I find unexpectedly that I have become fond of the students in my classes during the month I have taught them. One class takes a long time deciding what Vietnamese song they should sing me to say goodbye. Another has hand knitted me a grey scarf to protect me against the cold foggy English winters.
We spend the last weekend in Hanoi Old town. Our huge £10 a night hotel room in backpacker land is immaculate with marble floors, internet access, desk and balconies on two sides overlooking terracotta tiled roves to the cathedral. Below us chickens roam and families cook and sell their wares. Two lecturers accompany us to the theatre to see a traditional water puppet and music show – Part 1 -Four dragons dancing on the surface of water, Part 2- Harvest festival, Part 3- Returning to the native land after college graduation and expressing gratitude to the ancestors (marvellous.)
‘Hi Colin.’
This is not the first time we have caught sight of my brother through a café window in the Old Town. It is starting to feel a bit like South Oxford.
‘Deidre.. Peter.. hi, how are you..meet another Peter.’
I have not seen this person before.
Colin is an enthusiastic mood. ‘I just bumped into him.. I know him from Australia. Quite a coincidence.’
Small talk, then interest.. Peter, who is in his mid fifties, has just re-mortgaged his home to work with Street children in Vietnam and Cambodia.
‘May I be very direct and rather nosy, and ask you what it was that led you to do that?’
‘ I was very ill. I could not walk or speak for sometime. I reviewed my life. When I got better I did it because I couldn’t not do it. That’s why I did it.’
‘Sometimes, with all that need you must feel that your efforts are futile.’
‘Yes I do. That is exactly what I am feeling this morning.
‘In this country if you don’t have a degree in hospitality or tourism or run a shop, you have very little. You might be able to survive on the streets. You can get a development grant for some things here, but if you try and work with disabled children it comes under welfare and there are no development grants for that. In Afghanistan I’m working directly with the Education Department. It has made a difference. They are now interested in making the children more active learners rather than just rote learners. I was able to be effective. Generally I do small scale projects, and if they get taken on, that’s good. If you work with the big organizations 70% gets taken up by administration. I won’t work like that. But I’m not very good at raising money. People are always interested in what I do, but not giving away their money.’ (he has a website www.umad.com)