While I have become more accustomed to being stared at in the street and people of all ages shouting "hello" just because I am foreign, I don't think I will every be comfortable being a guest of honour. I have had the opportunity to be a guest of honour on many occasions but yesterday I had an experience that I found both troubling and humbling.
As part of my work here I am working to start a small scale project (though it keeps growing and appears to be rather complex) to have university students volunteering regularly at a local orphanage. This project has obvious two-fold benefits. The orphans have a chance to interact with and learn from students outside of the orphanage as well as learn some new skills such as sports or arts and the TVU (Tra Vinh University) students will be able to build skills like leadership and self-confidence. Part of this project has been to visit orphanages and yesterday a pre-school. I visited the pre-school with my supervisor and around 8 TVU students. This is a pre-school that is run by a volunteer teacher for around 40 children whose parents cannot send them to a government pre-school - fees at this school are 30,000 VND ($1.50) a week which includes daily lunch. This sounds very cheap but is a lot for these parents. However, it also means that the school does not have much money to work with.
As I arrived I had 42 small pairs of eyes trained directly on me. This continued as I handed out paper, crayons and pastels and explained they could colour a picture. As the children slowly started to draw more and stare at me less one of the more bold TVU students approached me and introduced himself. After chatting for a bit I asked him "What made you come out to this school today?" and he replied very honestly "to see you". This was not the answer I expected, I had been thinking something along the lines of "to see how I could make a difference for these kids" or simply "to see a school in a particularly needy area". Not to see me. Me? Really? Not knowing how to respond I think I laughed awkwardly.
As the children finished drawing and we handed out some cakes and I asked a lot of questions I thought our visit was coming to an end and we would be leaving soon. Not the case. My supervisor said to me "they have prepared a meal and want us to stay to eat". Having just discussed that many of the children were small probably due to malnourishment and also that I had a celebratory dinner to attend in two hours, what I really wanted was to have them serve the children this food tomorrow for an extra hearty noon meal. After what seemed like a life time of awkward back and forth and waiting around it became apparent that we were not going to be able to leave until we - I - ate. Stuck between a cultural rock and a hard place I gave in and ate - and drank an unpleasant amount of rice wine. Rice wine, and drinking traditions, deserve their own post but basically someone forces you to share a shot of what might as well be rubbing alcohol. And then someone else. And then someone else. And then the first person again. Finally once we had finished we said our good byes and thank yous and went on our way.
As we drove back, I guess I was particularly quiet (not my usual barrage of "what is that" "what are they doing" etc) because my supervisor asked if I was ok. I replied yes I was just thinking about how so many people who don't have much money are so generous while so many people with a lot of money don't want to give anything.
While I think my "rock star" status is troubling because I think that putting foreigners up on pedestals and expecting them to know all the answers and solve all the problems is a very problematic mindset for development, it can be very humbling when someone without a lot of money yet clearly such a big heart offers the simplest signs of human generosity - a meal.
As part of my work here I am working to start a small scale project (though it keeps growing and appears to be rather complex) to have university students volunteering regularly at a local orphanage. This project has obvious two-fold benefits. The orphans have a chance to interact with and learn from students outside of the orphanage as well as learn some new skills such as sports or arts and the TVU (Tra Vinh University) students will be able to build skills like leadership and self-confidence. Part of this project has been to visit orphanages and yesterday a pre-school. I visited the pre-school with my supervisor and around 8 TVU students. This is a pre-school that is run by a volunteer teacher for around 40 children whose parents cannot send them to a government pre-school - fees at this school are 30,000 VND ($1.50) a week which includes daily lunch. This sounds very cheap but is a lot for these parents. However, it also means that the school does not have much money to work with.
As I arrived I had 42 small pairs of eyes trained directly on me. This continued as I handed out paper, crayons and pastels and explained they could colour a picture. As the children slowly started to draw more and stare at me less one of the more bold TVU students approached me and introduced himself. After chatting for a bit I asked him "What made you come out to this school today?" and he replied very honestly "to see you". This was not the answer I expected, I had been thinking something along the lines of "to see how I could make a difference for these kids" or simply "to see a school in a particularly needy area". Not to see me. Me? Really? Not knowing how to respond I think I laughed awkwardly.
As the children finished drawing and we handed out some cakes and I asked a lot of questions I thought our visit was coming to an end and we would be leaving soon. Not the case. My supervisor said to me "they have prepared a meal and want us to stay to eat". Having just discussed that many of the children were small probably due to malnourishment and also that I had a celebratory dinner to attend in two hours, what I really wanted was to have them serve the children this food tomorrow for an extra hearty noon meal. After what seemed like a life time of awkward back and forth and waiting around it became apparent that we were not going to be able to leave until we - I - ate. Stuck between a cultural rock and a hard place I gave in and ate - and drank an unpleasant amount of rice wine. Rice wine, and drinking traditions, deserve their own post but basically someone forces you to share a shot of what might as well be rubbing alcohol. And then someone else. And then someone else. And then the first person again. Finally once we had finished we said our good byes and thank yous and went on our way.
As we drove back, I guess I was particularly quiet (not my usual barrage of "what is that" "what are they doing" etc) because my supervisor asked if I was ok. I replied yes I was just thinking about how so many people who don't have much money are so generous while so many people with a lot of money don't want to give anything.
While I think my "rock star" status is troubling because I think that putting foreigners up on pedestals and expecting them to know all the answers and solve all the problems is a very problematic mindset for development, it can be very humbling when someone without a lot of money yet clearly such a big heart offers the simplest signs of human generosity - a meal.
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