First Day at the Friendship Village

21 December 2010

Walking to our classroom on our first day volunteering at the Friendship Village yesterday, Jean and I came upon a sturdy little girl who greeted me with a right jab to the stomach. I appreciated the irony.
The Friendship Village is an educational and medical facility located in the outer urban sprawl of Hanoi, Vietnam. It came into being and has been operating for over a decade largely through the cooperation of Vietnamese and international veterans groups. George Mizo, an American Vietnam War veteran, took a major part in founding the facility with the aim of repairing the rift between Americans and Vietnamese created by the conflict between the two countries that spanned over the 1960s and 70s.

The Friendship Village's target groups are children affected by exposure to the still present toxins found in herbicides (e.g. Agent Orange) used during the war and poorer Vietnamese veterans. The children suffer from a wide range and varying degrees of physical and mental disabilities. Lacking adequate government support networks the veterans are often malnourished and have long standing medical issues stemming from actions during their military service.

After securing my Chinese visa early Friday afternoon, Jean and I took a taxi to Friendship village on the outskirts of the city. We were met by Ms. Han, the facility's translator. She gave us a tour of the grounds. It's a huge complex. There are about 120 students and 30 to 40 volunteers. The students usually attend for two to three years before returning to their families. They live on campus and attend special education and occupational classes. The veterans stay for a month or two. Over that span they are given medical care and ample nourishment often putting on much weight.


As volunteers, Jean and I are provided with pretty ample nourishment ourselves. At 7:00, 10:30 and 4:30 we are served huge proportions of rice, noodles, greens, tofu, eggs and fruit. The fare is pretty simple but there's lots of it.

There are no Saturday and Sunday classes so Jean and I spent much of our weekend huddled underneath blankets in our room wondering how we suddenly got into fall and what happened to our summer. Jean ventured out one afternoon and procured a jumper. I decided that I would bide my time.

Yesterday morning, after my pugilistic greeting, Jean and I strolled into Special Education Classroom 2 at 8am where 10 students in the 10 to 14 age range sat dutifully at their desks. The classroom was well stocked with games and toys. As the teacher wasn't there yet so we launched into some "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and then went to work on some puzzles. The teacher arrived and did some speaking exercises. Then it was back to the puzzles and games. I assisted one little boy who seemed quite intent on sharpening a plethora of map pencils.


Class broke up a little after ten. Jean and I stopped by our room to wash up before heading to cafeteria for lunch. Rice, morning glory, cabbage, cold springy fried tofu, boiled eggs and oranges. It bore a striking resemblance to the past few lunches and dinners we'd had.

At two we were back at the classroom block, this time in flower class. Embroidery and tailoring are also taught at the Friendship Village. Ms. Han thought it best we help out in the flower class. For two hours we made flower stamens. The process consisted up taking five short pieces of stiff thread and securing them together we a piece of twisted wire.

At the other tables students were making stems, leaves and petals. I found the work a little tedious but I've heard mentally disabled people often enjoy repetitive tasks. Some of the higher level students were assembling the components into bouquets and arrangements. The end results were quite amazing.

At half past four the classes were over and we broke for dinner. Close on the first day at the Friendship Village.