Climbing To The Top

Ever have one of those experiences that you wish you could preserve forever in jar or capsule or something of the like? And then when you profoundly missed that experience in the future all you’d have to do is simply open the container to relive the very moments that once took your breath away? Here is my attempt at doing so with words.

Last week was a holiday in Vietnam to honour the Lunar New Year – Tet. 2013 welcomes the year of the snake and to celebrate, Vietnamese families spent the holiday together, eating, drinking, exchanging money, and best of all – not going to work! So four of my friends (Dan, Steph, Heather, and Christian) and I decided to spend the week in Bangkok and Bali; we spent a few days in Bangkok and an eventful 5 days in Bali! Bali... I don’t believe there are many words I can use to describe Bali that will do the place justice. Everything was incredible from the beaches to the sunsets to the views to the people. Last week was also a week of extreme activities! We surfed, climbed Mount Batur (an active Volcano on the island standing at over 1,700 m), white water rafted, parasailed (is that a word?), and snorkeled! Surfing was incredible though I felt something like a rag doll being tossed around by towering waves. But my favourite activity by a landslide was climbing Mount Batur!

We woke up at 130 AM to get ready and left our hotel at 2 in the morning to begin the climb at 3:30 AM. The first part of the climb was exciting to say the least – a little chilly, ashy, and reminded me of a horror movie scene in which a bunch of campers get lost in the forest and start to disappear one by one (yes, I watch too many horror movies...). But as we continued to climb, adrenaline pumping and our anxiousness to get to the top before sunrise serving as a drive, each step became easier despite the upward slope. Once we hit the second rest stop we had passed the morning fog and when I looked up, the dark morning sky was studded...covered...embellished with stars! Never have I seen that many stars in my life! It was wondrous! I almost lost my balance upward a couple of times because I was so distracted by the striking picture of hundreds of white specks against the dark backdrop. I’ll never forget the image for as long as I live.

Occasionally I recall passing areas where hot air was emitted from the earth (signs that the volcano is active); this was pretty cool (and warm ;p). As we got closer to the summit I remember using both my hands and legs to haul my body over the rocks multiple times. But finally at 6:40 AM, feeling mighty and accomplished, we reached the top! Watching the sun peak over the horizon from the top of a Volcano in Bali would definitely go on my list of 5 most memorable life moments. Just imagine it. The experience made me feel like a piece of a great big puzzle in which all the pieces are scattered over cities, countries, continents, planets, and even solar systems that exist; I felt like a small yet significant part of something huge and magnificent we call “the universe.”

Even though we got hardly any sleep the night before the climb, even though I banged my knee pretty badly on a rock, and even though after returning to the hotel I felt like I just came back from battle (as my friend Christian would like to say), I would relive the moments at the top of Mount Batur again and again.

Madiha

We climbed this! 

Yes we did!

Sunrise from the top of Mount Batur - Breathtaking!

Me doing yoga on the beach (Photocred: Stephani Higgs)

Stumbled upon this in Bangkok

I've Caught the Travelling Bug

It is official. I have caught the travelling bug, but I’m not the least bit sad about it. South East Asia and Vietnam in particular have completely stolen my heart and it’s very hard to believe that I’m here for only three more months. Where does the time go? There is so much I have already done but so much more I want to do and as the next three months unfold, I know one thing for sure – I’m going to take every chance I get at a new adventure.

This past weekend I took a trip to Saigon with Vicky and Akua. We fit quite a lot into two and a half days, so I’m pretty impressed! Since we reached rather late on Friday night, we decided to wake up early on Saturday and go around the city. The War Remnants Museum was one the most memorable activities for me and not only because I am a huge fan of history, but as geeky as it sounds I just love learning. On Sunday we piled into a sleeper bus at 8 am and drove to a town 6 hours away from Saigon called Mui Ne. It is largely a resort town with tourists galore, but a definite must see if you’re ever in Vietnam! We rented a jeep (and driver), drove to the fishing village, and toured the sand dunes. A couple of years ago, I could not even imagine that a place like the sand dunes exists in Vietnam; it just goes to show that there are gems all over the world you may not know about. We stayed in Mui Ne till about 1 am, our night consisting of dinner at a local restaurant, talking about the lessons this placement has taught us so far, and even meeting some friendly Russian tourists. It is safe to assume that on the night bus back to Saigon, we completely passed out! The following day, we went to the Ben Than market and spent the afternoon shopping! I liked the market, but it was very overwhelming and salespeople kept hovering and shouting at us to buy things from them – a very stressful experience! I did manage to get a nice bracelet for only $2.50 out of it though :P.

