We have 2-3 Vietnamese engineering students helping us this week. I heard that their professor asked for volunteers to skip school this week to help the US volunteers on this project. They have been the ones working the cement mixer and smoothing out the cement. They definitely know what they are doing. On the first day we also had about 10 other students come by for about 2 hours to help us dig up the yard. As we only had tools for about 8 people at a time, we took turns which worked out well in the heat. We have also had some random locals come by and help. Phan explained that the locals and students really like to help Catalyst as they can see the results of our work. The school and attached library were built in 2007 and the nearby housing was built with a joint agreement between Catalyst and Habitat for Humanity. Apparently most in country NGOs have to go through the government and about 50% of the fundraising goes to the government and not to those in needs. Also, he explained that most of the local help is in the form of money directly to families. Although this helps temporarily, the results are not visible for the community to see and the results are not sustainable. He used the analogy of giving someone fish vs. teaching someone to fish.
This is a picture of one of our captians, Dave Schweir. He was in charge of the playground site and all of us workers. No wonder he looks tired and hot in this photo. Thanks Dave for being an amazing leader!
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