Last week MAG (Mines Advisory Group) hosted the mid-year INGO meeting for Quang Binh Province.  I was able to attend as a representative of LSN-V.  As the meeting host, MAG invited the other attendees to view a UXO detonation at their demolition site outside of Dong Hoi City.  Although LSN-V focuses on aiding UXO/landmine survivors and does not do clearance, MAG’s work is closely tied to LSN-V’s objectives.  I shot the following video at the demolition.  Please check it out!

Last Saturday, after twenty two hours on the Reunification Express, I finally arrived in Dong Hoi.  I can’t believe it was over a week ago-the days since then have flown by, filled with getting to know everyone at LSN-V, getting to know the city and refining the goals of the work I will be doing here.  Everyone at LSN-V is extremely welcoming and I already feel like I’m a part of their team.

Dong Hoi feels like a small beach town compared to HCMC, though the motorbike is ubiquitous here as well.  Today I toured around the city with my new office mates, Kim Hoa and Giang and came to realize that riding on the back of a motorbike really is the best way to see the city!  I also got to try some traditional Vietnamese dishes: the first, a sweet bean soup served chilled in a coconut milk base is a common snack in Dong Hoi.   Later we stopped for another local specialty-rice pancakes, also served cold, topped with shrimp powder and spicy sauce.  Both were delicious and I am happy to find more vegetarian food since many of the traditional dishes are made with meat.

I am looking forward to another busy week at work.  On Tuesday I will be attending workshops for two of the new communes (villages) in Quang Binh province.  LSN-V is expanding into new communities and I look forward to getting out of the city and meeting with the people who are most affected by LSN-V’s work.

I have also been trying my hand at some video editing since video profiling is a part of my work here.  I shot the video below on the **VERY BUMPY** train from HCMC to Dong Hoi.  Despite its many flaws, I have decided to include it here since it offers a glimpse of Vietnam’s beautiful countryside.

I read about the overwhelming abundance of motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City prior to coming to Vietnam, but no amount of reading prepares one for trying to cross the street with a stream of honking traffic flying straight at you.  The general rule of thumb is to walk at a steady pace and let drivers maneuver around you-easier said than done.  It is hard to quell my impulse to stop abruptly when I see a moving vehicle heading rapidly in my direction.  Nonetheless, in the not-quite 48 hours I’ve spent here I am beginning to get used to the bustle of Vietnam’s largest city.  Since arriving I’ve been acclimating to the time difference and the heat while taking care of some logistical tasks such as registering with the consulate.  It has been an interesting, albeit confusing, few days.  Communication is difficult-part of me definitely feels like the silly American speaking to people in English and expecting a response-but I have found other ways to communicate and I am attempting to learn some Vietnamese phrases.  That said, I am looking forward to heading up to Dong Hoi to begin work at the LSN-V office.  Compared to HCMC, Dong Hoi promises to be quite tranquil.

Walking around HCMC I have begun to see the stark contrast between the old and new, rich and poor.  With a booming economy, Vietnam has been very successful at reducing poverty.  In 1975 roughly 80% of the population was living in poverty; recent estimates put the current poverty level at under 20%–quite an impressive transformation in a relatively short amount of time.  This morning I walked over to the Ben Thanh Market, one of the largest indoor markets in the city.  As soon as I entered the market I was hit with sensory overload-the bright fruit stalls and the numerous vendors selling Pho offered much to see, hear and smell.  Yet on the periphery of the market, the lingering poverty was apparent.  At this point I am still in processing mode-taking in all that is going on around me now that I’m finally here.

Soon I will leave HCMC’s busy streets and head up to Dong Hoi via the Reunification Express, a train line that runs the length of the country.  It is a long ride to Dong Hoi-some 20+ hours-and although there are relatively inexpensive flights that would get me within driving distance, I thought the train would be a great way to take in some of the country I might not otherwise have the chance to see.  I will certainly be taking some pictures and posting them here, so check back soon!

Vietnam has a unique place in the American psyche.  A few days ago I took some friends who were visiting for Memorial Day weekend on the standard D.C. tour of the National Mall.  The tour unsurprisingly included a walk through the Vietnam War Memorial-one of the monuments they explicitly wanted to see.  Given that it was a holiday weekend, there were throngs of people there, including a large contingent of US Veterans.  As we walked toward the Memorial there were a few Vietnam Vets shaking people’s hands-one of which was an amputee.  I wanted to ask him how he had been injured and tell him about my upcoming trip to Vietnam where I’ll be working with Survivor Corp’s local partner, Landmine Survivor Network-but feeling the pressure of those behind me in line and my own fears of offending him I just shook his hand and filed past.  As we continued our walk through the crowded Memorial, I began to think about how Americans view Vietnam and the legacy of war.  It seems to me that here in the US, at least for the majority, the war is a part of our history.  Perhaps it is considered a sad chapter of our history, but it is a chapter that ended some time ago.  Though I do not claim to understand how the Vietnamese view the war, it is clear from the work of Landmine Survivor Network that, as a whole, they continue to feel its effects today.

In 1975 there was an estimated 800,000 tons of Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) scattered across Vietnam.  Although the Vietnamese Government has taken strides to remove the UXO (with the support of organizations such as the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation) only 9-12% of the affected areas had been cleared as of 2006.  The remaining ordinance results in numerous casualties every year-one estimate concludes that over 100,000 people have been killed or injured by wartime ordinance since 1975. These harrowing statistics show how the reverberations of war continue long after its “officially” over.

To look for a bright side to all this seems contrived, but I will admit that I am impressed by the large community of survivors-cum-advocates in Vietnam.  Moreover, I am thrilled to be working with a group of these advocates: Landmine Survivor Network (LSN-V) over the next few months.  As I was going through the application process with Advocacy Project here in DC, I was immediately attracted to LSN-V’s grassroots approach and their mission, which combines elements of post-conflict reconstruction, human rights advocacy and community-driven capacity building.  Similarly, LSN-V’s advocacy work, such as its efforts toward ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, shows that their scope is both local and global.

I am not entirely sure how I will fit into LSN-V’s daily workings.  As an AP Fellow I will be profiling the organization, through this blog and other multimedia channels.  I will also be helping LSN-V to prepare for the National Workshop on Victim Assistance and International Cooperation, aiding in the promotion of their three priority campaigns-The Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Mine Ban Treaty, as well as assisting with the restructuring of their overarching advocacy network: the Landmine Working Group.  Whatever they throw at me, I really can’t wait to begin.  I just hope I will be able to contribute to their efforts during the short time I will be in Vietnam.

This time next week I will be in Vietnam.  I have a long journey ahead of me-DC to New York, New York to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh and finally Ho Chi Minh to Dong Hoi.  There are a lot of planes, trains and other assorted modes of transportation in my near future, but I am most excited for the journey that begins once I arrive in Dong Hoi.