Ethnics and Orphans

…and then we cleansed our hands with sterilising gel.

Our hotel in Kon Tum overlooked the river and on waking today it sat quietly in the somewhat dusky sunlight. No rain but a slightly cooler air temperature presaged our way to the worst breakfast of the trip. Little was ready when we arrived at 6.10 am and what there was looked unappetising. Limited amounts of fruit, hardish bread, little fruit juice and even the coffee was not the best. Still, I suppose one bad one to date is OK?

Our first visit was to an orphanage. This is next to the oldest church in Vietnam. Made of wood it marks the earliest attempts of the church to reach the people of the Central Highlands, Indeed it seems to have taken Europeans more than 200 years simply to make it through the dense forests and mountains to the plateau zone where some ethnic groups live. Next to this church is an orphanage. Children from a few months to 18 live here largely because of the poverty of their parent eg one will have died. This was not enjoyable in the sense that it was hard to deal with the little children who made a fuss of everyone. Much is self help and education is at the heart of what the nuns do.

Lack of food is the big problem and they struggle to provide for the children. We were able to give some basics; toothbrushes and other washing materials we have 'liberated' from the hotels where we have stayed. Some of us brought pens and pencils so these were added to the bags that were left. We also donated some money.

This problem of poverty was evident as we drove the 50 km from Kon Tum. For the first time, I think, Vietnam looked like somewhere in Africa with poor roads, little traffic and people walking. So common is the sound of the car horn announcing that a vehicle is about to pass that most people simply ignore it. Such action can be very dangerous as buses and so on can behave in an aggressive manner by driving fast and not respecting the walkers. We have had several near misses despite the fact our drivers have been very cautious compared to the others we see on the road!

Then we headed down the road towards Pleiku, eg Plei, village Ku, the name of the local people, where we were to visit another ethnic group who live in the rural area. This was far from easy as I felt we were intruding and looking at them as though a zoo exhibit. (Apparently, they get money for allowing us to visit them). Some of us went into a hut and I was told it was tidy but externally it looked very poor. There were many children all seemingly dirty and in dirty clothes, unwashed and with few things. They did seem happy and fascinated by our visit as they followed us about.

Showers, or rather the washing facilities, were at the bottom of a hill and consisted of cold water coming from underground streams. As we went pass a woman was having a shower and as we climbed up the other side a teen age boy was on his way to the shower. All of which suggests that they do have some basic knowledge of hygiene but they do not have tooth brushes so teeth are universally poor.

The area is rich in coffee trees and bushes and we saw the beans being dried in front of peoples houses all the way from Kon Tum. But it does not pay a great deal since much of the coffee is of quite low quality. Moreover, it is the middlemen who make the most so they poor remain poor. Other crops were a few pineapples, cassava, the 'curry' plant, and some bananas as well as some rice.

The valley where they live has some beautiful vistas, particularly across the paddy fields that lie in the valley. However, one is also reminded of the past as some of the fences use rusty barbed wire rescued from old USA bases, which used to be in the region.

But nothing is as simple as it looks as the photographs suggest but you will need to look closely.

So we departed by cleansing our hands with gel but this is not to forget what we saw.