Visit to the Central Highlands, Vietnam

For the past 8 years I’ve been doing development work in various parts of Vietnam in the form of small-scale infrastructure projects – irrigation, drinking water, schools, roads, bridges – to assist communities which have not benefited from the government’s relatively successful poverty-reduction programs. I do this through an organization I set up called the Foundation for Microprojects in Vietnam (http://www.microprojects-vietnam.org/).

The main highway through the Central Highlands follows the old Ho Chi Minh Trail - the Viet Cong's secret supply route linking the north and south. At the time, It was mostly a network of footpaths under the protective canopy of the jungle. The US repeatedly bombed the trail in a vain attempt to shut it down. They also dumped huge quantities of defoliants, such as Agent Orange, in a vain attempt to expose the trail.

The Central Highlands of Vietnam are home to over 300,000 persons belonging various ethnic minorities that are descended from Malayo-Polynesians and Khmer. These are the aboriginal Indochinese people. They are commonly known as montagnards - a term coined by the French meaning mountain people. Christianity was introduced to the area by French missionaries in the 19th century and retains a strong influence.

One of the consequences of the Vietnam wars was the decimation and destruction it brought to the montagnards of the Central Highlands. Many of the montagnards were recruited by and fought with French and the US forces. By the war's end most of their villages were either in ruins or abandoned. This and the practice of Christianity has not always endeared them to the local authorities. Few foreigners or NGOs work in the area.

Wide-spread environmental damage was carried out through the use of chemical defoliants but this is scarcely visible to the naked eye. Aside from memorials to the fallen, and the occasional display of a captured tank, the natural growth of the tropical landscape has obliterated the most obvious signs of the many years of warfare. However, the slash and burn methods of farming practiced by many of these groups has caused considerable damage of its own to forestry and the natural environment.

From 6-15 October 2009 I traveled to the Central Highlands with officials from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (Molisa)to evaluate possible projects for assistance. We visited 9 remote villages in Gia Lai and Kontum Provinces. Each of the villages was mostly inhabited by ethnic minorities. This is an account of our journey.

7 October

We flew to Pleiku from Hanoi via Ho Chi Minh City and Danang. I was accompanied by Mr. Toan, a Molisa project assistant and Mr. Duc, an interpreter. We flew in a French-built ATR-72 taking a circuitous route to avoid ominous-looking storm clouds gathering along the chain of mountains. Mr. Thach, Director of the Department of Labour, met us at the airport and took us to what was probably the best hotel in town. My room over-looked the market-place. At 4 am it was already teaming with activity.

That afternoon we met with about five other provincial officials to work out our schedule for the coming days. It was agreed that we would start off the next morning at 6 am. That evening we had the first of a series of semi-official dinners consisting mainly of beer but also a variety of local dishes.

8 October

After a breakfast of rice porridge and noodle soup we set out at exactly 6 am. Not a minute earlier or later. We made for the commune of Ia Krieng one of 9 communes in Duc Co District. After a 2-hour drive, we approached the village on a dirt road about 10 km from the Cambodian border.

The inhabitants of Ia Krieng were scattered in small villages amidst rubber plantations and small plots of cashew nuts. The inhabitants were ethnic Jarai of Malayo-Polynesian lineage. Though the majority are animists, missionaries over the years brought Christianity to the region resulting in many Jarai becoming Christians.

We went to one village of about 150 persons called Kron. This village had the peculiarity of being inhabited almost exclusively by victims of leprosy. The head of the commune said that efforts had been made to integrate them with the rest of the population but that the population at large did not want go near them.

Children and dogs were playing in front of small wooden shacks apparently oblivious to the plight of the adult population. We went to the house of one man in his thirties who dragged himself to the porch with what remained of his legs and arms. He smoked a cigarette and greeted us. An elderly lady was fanning herself against the tropical heat. She was bare-breasted and was blind. Various prostheses were in evidence donated by local charities.

The village did not have electricity. We discussed the idea of bringing electricity to the village by installing a medium-tension electrical line about 3 km in length and setting up a transformer.

This could be done in a relatively short period of time. While not solving all their problems, it could make life a little more comfortable for the inhabitants. We agreed to consider this proposal.

9 October

The next day we returned to the commune of Ia Krieng and drove 30 km along a narrow dirt road through dense vegetation to a small wooden bridge. We had been asked by the chairman to come and have a look.

