Day 5: New Families

Today was our first day at the new build site and what a day it was.  We started out at about 7:30am in our minibus going easterly from Rach Gia….and it was an adventure.  We traveled through the city and then into the countryside.  When we were about 15 minutes from our location we suddenly encountered a bit of a challenge. Imagine yourself driving a truck through the isles at your grocery store…that’s pretty much what we did as we drove through a small market in our minivan.  We had Ngan outside moving umbrellas and motorbikes, vendors moving items from their tables, people on bikes still trying to squeeze by…I have no idea how they even did that…little children waving as we sat stuck in the midst of the turmoil, and the entire time, no one seemed to be too concerned that a huge vehicle was barging its way through the area.  Vietnamese people have such a calm way about them…it’s like nothing bothers them and they just work with whatever is going on….always with a smile.

After about 20 minutes we made it through the alley way…apparently this is the only road to where we were going and the vendors were just too far out on the road.  From the market area, we traveled along a very bumpy narrow road that followed the canal.  All of a sudden we stopped, got out of our van and boarded a small Vietnamese canoe to the other side…it took about 3 minutes to cross.  It’s so peaceful on the water…I love it…feel just like home…sort of.  

Once we made it across we divided into two groups.  One group went to a second house down the lane where they removed two side walls of the house that will be rebuilt using brick.  In Vietnam, Habitat has several different types of loans/builds.  The first house we worked on last week would be a renovation which would be $500, there is also a toilet loan of $300 and a water loan for $200.  Sections of houses can be built as well…this is what is happening at this house…two walls.

The rest of the group stayed at the first house to dig the foundation…that’s where I stayed today as well as Liz, Jennifer, Matt and Steve.  This was a bit of a unique experience because we actually dug trenches inside the house while the people were there.  In fact, one of the three children has a disability and she stayed in her bed the entire time playing with her brothers.  While we were digging, they even moved the bed to the center of the room so that we could dig the trench around her…only in Vietnam!!

Although we were in the shade, it felt hotter than when we dug outside last week…absolutely no breeze, and that equals very sweaty and stinking people.  We also had another interesting visitor during our build.  Chickens in large bowls sitting on their eggs on ledges just about eye level where we were digging….I’m pretty sure Liz and Matt were a bit skeptical of digging so close to them as we weren’t really sure what they might do…no need to have our eyes plucked out just yet.  We did have a couple incidents when one of the chickens kept flying in and getting very distressed…we all jumped when she would cluck and flap her wings, but our foreman would just ignore it and laugh.

As for clucking, we were also surrounded by roosters screeching ALL day long…and I mean it.  I will not miss that sound when I leave Vietnam.  In fact the roosters are all in little individual basket cages and we were told they were used for mating and fighting....which is apparently illegal in Vietnam, or so I was told.  I think just around our house alone there were at least 10-15 roosters, so you can imagine how noisy it was.

We had a break mid-morning and by that point we had finished the trench and started to lay stones for the foundation.  This was back breaking work for Liz and Steve who lugged buckets of stone to the trench where myself and a couple other people laid them out flat in the trench.  This took about an hour and we broke for lunch at about 11:30am fully exhausted.

 Once again the Women’s Union is providing us with a place to use the bathroom…this time we actually have a proper toilet to sit on…and they are also preparing the meals this week.  The meals have all been delicious, but this one might have been the best yet.  I absolutely love all the freshly steamed vegetables, especially the green beans.  After lunch more than half the group completely crashed…in fact at one point I decided I would try to sleep next to them, but there was a lot of snoring going on, so I decided to sit outside with Savina and Steve for a bit before we started up again.

We started back at about 1:30pm and this time we had to mix cement and sand to make the concrete for the foundation.  We mixed this together and then carried it in buckets…using a chain line again…to put in the trench.  This is the same process as last week, where water is then put over the powder and is left to sit over night to dry.  By 4:00pm the rest of the group arrived ready to head back, so we finished up the last of the concrete and cleaned up.  It was another exhausting day and lots of people spent the drive back to Rach Gia sound asleep.

Before we left however, Liz and I had to go to the bathroom…go figure…so Huong, or foreman, took us both by motorbike.  As we were crossing the bridge, Liz’s flip flop popped off and I thought I was going to fall off the back of the bike…we never laughed so hard.  Then Huong stopped and we got off only to realize we were at the wrong house…what’s up with me and trying to find the bathroom.  Luckily we found the bathroom…and Liz’s shoe…and made it across on the boat and to our van in one piece.

The ride back was pretty non eventful except for the school kids.  School lets out around 4pm and the road was lined with kids driving their bikes home in their blue and white uniforms all single file…very cute.  We also saw lot of people harvesting rice in the fields, drying and bagging it along the road.  When we arrived back in the city, a junior high school was also being let out and what pandemonium that turns into.  Hundreds of the kids on their bikes filling the road…not like school dismissal in Canada!

Dinner tonight was Pho at a local restaurant not far from our hotel and right across the street from the infamous supermarket.  Ngan took us there and helped us order...thank god for Ngan... we had a good meal and then did our traditional ice cream stop and visit to the supermarket.  The supermarket makes me laugh…tonight I had one little girl come up to me with her mother say hello and put her hand out to shake mine.  When I shook it, she was so excited and was smiling from ear to ear…not sure how I’m going to go to the supermarket from now on when I’m home and not feel a bit shunned after this!  Headed back to the hotel around 8:30pm to get ready for tomorrow and get some rest.

Until tomorrow…

Lisa