Visiting projects in Vietnam

In September 2009, two volunteers visited Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA projects in Vietnam

Bronte and Erica McQuade at the Club House office

This account is by one of them - Bronte McQuade

My wife, Erica, and I have visited Vietnam many times in the last ten years as part of our search to find my soul, which was left there, while deployed in Vietnam during the American War.

We heard of Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA and joined the team, as their goals seemed to marry with our own goals to help the peoples of Vietnam to overcome their problems and help alleviate poverty in any way we could.

On the 16/09/09 we were privileged to visit several projects that Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA supports in Hai Duong Province ( 70kmsfrom Hanoi). We visited the 8th March Centre, named after the date it was formed, and were amazed at the success this group of dedicated members of the Vietnam Women's Union has achieved during their short existence, albeit with assistance from NGOs.

In the company of Ha, a wonderful, friendly member of the Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA staff in Hanoi, we drove to Hai Duong and were greeted by Madame Binh the director of the centre, Mr Thuy the vice-director and Mr Tung, staff and project officer who welcomed us and showed us a video of the history and accomplishments of the 8th March Centre.
We learned that it was a movement that emerged as a splinter of the Vietnam Women's Union and was formed to empower women and to help people out of the terrible poverty that had become endemic in the province. These women realized that they lived in a patriarchal society after the American War ended and were determined to make some changes, including empowerment of women in the governance of their villages, provinces, and country.

The tasks of this mostly volunteer committee includes

• Counseling

• Supply of information on the labor market

• Vocational training courses in many trades and employment opportunities including technology

• Implementing non government programs

• Train and employ physically and mentally challenged people

• Liaise with employers to fill vacant positions

• Help rehabilitate returning trafficked women

• Assist people with aids, and educate about the disease through Terri Daktyl Friendship Clubhouse

• Raise local women's attention to local problems.

• Empowering women (training women in presentation, communication, both spoken and written, planning etc) enabling them to participate in governing their districts

The visit to the Terri Daktyl Friendship Clubhouse was most satisfying as we had been involved in the fundraising to complete the project. We met the local policeman who told us the project had changed perceptions in the community and people with the AIDS disease were no longer ostracized by their peers. In fact he explained that the project had been copied by others and had been a big influence in new perceptions throughout the whole community, not just those inflicted with, or families who lived with the disease.
Another of the projects we were able to visit was a house that was being constructed for a woman who had been trafficked to China. Luckily, she escaped with her child, but had returned home destitute and with no birth certificate for her child - a piece of paper quite necessary in Vietnam for identification.

Through determined lobbying the women at the Clubhouse were able to obtain a birth certificate for the child and also assist the returning woman with lodgings. The house was not quite complete when we visited but it only had the roof to go.

Family and friends of the women were so warm and inviting and we shared a green tea and some ever so scrumptious dehydrated logons. Sometimes it is quite humbling in the presence of others and this was definitely one of those days.

When the time came to head back to Hanoi we had only just "brushed past" a few of the worthy projects that APHEDA is involved with and wished we had more time in Hai Duong.

Erica and I would like to thank those involved in organizing our visit to these worthwhile projects to see for ourselves some of the great work Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA is doing in helping with the struggle against poverty and under-employment in Vietnam.

I can only implore members to continue to donate and support the fantastic work that Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA does in conjunction with locals to raise the living standards of those less fortunate than ourselves

Thank you Deb and the Hanoi Office for the opportunity

Bronte and Erica McQuade

© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.

Last Modified: Tuesday, 12-Jan-2010 14:19:18 EST
This page: http://apheda.org.au/projects/vietnam/news/1262924675_16091.html