The bridge consisted mainly of bamboo sticks held together by planks of wood. The bridge, which spanned the H’re stream, was insignificant-looking but it played a crucial role in connecting 4 villages with each other.

As we stood by the bridge in the mid-day sun discussing how we could improve the situation, dozens of school children returning home from class teetered across the bridge, some on foot, others on bicycles and even the occasional motorbike.

Water in the stream was not high but then this was the end of the rainy season. The head of one of the nearby villages explained that just one month previously, the baby of a young mother fell of the back of her bicycle as she was riding across the bridge. This had been a considerable shock to the local community.

The proposed project consists of building a 5-meter concrete bridge with a capacity of 13-tons and upgrading the access roads. This would considerably improve communication between the 4 villages, allow market access for products and provide a safer way for students to cross the stream, particularly during the rainy season. We agreed to consider this.

We returned to Pleiku for dinner and some well-earned local beer.

10 October

We again set off at 6 am for the small commune of Dak So Mei in the District of Dak Doa about an hour’s drive to the north of Pleiku. The village chairman was waiting for us. He took us to a briefing-room dominated by a bust of Ho Chi Minh. We discussed the situation in the village. The population of about 4,000 persons was of Bana origin whose roots are predominantly Khmer. About half the population lived below the poverty line.

The Chairman appeared unsure of what to say. He thought a new school would be useful but admitted it would not materially improve the village’s economy.
Increasing agricultural production was key but that was difficult as there was either too much water during the rainy season or, during the dry season, no water at all. The main crops were rice, mango and a small amount of tapioca.

The Chairman took us to a rice field. It was bone dry (this was the end of the rainy season). We walked about 2 km along the field. He said an irrigation canal would allow 2 harvests of rice per year instead of one. This would increase per capita income for those who worked on the rice field. We agreed to consider this as a project but we needed more details.

On the way back to Pleiku, we stopped off at Ia Dok Commune in the village of Poong. We were led to an irrigation dam 82 m wide and 4.8m high. It had been built by the government in 1995 to irrigate a coffee plantation and rice fields. The dam had sprung leaks and the irrigation canals had deteriorated.

We expressed little interest in this project. We explained that the repair and maintenance of a government-built dam were really the responsibility of the local authorities and the people using the dam.

That evening we had dinner with the provincial Director of the Department of Labour and the Director of Planning and Investment for Gia Lai Province. We summarized our impressions and they agreed with our findings. They added that there were very few foreign organizations working in the province so they looked forward to our return.

That concluded our visit to Gia Lai Province.

11 October

The next morning we drove to Kontum. The road was good as it had become part of a new highway which followed the old Ho Chi Minh trail. The town of Kontum was considerably less developed than Pleiku but retained some French influence in the form of an impressive wooden church and the former bishop’s palace which was now a museum. We stayed at a modest government guesthouse where we were greeted by Kontum’s Director of Labour and Social Affairs, Mr. Thinh.

That afternoon we had a chance to visit the town, tasted the local coffee which had the general texture of mud and visited an ethnic minority museum.

The most northerly of the three towns on the Highland plateaux, the provincial capital of Kon Tum is located on the banks of the Dakbla River about 900km from Ho Chi Minh City and around 200km from Qui Nhon. It’s a pleasant, unassuming sort of place. There are well over 600 ethnic minority villages and hamlets in the province, mostly Ba Na, Xo Dang, Gie Trieng and Gia Rai. A sizeable proportion of the population has converted to Catholicism.

That afternoon we had a meeting with the Vice-Chairman of Kontum Province. She was a strikingly beautiful woman in her thirties by the name of Ms. Nhung. She sat across an imposing table in a large meeting room with a dozen other officials looking on. She put on her glasses to look at her notes then said how pleased she was to see us, outlined her priorities for the province (education), then asked whether we could join her for dinner. There was no doubt who was in charge.

That evening at 5 pm we joined Ms Nhung for dinner at a local restaurant. To my surprise she was accompanied by about 5 other women all in their late thirties or more. One of the women was Deputy Director of the State Bank of Kontum. Ms. Nhung explained that the next day was her birthday and that she had brought along a few friends to celebrate.

At this point, Ms Nhung turned into another Ms Nhung. Off came the glasses and out came several bottles of ginseng wine which was used for endless toasts around the table. Ms Nhung was clearly used to having her way and kept giving orders for everyone to drink up. She then asked for the music to be turned on.

