relief. Splints were made for her to wear at night to reduce pain on wakening, as the fingers would be kept straight.

For the next eighteen months we sent regular payments to Hien to cover the cost of her drug treatment and which also helped to send her children to school. $100 US every three months was enough for this.
On returning to Vietnam March 2011 - eighteen months since we last saw Hien - we are pleased to say that she is looking generally a lot better than last visit. She still has limited movement in the joints of her hands, wrists and elbows, but she seems to be in less pain and has put on a little weight. She seems less fragile. We have been very heartened to see what we set out to achieve has been accomplished.

However, we worry about what will happen when we can no longer send her money. She needs more help to escape the extreme poverty trap and to live her life a little more comfortably. We are conscious that if we keep sending money we are contributing to the family's dependence on their income from us and therefore contributing to another type of begging. Our aim would be to create something that would enable the family to become independent.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is incurable and she will need to make a living that does not require physical strain. She cannot keep walking the streets at night selling cheap trinkets to tourists, so we asked her what she would do if she could fulfill her wildest dreams. Her instant answer was "Own a shop!" - so we have set about trying to make this dream come true.

For the meagre cost to us of $1,700 US we have bought all the materials and employed a builder and some labourers to build a new 32 square metre room onto Hien's parents-in-law's house. Now we need to stock the shop and we need to stock it adequately if she is to attract customers and make a living.

We have spent some time in and out of markets, visiting some of Hien's relatives who already own a shop, looking at available products in "warehouses" (which are someone's house that has allocated one room for sleeping plus a kitchen and the rest of the house is stacked high with
Stocking the new shop.Stocking the new shop.Stocking the new shop.

A relative of Hien's invited us into her shop so we could get a better idea of what stock might be required.
boxes), etc to try to work out which products would be the best sellers, and therefore, provide the independence for this family that we are seeking.

We have also purchased a fridge and some shop fittings and wondered if anyone would like to assist with the cost of stocking the shop. Hien's shop will be stocked by whatever financial limitations we place on it. We envisage that the initial set up stock would be a donation which would allow Hien to replace sold stock immediately. We haven't told her that yet - we think she believes that she will be repaying us. The profit margin when selling to local Vietnamese is very small compared to our western standards but we feel encouraged that with the shop and Hien's husband's small income that they can make a go of it.

If only you could be here to see the smiles and hand shakes that we are receiving - which is quite embarrassing for us; but Hien and her family are well aware of what this opportunity means to them and their future. AND, when it all gets down to tin-tacks, WE ALL AGREE - who better to run a
Concrete has been delivered.Concrete has been delivered.Concrete has been delivered.

As there is no where to store the concrete - is is currently stored in the family's living room.
shop than a kid who is as street-wise, tenacious and smart as Hien.

The "we" mentioned is this blog consist of: Roslyn and Michael Amiss and Merri Hogan and Russell Ellett. We have known each other for years and have shared a common interest in Vietnam and its people. Being teenagers in the 1960's we thought we could change the world. We can't change the whole world - BUT we can offer this one family the opportunity to escape their grinding poverty. This is something feasible, something concrete that we can do and we hope that you would like to be part of that as well.

If you are interested in making a donation to this project - please contact us via e-mail and we will contact you direct with further details.
Roslyn and Michael Amiss: amiss@activ8.net.au
Merri Hogan and Russell Ellett: merrihogan@activ8.net.au

Please feel free to forward this blog link onto your friends and family. Many thanks.

* Hoi An Foundation is an amazing institution which stays open all year trying to service the local poor population of this area. Please check out their website and register to receive their newsletters - you can't help
Site of future shop.Site of future shop.Site of future shop.

The shop and a room for Hien and her family (5 in total) to sleep will be added to this side of the house - the total area - including a verandah will be 4m x 8m.
but be moved by the work of the wonderful Dr Josh Solomon. www.hoianfoundation.org



Additional photos below
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Typical street in Hoi An Old Town.Typical street in Hoi An Old Town.
Typical street in Hoi An Old Town.

Must have been early in the morning as no tourist groups are around.


9th April 2011

LIFE CHANGING
Inspiration, commitment, life changing for Hien & her family...thank you Mike & Ros for sharing this endeavour. Regards, David & Denise
9th April 2011

WOW!!! And I was having enough trouble trying to pick the right sized clothes for Hien's children in K-Mart!! Well Done!! You have all just made our hearts fuller!! Love you!
10th April 2011

Tks guys....
Not sure what to call this trip - holiday, travel or work... ..but Hoi An is a nice place to be in for a few weeks. We are a bit consumed with this project and would love to see it completed before we leave in a week's time but communication is slow and frustrating some times - but hopefully the end result will be amazing for this family. Visited their house yesterday and the shop is a quarter built and we looked a bit closer at the conditions that these 7 people live in....there is no running water in the house and they cook outside in a lean-2 type area and I could only see another brick and concrete area where they must do all their toileting.....and I know there are families and people worst off than they are.....but one at a time. David, keep your blogs coming. I had planned to get started on my Ethiopian blogs while relaxing here - but they will have to wait. Regards, Ros

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