by Bill Jolley
Reprinted from Blind Citizens News, September 1997
NFBCA’s involvement in Vietnam started in 1993 with funding of the Thai Binh Blind Women’s Literacy project, which last year was supplemented by a small project in Long An. Long An is a very poor district west of Ho Chi Minh City, still suffering in the aftermath of the war.
Last November, we received funding of $168,000 for a three-year project to run residential train-the-trainer courses in four separate provinces – two in North Vietnam and two in Central Vietnam. In a formal sense, the funding from AusAID is provided to the ACROD which has the necessary credentials as a development aid agency. I express appreciation to Helen McAuley from ACROD who has given us much assistance and who accompanied me on the trip to Vietnam last December. A requirement of the project is that we make two visits from Australia to Vietnam each year, so the next visit is scheduled for the end of June.
Each of the four teacher training courses will run for 9 to 12 months, plus another 6 months for monitoring, and will provide basic training for 20 to 25 women, about 60% of whom are blind or have low vision. In Vietnam there is an emphasis on literacy through braille, plus the teaching of some vocational skills, orientation and mobility, and health and nutrition. We hope, in the future, to introduce some basic low vision assessment and elementary low vision techniques that will benefit many people.
We have a liaison officer in Vietnam, Miss Phuong, and she has been very helpful as our translator and as my sighted guide. She interprets for us when we are in Vietnam and makes any necessary travel arrangements. Working in Vietnam is professionally challenging but personally enriching. For me it has been a privilege.