The next stops on my travels are Thailand and Bali; though, I feel like I’m not completely done travelling around Vietnam. This country is truly glorious with countless treasures to offer. 

Some Pictures from the Trip:

Museum of Ho Chi Minh City

Feeding the Elephants at the Botanical Gardens and Zoo!

War Remnants Museum

Mui Ne Fishing Village

Sunset Over the Mui Ne Sand Dunes

This monkey just kept on doing back flips! Pretty Sweet!

Focus Points of 2013

Since the beginning of December I’ve been looking forward to writing an "end of the year" post highlighting some of my biggest moments and best memories of the 2012 and my resolutions for 2013. As the year came to a close, I kept putting this post off because I found it difficult to choose the best memories since I had so many. Even more so, I found it difficult to create a list of resolutions for 2013. The past year has truly been good to me and I believe I've done 5 years of growing (figuratively; physically I’m still small :P) in just 12 months. This year came to a close perfectly as I got to spend it with my loved ones in MALAYSIA! I have to say, seeing my family during the holidays was the most perfect Christmas gift and start to the New Year, especially since it tends to get a little lonely in Vietnam (combating loneliness). I stayed with my cousins in Kuala Lumpur and we did all sorts of things like shopping, visiting the Batu Caves, eating, visiting the Genting Highlands, more shopping, visiting the Putrajaya Mosque (one of the most breathtaking architectural pieces I have ever seen), more shopping and of course more eating.

Instead of creating a list of resolutions for 2013, I want to create areas of focus with specific goals. Even though 2012 has been filled with countless experiences and learning opportunities, I know there is always room for improvement and growth and I have a long ways to go. I thought about and decided on three areas of focus and what goals I will try to achieve in each area.

1) Become more religious: Aside from practicing faith regularly if you’re religious, I think it is also so important to understand what you believe in and not to have blind faith. I have always wanted to learn more about the history of my religion and its roots. This year I’m going to educate myself on my religion and re – learn the meaning of our prayers.

2) Keep more up to date about world issues: Many times I just read the one or two articles discussing a major current event and I leave it. This year I’m going to read more articles, and watch the documentaries that I’ve been meaning to watch for some time now to become more knowledgeable about what goes on around me (many of these documentaries are ones my dad recommended and since he is the most intelligent man in the world, I know they would be nothing short of insightful). This is terrible, but I also don’t check the news every day. In 2013 my goal is to wake up every morning and check the news before I check my text messages like they’re the morning paper.

3) Get Healthier: I know this one is pretty vague but fitness and healthy eating have always been important to me and this year I want to take it a step further. Aside from regularly doing cardio, I’m going to try and eat at least four servings of green vegetables every day (green vegetables are the most nutritious and in Vietnam it’s pretty easy to find them).

So these are my areas of focus for 2013! Hope everyone has had a great couple weeks of the New Year so far! xx

Some Pictures From Malaysia:

On our way  up to the Genting Highlands



The cousins in front of the Batu Caves



On our way to the top! 500 stairs!

Can you believe I got this close to a monkey? (I'm very very afraid of them)

The Putrajaya Mosque. Women had to cover up prior to entering

Water Puppet Show

Water puppet theater is an ancient form of entertainment that originated in the Red River Delta and is still performed today! Though this was one of the more touristy things we have done in Hanoi, it is a strong element of Vietnamese culture.

I was only able to capture two segments. The first half depicts how in Ancient Vietnam, hunting was a dominant practice and the people got much of their food from the water (still is practiced today). The second half depicts how young lovers in ancient Vietnam expressed their feelings through the use of pan pipes and umbrellas.

Enjoy! 

Ownership in Ha Giang

Hello friends! I know it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post; things have been quite busy on my end for most of November and December, especially with all the travelling I’ve been doing. In November I went on my first field visit, which lasted about a week and then to Singapore a week later (this city – state will always have a place in my heart)! After that it was two back to back field visits each a week long, so I haven’t had much time in Hanoi. But, I am back now and finally have a couple of weeks to catch my breath before I head off to Malaysia to spend the holidays with my family! I am beyond excited to see them and even more so to start the New Year off with them! Anyways, I thought I would write about one of the trips I took with work this past month!

