Doing time with Bloom Microfinance

My two-and-a-bit weeks in and around Hanoi have been incredible. Bloom Microfinance are doing great work giving rural communities access to investment capital and training programs. They’re also giving tourists a glimpse of the everyday life of Vietnamese villagers.

Here are a few things I’ve learnt on this program with Bloom:

Good land is in short supply in Vietnam. With a population density of nearly 300 people per square kilometre (in comparison Australia has around 3) that’s not surprising. This puts huge pressure on farming families, who need to grow enough rice to feed themselves, plus some extra crops to sell for cash.

For a communist country, Vietnam seems to love capitalism. I’d read lots before I came about the business boom that’s been happening in this country over the past decade – and it’s obvious in nearly every part of Vietnam. Everywhere you go there are ads for goods (foreign and local) and lots of new development. The good news is that the standard of living seems to be increasing for most Vietnamese people. The bad news is that the gap between the rich and poor is getting wider all the time.

Harvesting cassava is really hard work! In fact, all farming in Vietnam still uses a lot of manual labour. Workers here are just as likely to be women as men. And people work well into their 60s and 70s. I really admire the strength and stamina of the farmers we’ve met.

The only thing stopping NGOs from helping more is revenue. Raising funds is tough and time consuming. Most NGOs rely on foreign donors, who can influence how funds are spent. This can limit the options open to NGOs.

Traffic in Vietnam is crazy. From the incessant beeping to the motorcycles taking shortcuts through parks to the cars driving down the wrong side of the road, the streets of Vietnam are no place for the fainthearted. One of our Vietnamese guides told us that we were the bravest group they’d come across. We definitely embraced the gung-ho ‘just walk slowly into the on-coming traffic’ attitude very early 

on!

Young people in Vietnam are working hard to learn English. I was stopped on the street by three different sets of strangers wanting to practice their English on me. From tourism students in their mid-twenties to girls in their early years of high school, each of them wanted to improve their skills as they knew it was the best way to improve their career opportunities.

NGO fieldwork requires patience and empathy. Working with a community requires trust and that only comes with time and consultation. While that might make change frustratingly slow, it’s the only way to make it long-lasting. Communities need to be responsible for their own decisions, even if they’re making the “wrong” ones. All outsiders can do is offer their knowledge (when asked) and assist with resourcing programs that are truly desired by the community.

Day #10 - Bat Trang ceramic village and Hagar Intenational

Today we spent the day at Bat Trang, then had an evening session with a guest speaker from the NGO  Hagar International.

Vietnam has many traditional trade villages, where traditional work practices have been maintained for generations by family groups. Each of these villages specialises in a particular type of practice.

Bat Trang is a  pottery-making village just outside of Hanoi on the bank of the Hong River. Our group travelled there on a local bus and our first stop was one of the local houses where guests are invited to try their hand at the pottery wheel. 

Turns out that it's much harder than it looks! But with some help from the expert potters who ran the shop we all managed to make something decent, which was left to dry while we explored the markets. 

The array of ceramic items on display ther was mind blowing. From small beads to thread onto necklaces, to vases bigger than us, you kind everything you could imagine and more. 

I was particularly drawn to the weird and wonderful mythical figures and historical heroes. 

In the afternoon we returned to the workshop to paint and glaze our creations. I was pretty happy with my first attempt at bowl making!

When we got back to Hanoi we got to meet up with one of the staff from Hagar International, an international NGO that works with women and girls who have been victims of human trafficking and domestic violence. They work in Cambodia, Afghanistan and Vietnam. In Vietnam they work closely with the Women's Union, a state organisation. 

It's believed that over 400,000 Vietnamese women and children have been trafficked. Hagar gives women safe accommodation, helps them recover from the trauma of their experiences, and helps them reintegrate into their communities. They also offer educational assistance and help them achieve economic independence. 

While we heard some very sad stories, it was also very inspiring I hear what they achieve on limited resources. It's obvious that lack of funding is the biggest problem for many NGOs working in Vietnam.