The city of Hue (say whey) is in the central part of Viet Nam, inland from the South China Sea. East of Hue is a barrier island (think South Padre Island) where folks either fish or farm for a living. While wealth has come to the cities of Viet Nam, little has come to the countryside. Nobody starves anymore, but the peasants live a hard life. Almost all of them have concrete houses, electricity, televisions, and a motorbike, but life is much harder for them than the city dwellers.
As in most exotic countries, the village market is the center of social life – at least for the women. With no refrigerators, frequent trips are made to the market – often twice a day. A little haggling over the price of pork enlivens things a bit. City ladies would buy their pork neatly wrapped in cellophane just as their American counterparts would buy it – from the refrigerated meat counter.
Besides haggling over life’s necessities, the village market gives everyone a chance to stay current on the latest gossip (um, well – news.) A bowl of noodles adds to the social atmosphere.
Meanwhile, others are out catching fish, or, in this case, setting the nets to catch some. As the lady guides the boat, the men are in the water pulling the nets into position for capturing anything that swims through the narrow channel. Notice the boat – it is made of aluminum, beautifully crafted with flush rivets. A long time ago, it was one half of an external fuel tank on an American military jet.
The area around Hue has a significant minority population of Catholics. The first Vietnamese Catholic congregation was organized in 1680 by French Jesuit priests. Towards the southern end of the barrier island, there are a number of Catholic villages. As I visited with Father Paul, the priest at the local church (organized in 1885), I noticed a venerable old gentleman walking by. He was once the parish priest, and he guided his flock through the extremely perilous times following the reunification of the country in 1975. Today, he is loved and cared for by those he once shepherded.
I wonder what will happen to this little girl. She will be educated to read and write, but will she be able to move beyond being a peasant wife? Will she be able to study at a good university and help herself and her family to a better life?
My guess is that she will. There has been such tremendous progress in Viet Nam during the past 15-20 years that it will be hard to stop the juggernaut now. The real question will be whether she will be able to bring some of the country’s newfound wealth to the countryside.
If she succeeds, I wonder if she’ll shop at Gucci.
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