A field trip at last!

After much anticipation and waiting, last week I finally got to go on my first field trip for work. My destination was the district of Can Loc in Ha Tinh province, central Vietnam. The project that I visited is SRD's VM038 project, "Taking a value chain approach to improve rural livelihoods in the context of climate change and natural disasters". The main goals of this project (as the name suggests) is to help the farmers, especially women, improve their ability to make a living in agriculture through improving their market access by taking a value chain approach. The project aims to do this while taking into account the challenges of climate change, by improving the local's adaptation and disaster risk management skills. Reading the project's proposal document as preparation for the trip and getting to know more details got me really excited to see the project! These kinds of projects are exactly the kind of work I hope to do as a career (which, as a side note, means I guess I'm destined for NGO jobs). I love that this project embodies a more sustainable approach to poverty reduction. It places it's beneficiaries at it's core, and more importantly, is helping them cope with issues that they are facing on a daily basis.

A co-worker and I departed Hanoi on a night train to the the city of Vinh, and when we arrived at 5 am the next day we hopped in a cab for an hour to get to Ha Tinh town. The commune of Vinh Loc (one of the the farming villages we work in) is about a 10 minute drive from Ha Tinh.

In Vinh Loc, my co-worker facilitated a workshop on gender equality for the farmers. They discussed the difference between a man's day and a woman's day, the barriers to equality in their community, and the gender inequality in other parts of the world. They also made plans for overcoming those obstacles to gender inequality. I was so inspired by the enthusiasm that the community members showed for this workshop! They were all excited to participate, and were very open to talking about the somewhat serious topic of gender equality. The atmosphere was optimistic and happy, with tons of laughter and music throughout the day. Even though I could only understand a little of what was being said during the workshop, I felt the drive that the farmers had for bettering their community. I felt unbelievably welcomed in Vinh Loc, having lunch with some locals in their home and being greeted with smiles everywhere I went. I also got to ask the leader of the farmer interest group about his thoughts on the project and visit some farms as well, which was really rewarding. I learned that the project has helped farmers cope with disasters and improve their incomes by introducing a rice variety that has a faster germination period so it can be harvested in only a few days. The leader also shared with us that he felt the project could be applied in other farming communities prone to disasters.

The next day of my field trip, the district of Can Loc came together and participated in a competition that SRD organized about climate change. There were 2 groups that competed, and they performed songs and skits that spread messages of climate change/disaster awareness and community spirit. There was even climate change trivia! Many locals, of all ages, came to the community center to watch the event. I thought the competition was a fun and approachable way for the farmers to get informed about climate change! There was no shortage of laughter and comedy during the event for sure. I think the crowd's favorite moment was during one of the skits, when a woman played a drunk man and stumbled all over the stage while pretending to smoke a tobacco from a dieu cay (farmer's pipe). I loved to see that the farmers of Can Loc were so passionate about climate change issues. They understand these issues not from textbooks or journal articles as I do, but from their own experiences of climate change effecting their lives; and that was a really invaluable thing that I got to experience on this field trip.

              

The competition was followed by a community meeting and dinner. The meeting consisted of both leaders and ordinary community members sang songs, and talking about the recent activities and progress being made in the district. Dinner was a huge celebration of the community, and I was again overwhelmed with the friendliness of everyone! I couldn't keep count of the number of handshakes I received and times I was cheers-ed. My coworker told me that the villagers don't often see many foreigners, so they were very happy to meet a Canadian like me.

Overall, the trip was a great chance to see my organizations work "in action", and to learn more about Vietnamese culture. I really got to see what NGO work is like on the ground, and I absolutely loved what I saw. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to go on this trip, and I hope to travel for work a lot more of course!