I am very fortunate to have been included on the field trip to the Bac Me district of the Ha Giang province. Though the trip had to be extended a day longer than expected (we had to stay there for eight days, when we originally intended to stay for seven), I was thoroughly impressed with the way the whole team from Oxfam Quebec and WARECOD staff were able to manage and complete all planned activities and training sessions with precision and even enthusiasm. For those of you who do not know, by the sixth day in the field, the tiredness and exhaustion take over and you find yourself pushing through the remainder of the time, very anxious to return home.  On the bright side, since our trip was extended, we got one day off and were able to take a lovely boat ride along the Gam River, seeing mountains and waterfalls all the while experiencing the misty rain splash our faces while standing on the boat deck. It was all very wonderful.

The title of this project is Community – Led Water Resource Management. There are three phases of this project, and so far we are in the second phase which entails establishing “water user groups”; on this trip to Ha Giang, we established four water user groups in the district of Bac Me. Basically, we gathered people in four hamlets Ha Son 1, Ha Son 2, Phia Ven, and Na Pau and explained to them the benefits of joining these groups. Water user groups comprise of dedicated individuals of a commune that provide services to their communities, and in return, the communities provide the groups with money to carry out these services. The aim of this project is to build a strong reputation of these groups among community members, so that they are trusted to complete tasks for the community with dedication and quality. Once this trust is established, the water user groups can ask for more money and become sustainable, allowing WARECOD and its partner Oxfam Quebec to step back.

These groups set regulations for the better use of the land and ensure that the communities are running at the best possible quality. WARECOD provides support to these groups by training them in proposal writing, so that a more formal interaction can be created between the communities and their local authorities when asking for something they need, and even provide them with the aptitude to reach out to other NGO’s themselves to seek funding for their projects (most NGO’s have special funds for such situations). WARECOD also trains the members of these groups to plan the activities required to implement a project and budget their funding to ensure all activities are financed, but above all the aim is to empower these people and give them ownership over improving their communities.

We are often told that giving ownership is the best way to empower people and thus bring about development. It is the same message portrayed by the old, yet wise saying “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime." Providing people with knowledge and encouraging them to take responsibility for what they value gives them ownership over those things, be they homes, communities, or even countries. And if one has ownership over something, their desire to preserve, protect, and enhance it is increased. Helping with this project has certainly been a great learning opportunity and provided some insight as to how NGO’s can help people help themselves. 

Some pictures:

Sailing along the Gam River

Gorgeous waterfalls we saw

Stepping Stones of Development

This week, I have thought a lot about international development in general, and what exactly my role is in Vietnam. International development is probably the most difficult thing to define, and this statement has progressively become more and more real to me with each year of undergrad experience. To me, international development has always been to not only enhance the quality of life for individuals who are living in poor conditions, but also give them opportunities to help themselves out of poverty. It also means “hope” to me; there must be hope that those living in poverty have the capability to break free from this cycle to start a better life. Recently, I have been starting to understand that bringing about development does not necessarily begin with hope (hope should be an on – going sensation), but it rather begins with humility and with your heart in the right place, even if it means you bring about a temporary moment of happiness for someone else.

If someone comes to a developing country thinking that he or she is better than the people of that country, and is more knowledgeable about how life should be lived, that person will never be able to bring about a positive change. I have determined that a desire to do good things, a positive attitude, and humility is important on all levels of this international placement, and I never realized it more than I did on Sunday, November 4th. A fellow INDEVOUR Stephanie invited us to go with her co – worker’s youth group to the Tan Son district, Phú Thọ province in Northern Vietnam to take part in their program “Be Friends of Children.” Essentially, this youth group is a team of university and high school students that does community and social work in various poor Vietnamese provinces. They get sponsors to fund their trip and help them purchase gifts to give to the village children and their families. For the program we helped with, the gifts included things like chips, candies, warm bedding, and school scholarships for the community’s “overly – poor students.” Out of these gifts, the scholarships made the most sense to me because at least it is helping the children get an education, even if the scholarship sums per student were not very high. After speaking to my own manager about this group (she was a part of one when she was in school), I was informed that in poor villages such as the one we went to, the children are encouraged to stay home and help their parents work, and if they receive a scholarship, the money may not be used for school, but rather to help the family buy food and get through the hard winters which is more essential to survival. Moreover, I don’t think the practice of giving handouts to children of poor communities is going to help them out of poverty, but for the duration of the program, while the volunteers were playing games with the kids and giving treats to them, they seemed to be really happy.

