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The next meeting was at 8am on Sunday - a time I very rarely see! This time we had a girl, Nguyen, who was part of the project last year, in our meeting to help out. She has provided a lot of materials for us, including presentation slides, games, leaflets, etc. We spent a few hours going through the material, deciding what we should or shouldn't include, how it was done last year, what needed improving, what materials we would need, etc. We divided the presentation into sections for each person to cover. The main focus of the workshops will be the spread of HIV and the prevention of HIV, which are the more sensitive topics, so it was decided that Safir would cover the spread (he likes talking about sex) and I would cover the prevention (Nguyen got me to do a condom demonstration in front of the team and I don't mind doing it for the students as well). So we each had a section to work on for a meeting on Tuesday morning. Vi had cooked lunch when I got back (a simple one, as the vegetables were a bit of a casualty!), and we were joined by Long and Vi's friend who lives upstairs. After lunch Long dropped me at a coffee shop in District 1 where Safir was on his own. The name, Angel-In-Us Coffee, had caught Safir's eye as you don't see many puns here. It was nice, Ho Chi Minh City's answer to Starbucks. We then decided to wander around by ourselves and do a bit of exploring after studying a map. After a few hairy road crossings (one of which we just shadowed a local woman to make it across the road) and a stop at a doughnut shop, we made it to a park in the centre. It was lovely, an oasis, though incredibly humid, among the hustle and bustle of the city and it's motorbikes. There were many interesting statues and buildings to admire, as well as local groups practising games and traditional dancing. When we couldn't stand the humidity anymore we left and came across a water puppet show theatre, where we were given a very useful small map of attractions. We realised that we were close to the War Remnants Museum, so decided to visit. It was full of war memorabilia, a lot of which was incredibly disturbing. It made the U.S. forces appear barbaric - it would be interesting to hear their side of it. There was a room dedicated to Agent Orange, the herbicide used by the U.S. military in the war. The herbicide caused people in th affected regions to give birth to children with all kinds of deformaties, some of which make the Elephant Man look almost trivial. I felt incredibly naïve about the whole topic and had no idea that second generation victims are alive and suffering with their deformities today. Another part of the museum had reconstructed 'tiger cages', which is where war prisoners were kept by the Americans and which were also disturbing. After the museum, Safir and I were met by Vi and the three of us had drinks and played cards before heading home.
On Monday morning I accompanied Long to a meeting with a large company, Diana, that produces feminine care products. We met with a marketing manager to try and raise sponsorship for the Living With HIV Project. Long did most of the presentation, I was there as 'proof' that the project was doing what it said it would and I spoke about the workshops, which Long then translated. Long's presentation was very impressive and he had set everything out well, and the tone of the meeting seemed positive. Unfortunately my attention was halved during the meeting when a MASSIVE cockroach appeared by a window. I think that I acted professionally and managed to hide my discomfort, but boy was I glad when we left the room! We'll find out the result next week, apparently the money we're asking for isn't a lot, but they need to think about whether supporting the project will fit with their brand image for 2011. The afternoon was a fairly laid-back one, I napped and worked on my section of the project. Vi went swimming from 5-8pm, so I was brave and ventured out for dinner alone. I had been dreading going out alone as there aren't any other foreigners in the district I'm living in from what I've seen, so I always get stared at wherever I go. But I went to a restaurant round the corner, which Vi and I had been to a couple of times before so the people there had seen me. And I had written down the names of some dishes and drinks on a piece of paper so that I could just point at what I wanted! So that was all going well, I had my food in front of me, a guy at the next table spoke to me a bit in English, I was feeling ok…and then the rain came. Being a tropical region, when it rains here, it literally pours. I didn't have an umbrella or raincoat, and spent ages looking at the rain and the flooded road, trying to figure out if I should just go for it or wait until it eased up. Then the woman from the restaurant came up to me and handed me some plastic, which turned out to be a raincoat. She must have seen me debating! It was incredibly kind of her - I wasn't expecting a gesture like that at all.
Today (Tuesday) we had another meeting for the project. It was quite productive, spent sorting out the changes we'd made to the content. We were supposed to have another intern joining us from China, but he has had visa problems so will only arrive on Wednesday. It's getting a bit close as the first workshop is on Saturday and we're yet to run through the whole presentation and get the materials needed for the interactive games. But it should be ok given that we're each focusing on learning one section at the moment, and we're going to have a run-through on Wednesday. Unfortunately I had a headache for much of the meeting and then started to feel really sick towards the end. I got worried that I was finally experiencing the bad stomach that I've been expecting from some form of food or ice. Long took me home and after some painkillers and a long nap, plus an egg that Vi had me eat for lunch, I now feel fine. I think it may be dehydration so am focusing on increasing my fluid intake. We had dinner out with Vu and all three of us were very full afterwards. I managed to get some work done for the project so the day wasn't completely wasted. It's getting late and once again I've written an awful lot, so I'm off to bed now.
- comments
Hai So impressive Laura. You are so hard-working that can write such a long post ^^!. Anw, Im so happy to see you adapt with this new environment day by day. See you soon!
Nick Wqrigley Laura, so glad to see and read about your experience and work. I think it sounds quite professional and organised and sure it was a success at the w/e workshop. Your writing makes one feel a part of the experience and almost like being there. Good luck with the project and happy travels. Lol, Nick