Global Village Construction Project

As we mentioned in the previous post, we had a full day with various Global Village Foundation projects. In the afternoon we visited some of GVF's schools, and we spent the morning with GVF founder Le Ly Hayslip and two of her staff members, traveling to a nearby village to visit a site where GVF is building a house for a family - the father is in a wheelchair and makes his meagre living selling icecream to support his wife and three children - ages 6-12. All three children are in school.


We'll take you on a visual tour of our morning...

Our day started in downtown Hoi An with Le Ly and two GVF employees, Vinh and Hung - five of us with three motorbikes. Le Ly first took us to the Hoi An Central market to purchase those conical hats that are so popular here. She bargained with the local vendor - 3 hats for 36,000 Vietnamese Dong - approximately $2.40 in total! Man, we were so thankful later in the day after spending a few hours under the blazing sun... no wonder these hats are so popular here in Vietnam! Of course, we felt silly being the only non-Vietnamese wearing them - but the embarrassment was way worth it!

Next stop was waiting for the barge by the riverside where old ladies sell various sweets and refreshing drinks - Le Ly purchased a bag full of fried donut-y looking gelatinous sweets - they appeared to be fruit gelatin wrapped around sweet corn paste and then deep-fried in god-only-knows what kind of oil... some of us were more adventurous then others when Le Ly offered them around...


Another vendor had a very basic, hand-operated metal presser through which she fed raw sugar-cane to extract juice. The juice is then mixed with water, lime juice, a dash of salt, and ice of very questionable cleanliness... (we often see big blocks of ice being dragged through town on the back of motorbikes!) However, scientifically speaking, this drink makes perfect sense here in Hoi An - replenishing the body fluids lost in the heat (and for other reasons) - basically, it is Vietnamese Gatorade!


When the barge arrived, we all piled on - the five of us and our motorbikes, women traders on their way to and from the markets, and a bunch of local construction workers...



After 20 minutes or so we were in a different world, just 5 kilometers or so from downtown - but a world away; apparently very few tourists get here...

As we rode on our bikes to the construction site, we were greeted by school kids, water buffalo, pigs, and cows as we passed fishermen, rice fields, sleepy village houses and traversed another river on a rickety wooden floating bridge...

When we arrived at the construction site, especially Le Ly, all the locals came out to investigate the noise - old women, school kids, basically the entire neighbourhood...








The family is living in the unfinished house while the construction is taking place - with the piles of sand, dust, concrete and construction equipment lying around everywhere. As you can see, the father is very happy, and thankful to Le Ly and GVF for building the house, and we're sure he'll be even happier when construction is finished in a week or two...

The eldest child was at school, but we took a photo of the younger boys (below). One of our members is sponsoring the three children to go to school - for the grand sum of $200 per annum for all three. Sixty five dollars per child doesn't sound very much, but many Vietnamese children don't attend school because their parents simply can't afford it. Sixty five dollars includes: school tax, books, notepads, pens and pencils, backpack, two uniforms, school shoes and rain gear for the long rainy season in Vietnam...

We wish the family all the best - and study well, kids!