The dinner rapidly deteriorated into general disarray. The women got up and started dancing with each other. The officials sat clutching their chairs, their faces flushed with ginseng. My head started to spin at worrisome speed. Ms Nhung continued her rounds, toasting those who could still stand.

At precisely 7.30 pm, Ms. Nhung announced that, indeed, it was 7.30 pm and added that ‘unfortunately’ she had another appointment. She wished everyone well, put on her glasses and disappeared into the night.

12 October

We left at the usual hour and headed for the Dien Binh Commune 50 km north of Kontum in the district of Dak To. We were taken to Ta Kang village, a community of some 470 persons. As this was in a low-lying area, the inhabitants were mainly ethnic Vietnamese or Kinh. The production of rice and tapioca were the main activities.

We were taken to a 24 hectare rice field. There was a reservoir and 3 fish ponds but no irrigation canals to efficiently spread the water around. A group of farmers were having lunch near one of the fish ponds. We went up to talk to them and explained why we were there.

The proposal was to build a 2,000m irrigation canal. When we mentioned this idea to the farmers, they got up and applauded. One said they had waited 15 years for that. Another said that they would supervise the quality of work themselves. They appeared genuinely satisfied. We said we would return once the canal was completed.

In the afternoon, we visited Tan Canh Commune and were taken to Dak Ri Dop village, a village of 330 persons. This was a precarious journey. The only access to the village was by motorbike over a primitive suspension bridge approximately one meter wide. Our knees scraped the sides of the bridge as we went by. The floor of the bridge consisted of wooden planks loosely placed several inches apart. If you looked down, you could see a raging torrent 50 meters under the bridge.

The village was inhabited by ethnic Gia Rai. Many of the houses were elevated off the ground. There were lots of children and dogs playing in the afternoon sun while adults sat under the trees. No one seemed to be working very hard.

The village head said that the village had 36 wells but all of them were dry during the dry season. Each family had to carry water from a stream 3 km away. We looked down one of the wells and, as far as we could see, there was no water at all.

The proposed project consisted of building a 50m3 concrete tank near the stream, 3,000m of distribution pipes and small 1 cubic meter concrete tanks for every 3-4 families. No pumping system would be required since the stream was uphill from the village.

We agreed to consider this project, talked to several families then made our cautious way back over the suspension bridge towards the town of Kontum.

This was the longest day of the trip. We set out early in the morning to the mountainous district of Konplong which straddles the Tay Nguyen mountain range. The road was good but consisted of an endless succession of twists and turns. Several in our delegation were car sick. This was considered one of the more backward districts in the province.

Once we reached a certain elevation, the temperature cooled down and there was even an appearance of fur trees. The surroundings were much like Dalat. On a previous visit, these same surroundings were shrouded in mist. Dampness hangs over the area 9 months of the year.

The district capital of Konplong was astonishing. The entire town was newly built out of the forest. New roads, government buildings, office buildings, even a tourist centre. Poverty reduction, it seems, means vast infrastructure projects.

The district chairman took us to Mang Canh Commune, a community of 9 mountainous villages totaling 1,755 persons. The population was of Mo Nam, Xe Dan, Hre and Kodong origin. The houses were elevated and made of wood with straw roofing. There were no schools but classes were held in private houses while the owners were at work in the fields. I climbed a ladder and looked inside one of the houses but the students had already gone home.

The head of the commune explained that most of the children have to walk several kilometers to attend class. This was particularly tedious during the long rainy season when it is cold and the roads are slippery with mud. We agreed to consider the construction of 3 two-classroom schools to be located in 3 of the villages.

We then moved on to Hieu Commune located in the same district about 20 km away. Here the problem was similar: children having to walk long distances from surrounding villages, often in a cold mist, to attend school. Hieu, however, already had a secondary school and a primary school. What they didn’t have was a place to stay. Students walked back and forth to school from a distance of up to 10 km. This resulted in a very high drop-out rate.

After much discussion, we agreed to the idea of building an 8-room dormitory complete with kitchen, on the grounds of the existing primary school.

This completed our visit to Kontum province. We arrived back at our guest house at 8 pm. The next morning we drove back to Pleiku in time for the 8 am flight to Danang and the onward connection to Hanoi. In all 7 projects had been selected. They will be carried out in 2009-10.