As the new year begins, the team at AMS are getting out and into the field to visit some of our supported development projects throughout Asia and the Pacific.
On Monday we woke early to travel the 250 kilometres to Siem Reap where Tony and I parted ways. Tony returned home to Australia while I boarded a flight that evening bound for Hanoi, Vietnam. The following morning Br Geoff Kelly, an Australian Marist Brothers, met me at a little café next to the Training and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind (TRCB) in central Hanoi. The weather was surprisingly cool so we bustled inside for a hot drink before meeting with some of the staff of the TRCB. With over 1 million people in Vietnam living with a visual impairment, there is an enormous need for skills training for this marginalised population to ensure that they have equal opportunities and pathways to education and employment. The TRCB provide such opportunities and our partnership with them is funded by Catholic Mission and entails two 3 and a half month vocational training courses per year – one teaching traditional massage and one teaching IT.
We met with the Director, Dinh, and the Deputy Director, Truong, both of whom are blind, as well as English teacher and translator, Mai. This year they celebrate 20 years as a training centre and in that time have equipped over 5000 blind Vietnamese with vocational skills that has led to direct employment. The TRCB is part of the larger Vietnam Blind Association, which has 57 provincial chapters in the 63 provinces of Vietnam. The great thing about the TRCB is that they train blind people from across the country as it is these regional chapters that send their members to the TRCB for training. Once they have completed their course they all return to their home provinces and are offered employment by their provincial chapter, or are assisted in setting up their own businesses. Not too many other training institutes can guarantee 100% employment from their training.
After our meeting Truong proudly shows us around the centre and I am struck by its size. It is an immense three storey building with 12 large classrooms, office space, and dormitory accommodation for over 100 students who live on site while undertaking their training. Truong starts talking about his own life and I get a glimpse at his inner drive. He starting losing his vision at high school and by the time he finished university he was completely blind. Despite this Truong went on to undertake a Masters and is now married with two children. His wife is also blind. Truong tells me that the reason the TRCB exists is that we “wish to have a better life in the future”. He and all the staff are certainly doing that for these blind students.
Truong then invites us to lunch as the Vietnamese are celebrating Tet – Vietnamese New Year. At the lunch table the comradery and strong friendship that exists between the staff is evident with the sighted staff guiding the blind staff through the restaurant and passing them their food and drink. It all seems so seamless that it is evident that they are not assisting them out of requirement, but out of true friendship.
After our meeting we travel back to Br Geoff’s home – the small town of Quoc Oai on the outskirts of Hanoi. Br Geoff’s community is made up of himself and Br Antonio from Spain, along with the rotational volunteers provided by Marist Volunteers Australia with volunteers Ben and Rosie being with the community at present.
The following day we visit New Horizons – an English language centre that the Brothers operate in conjunction with a local organisation. We cycle 10 minutes through town to get there and I am in awe as Geoff gracefully rides through busy roundabouts with trucks bearing down on him and horns going off in all directions. We emerge from the other side in one piece and soon find our way at the centre. The centre is closed during Tet but it is evident that the building is full of joy and is a happy place for people to learn English and form friendships.
As well as New Horizons, Brothers Geoff and Antonio have agreements with nine local schools, three of which they presently work in, and undertake all sorts of social outreaches including supporting poor families and children from these families to attend vocational school; purchasing pushbikes for children to ride to school; and also supporting teacher development in some of these schools. This work combined with the strong partnership with the TRCB has shown me that, while they don’t have their own bricks and mortar project, it isn’t necessary as they have become key members of the blind community and of Quoc Oai and are strengthening the social fabric of these communities.
Written by: Ashley Bulgarelli, AMS Projects Coordinator
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