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Published: November 17th 2013
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BACH DANG STREET??
I am actually guessing as it's hard to tell with only the trees and lanterns! The saying it "Never rains but it pours " is certainly true for us in Hoi An at the moment.
I spent last weekend bunkered down in my room writing a blog, waiting for Super Typhoon Haiyan to hit the Central coast of Vietnam, quietly praying and hoping that it didn't.
We were extremely fortunate that Typhoon Haiyan miraculously veered east and missed us. All in Hoi An were very grateful as they were just getting on top of Typhoon Nari that had hit Central Vietnam a few weeks previously.
I think we were all looking forward to an uneventful weekend but that wasn't to be. I was woken in the early hours of Saturday morning by my youngest son Sinh telephoning me, he said "' Open the door mum the floods have come!"
So with that most of Hoi An was up at about 3 am packing and moving household items and business stock to dry land. Sinh dropped his motorbike off at my room ( dry land ) and then waded back to his house waist deep in the dark to pack up everything that was at ground floor level.
Tu my eldest son
waded down to his mother in laws house in neck high water also in the dark to help her and then waded down to his work to help them pack up their stock. On his way, loosing the money in his pocket that he had forgotten to take out in his haste to help everyone
We had not unpacked our
Lifestart Foundation Free School supplies from the previous weekend and we were worried that we hadn't put our supplies up high enough for this flood. With everyone busy attending to their own homes on the flooded Peninsula where our school is we had no way of checking because the flood waters were now at a dangerous level and the river was moving too fast for us to cross over to the school via boat to check on everything.
I went down to our workshop early to make sure everything was ok. The floods had come about 5 meters away from our workshop and were waist high. It was a hive of activity as wooden boats commandeered the usually motorbike, bicycle filled streets and evacuated all of the guests from flooded hotels in the old town and surrounding areas.
The flood was a result of a combination of heavy rain and the dams being opened. Most people were not prepared for the flood in the middle of the night and have lost all of their meagre household belongings and businesses have lost all of their stock.
No one has insurance unfortunately...
One Vietnamese newspaper reported that Vietnam is experiencing record storms and weather conditions. Read more here
http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/15133/vietnam-has-new-record-of-storms-depressions The Vietnamese are extraordinary people as they face these regular adversities with resilience and good humour and never a hint of complaint or anger! unlike the many tourists who were quick to have a winge and complain that they were inconvenienced and it was wet!
I couldn't help myself and quickly reminded them that " this IS the rainy season!" and maybe spare a thought for those who have just lost everything during the night. I also looked at all of the Vietnamese boat people who worked tirelessly all day evacuating all of the tourists from their hotels in non motorized boats. I am sure at the end of the day every bone in their bodies would have been aching from paddling heavy wooden boats and hundreds
of tourists all day.
Many of you have visited Hoi An or are friends that live here and are currently not in Vietnam. I have named the photos by their street names so as you can see the flood levels. Mind you the photos are not of the flood at its peak but will never the less give you a good idea of what we had to deal with.
Is there a glimmer of light in all of this? Phuong, my daughter in law and I opened our LSF Workshop yesterday during the flood and we were literally run off our feet. We sold a record amount of our makers products. As many of the shops in the old town were closed and or under water it drove people up to our end of town, many seeking a reprieve from the rain came into our shop and they were pleasantly surprised and happily spent some time shopping.
Most of our makers were unable to get to work because of the floods but they will be so happy when they do come in this week and hear that we were able to sell a lot of their products
THE JAPANESE BRIDGE
and surrounding houses and businesses. amidst all of the chaos of the floods.
Tourism has fallen in Hoi An, and our workshop along with many businesses would love to see a return to much busier trading days.
We are trying everything possible to improve sales but it's tough! really tough!
In our case this directly impacts our makers and as a result they earn less money each week if their sales are down and business is slow. If you want to help our makers in a really positive way please think about supporting them via our online Etsy store. It's an ideal time to make your Christmas/Holiday gift purchases with "meaning".
We have established quite a few new avenues this year for you to support Lifestart Foundations ongoing free projects.
Please take the time to see how you can help us via
- our online store
ETSY - our online
Gift Certificates -
Good Will Wines - Join our
Monthly Members Club -
Work place Giving - or by simply making adonation which can be made via Paypal, by visiting the
Donate page on the Lifestart Foundation website.
A big thank you to Larissa and Alana for their photographs for this blog.
Lots of Love from Karen. www.lifestartfoundation.org.au
Enjoying the blogs?? Forward them on or subscribe those who you think would be interested in Lifestart Foundations work.......its free! Visit us at:
LIFESTART FOUNDATION WORKSHOP 77 Phan Chau Trinh Street, HOI AN. VIETNAM
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You can read other blogs about past storms and floods in Hoi An by clicking the links below:
Super Typhoon Haiyan Update - Central Vietnam Waiting for Super Typhoon Haiyan to Arrive in Hoi An Tropical Storm Ketsana - A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Devastating Floods hit Central Vietnam
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Emma Mulcahy
Emma Mulcahy
Hi! I have been in Hoi an only a couple of days and seem to be coming across your blog all the time. My mum emailed me from England to say there were floods in Hoi An. Myself anf my boyfriend were hoping to go there in a week but I am not sure if this would still be possible? Wouldit be ok if i followed your blog? You seem to have the latest happenings! I hope things are well for you and the people you work with. Best regards, Emma