Mai's Travel Journal: Chapter 2 - Son La

5 things noticeable in Son La

• Many bridge-mirrors on the way to Son La were smashed.
• There are no rubbish bins in public places of the town (Son La town)
• There are bus routes in the town
• It’s foggy in mornings but dusty during the daytime
• At the provincial level, there are many women working for public agencies or services. However, at the commune level, there are not so many. In certain communes, there are no women working for public agencies or services.

Shoeshine boys in Son La

The town looks disorderly and untidy, with many buildings under construction.

Yet the services sector, including shoeshine businesses, are not underdeveloped.

I’m told that most of the shoeshine boys in the town are lowlanders leaving their home town to earn a living here.

Nguyen Van Quynh, a shoeshine boy, was born in 1980 in An Tien, My Duc (Ha Tay province) in a family of 4 children. His eldest sister is married, another sister is a rice-grower. His family is poor. Two years ago, Quynh left school and went to Son La with his mother. Then he learned shoeshine skills. House rental costs Quynh and his mother 160,000 VND per month. He said life in Son La town was more expensive than in his home town, and they had to be as sparing as possible to have money to send to the father and the younger brother who still goes to school. He doesn’t hope to return school. He wishes to learn a trade to earn enough to make a living. When asked what trade he wanted to learn, he said he would save money so that in another two years, he would have enough to learn about motorbike repair.

Nguyen Van Tinh, 17 years old, another shoeshine boy from Ha Tay province, left school and went to Son La with his friends. Then he learned shoeshine skills.

He earns 500,000 VND per month. He pays for the rent of his house, food and sends the rest to his family.

3/9/2004

7.30: Son La

4/9/2004

6.00: Met Quynh, shoeshine boy.(See the piece about the shoeshine boys in Son La above)

7.30: Visited Province Youth Union

8.00: Visited Quyet Thang Secondary, Son La town

8.30 Visited Chieng Coi Preschool, Primary school and Secondary School.

The primary school and the secondary school share the same site so they can't both do the new school year ceremony on the one day, as schools in Vietnam usually do, but rather one has to do it before the other.

The teachers said girls often studied only up to grade 6 or 7. H'Mong girls left school even earlier. The main reason was not the families’ economic status, but their thinking that studying more would bring nothing. So they left school to get married

11.00: Co village, homeland of Lo Van Gia (National Salvation Youth Union of Son La) in Chieng An commune

14.00: Central Post Office, Internet access Most people there were secondary students. They came to chat or visit their music idol’s websites. Many of them sneak out of the house to come here and their parents have to look for them to take them home.

I sat next to a young male graduate from Son La Teacher Training College. He was waiting for a placement in a school. He said he and his friends didn’t want to be placed in schools in remote and poor areas. Some of them ask acquaintances to help them find places in schools in communes around the town. But teachers are rotated between schools in the province once every two years, so not many people managed to do so. He told me that some of his friends had given up their jobs after a few years teaching in remote schools because they saw their knowledge and skills lost to oblivion day by day. Moreover, they found themselves tending to give a mark of 5 (pass) to most of test papers to encourage students, as well as to satisfy higher authorities. One of his friends gave up his job immediately after he came to a school in Nam Don in Muong La suburban district

16.00: Met Mr. Ngoi, a war veteran, selling lottery tickets in front of the Finance Department office. Visited his family in Chieng Le precinct

18.00: Met Tinh, a migrant shoeshine boy. (see the piece about the shoeshine boys in Son La above)

05/09/2004

7.30: Visited Chieng Ngan

Chieng Ngan Primary school was built in 1996; two rows of once quite pretty houses, which now are quite rundown and appear on the verge of collapse.

No one dares to teach or study there. Classes had to move to local people’s houses. School authorities made a petition to the district People’s Committee. Now the old school has been closed and they are waiting for money to build a new one.

Sector 1 of Chieng Ngan has 72 households with a small field area. Most of the households earn a living through family handicrafts and small trade. At the peak period, there were 30 drug addicts in the sector. Now there are 12, because some are undergoing treatment. The rest have died. The chairman of the sector accompanied me to the family of an addict who has undergone detoxification no less than three times. The chairman said no one knew if any of the addicts were infected by HIV/AIDS because they had never had a test.

14.00: Visited the Office of the People's Committee of Hua La commune.

No information because there was no one on duty. In the medical station, a new staff member was on duty. They arrived less than three months ago.

06/09/2004

7.30 Back to Province Youth Union to get a letter of introduction.

8.30 Visited Province Committee for Population, Family and Children

9.00 Visited Chieng Xom commune.

Up to now, of 64 babies born this year (2004) in the commune, five have died for different reasons. The number of people infected by HIV/AIDS in the commune is unknown because there’s no HIV/AIDS program officer due to financial difficulties. Recently, one person died of AIDS.

The commune's poverty rate has experienced a decrease of 50% compared to the same period last year. However, there are 82 poor and 4 extremely poor households.

10.00: Visited the house of Lo Van Loi and Lu Thi Ut.

They have no children and have been living in poverty for decades. Although he suffers from a physical disability, they are hard-working. Recently, the People’s Committee of the commune built a cottage for them.

People in the commune told me that every day the husband goes to fetch firewood to sell. Their neighbors help them by working in their field. They have just got their crop, which is enough for them until the between-crop period.

When I came, the wife was out collecting bamboo sprouts.

He didn't speak Vietnamese but was friendly and hospitable.

11.00: Back to Co village in Chieng An

2.00: Son La — to wrap-up

Chapter 2 - Son La - Images

Photos: Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai
(select image to enlarge)

1. The stairs in Mr. Ngoi’s garret
2. Mr. Ngoi’s garret

3. Migrant children in Son La polish shoes
4. Quynh, from Ha Tay, to Son La polish shoes

5. Son La’s center post-office provides for Internet
6. Chieng Ngan primary school on the beginning a new term day

7. The road go to Chieng Ngan
8. To sun-dry corn kernel
9. Mr. Lo Van Loi