on our way to the school ground. We took a truck up the mountains

Maybe these acts of development are not necessarily the key to ending poverty, nor will they make a grand difference in the children’s lives in the long run, but the volunteers’ hearts were definitely in the right place and one could tell they were genuinely happy to be there. They were humble to the fact that they were from the city, where living conditions are 10 times better than these villages, and were talking and playing with the children and their families and trying to learn everything about their life and day to day activities. I got to sit down with a volunteer and a few children, speak with them, and play Simon Says and other games with them. They were all so happy and enthusiastic and loved to be interacting with me; it was such a wonderful thing to experience. I thought about my host mom and host brother, Kien, and why I sit with him from time to time and help him with his homework or why I help my host mother make dinner and get to know her and about the experiences she’s had. These acts will not give them better living conditions in the long run, but will make an impression on them for the short time that I am here. They’ve taught me the factors of humility and having your heart in the right place are just as important to international development as big projects are. They serve as stepping stones into the bigger picture of development and can perhaps steer you in to making grand changes for communities in poverty in the future.

My Trip to Bao Lam

Pac Pha Village Researchers

This week I have been thinking development projects. During the course of our undergrad, we studied numerous NGOs as well as their development projects. We learned about what qualities make a project effective and why projects sometimes fail to bring about development. I have been heavily pondering this topic because last week I went on my first monthly field visit with my host organization, WARECOD, for one of our larger projects. We left on Friday for a six day trip to the Cao Bang province in Northern Vietnam to conduct some research. The entire experience was so great, and very different from the lifestyle I’ve had in Hanoi thus far. The scenery of the mountains and trees was indescribably beautiful, the air was so clean and fresh, and everyone who lived there seemed to be in such harmony with the earth. The villagers that I met were extremely hospitable and showed me many things from digging for cassava to  making a sticky rice and mung bean cake; they were even kind enough to share some of their sugar cane with me (which is very tough to eat but also very delicious). Moreover, this was the first time I got to witness one of our projects at hands – on level, and I feel like it really allowed me to understand and grasp the whole of its initiative. I noticed many components of this project that could create positive changes for the community we engaged with.

Che Pen Village Researchers

The project that we are executing is called Promoting Local Adaptation of the Gam River Basin’s Water Management to Climate and Environmental Changes. It is funded by a German organization called Rosa Luxemburg, and has a three year implementation period. Basically, WARECOD works with local researchers of two villages (Che Pen and Pac Pha) in the Bao Lam district of the Cao Bang province to collect local knowledge about extreme whether events in the area and how they negatively affect the livestock and harvest of the local people living in the basin, and therefore deteriorate their livelihoods. WARECOD pays the local researchers to investigate these issues and helps them to build their own database from the collected knowledge. During the first few days of each field visit, the local researchers work with the WARECOD staff to organize their information and develop their presentation skills. On the last day of the field work, WARECOD puts together a workshop and invites representatives from Rosa Luxemburg, members of the Cao Bang Department of Natural Resources, local authorities, and other relevant stakeholders. The local researchers then get to exercise their presentation skills by explaining to the audience their collected information and their recommendations on mitigating the effects of climate change and extreme weather events. WARECOD will then create a book based on the collected information and distribute it to the local authorities who can then easily convey the message to the rest of the people of the district.

My verdict on this project is that it is effective. Regularly, the provincial authorities are first given instructions on how to behave in the wake of extreme weather conditions from the central Vietnamese government, and then they pass this information to the local people. It is a very top – down approach and sometimes the local people do not fully understand what climate change is, and why certain behaviours must be practiced to mitigate its affects. This project aims to integrate the bottom – up approach with the traditional top – down approach by having local researchers investigate these issues and create their own database. It empowers this group of locals to understand the changing conditions of the earth and ensures them that their knowledge and specific observations are very relevant and worthwhile. Some of the local people have worked on the land for their entire lives and have more knowledge and insight than they are accredited for. An admirable observation I made from this field visit is that there were many local female researchers involved with this project. The WARECOD staff encouraged them to participate and speak in the workshop and deliver their ideas to the present stakeholders.

Day of the Workshop. The women dressed in special traditional garments because this is was considered a very special day for them.

Perhaps this project will not bring about large – scale development for all of Vietnam, but it certainly helps this small province and district move in the right direction by empowering locals and women. It integrates a bottom up approach into a traditionally top down system which is far more effective than simply having local authorities pass information to local people without having them understand it.