June 20, 1997 - July 20, 1997
Diocese of Hung Hoa, North Vietnam

REPORT TO THE SOCIAL MINISTRY BOARD

My gratitude goes to members of the Social Ministry Board of the Sisters of the Divine Compassion who made possible this Divine Compassion Mission in the diocese of Hung Hoa, Vietnam. A grant from the Mother Mary Veronica Ministry fund was a means that enabled the Congregation to respond to the Episcopal Administrator’s request for services of the Sisters of the Divine Compassion in this diocese.

I am deeply grateful to the Leadership Team and all the Sisters for your prayers and encouragement which accompanied me on this mission to a part of my native country that was quite unfamiliar to me, where many aspects of the people’s lives are beyond my imagination. Only by living there and sharing in the local people’s daily life can one come to realize that their living conditions are more than 50 years behind those of their fellow countrymen in the South. Mrs. Luong Dinh of Kansas City whose father is living in one of the better off parishes of the diocese describes the situation: “I left the village at the age of 19 in 1952 to emigrate to the South. When I returned to visit my family in 1996, I found it was much worse off than the year I left, even worse than the time I was a kid in the 30’s and 40’s.”

THE JOURNEY TO THE VINEYARD

I departed the States from Kennedy Airport at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday June 17, 1997 (9:00 a.m. June 18 in Vietnam) aboard Cathay Pacific Airlines. I landed in Hong Kong at 6:00 a.m. June 19, 1997 (20 hours flight time and a 1-hour stopover in Vancouver). After an 8 hour wait for a connecting Air Vietnam flight, I finally landed at Hanoi Airport at 4:00 p.m. (local time) on Thursday, June 19, 1997, where I was met by the Reverend Phung Van Ton, director of the Diocesan Office of Religious Education, 2 seminarians and my official host (a friend of the diocese who arranged for my “official temporary residence” in Hanoi).

We went straight to the chancery located in the city of Son Tay, 35 miles north of Hanoi. After briefly visiting the Episcopal Administrator, getting to know the people who would be working with me, and discussing the agenda of the 4 week program with the Diocesan director, I spent the night at the Mother house of the Holy Cross Sisters across the street from the chancery. A sleeping pill helped me overcome jet lag, and I slept through the night (day time in the U.S).

The morning found me energized and clad in the outfit of a North Vietnamese woman setting out for work. From that point on I was introduced as “a religious from another diocese, born in Hanoi but having grown up in the South.” I had been “invited by the Episcopal Administrator to visit and assess the Religious Education Program of the diocese.”

BACKGROUND CHARATERISTICS OF THE REGION

One can say that civilization and technology have not reached most of this part of the country. Local folks know little about the lives of people in other parts of the country, let alone the world beyond their national boundaries. This helps make governmental control of people’s lives tight and unchallenged.

Mining and hydroelectric power plants are state-owned and manned by government-recruited workers. Light industries and manufacturing are rare things to be found in this part of the country except in a few cities. The main artery connecting several main cities and mining towns with the national capital of Hanoi consists of low speed railroads and narrow paved roads that are poorly maintained, if at all. Narrow, bumpy dirt roads and small boats serving as ferries for bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians are the main means for commuting between localities in the region.

People produce their food supplies by farming the small parcels of land that the government allocates equally to each family. Citizens are not to own land. Farming machinery is unknown. Oxen, water buffaloes and human labor are the only scenes in the rice fields.

Planned Parenthood is reinforced; two children per family is the standard by which 1/5 of an acre of farm land is equally allotted to each family unit. From that parcel, the family can produce a yearly average of 900 pounds of rice which is the people’s basic staple (yearly income of 120 US dollars for a family of 4). However the family requires at least 1,500 lbs of rice per year; therefore their main staple has to be mixed with cereal of a lower grade to satisfy their hunger.

A few odd jobs sometimes provide additional income. Growing vegetables and raising a few chickens, a keeping a pig around the house and fishing in ponds or small waterways can put some extra nourishment on the table at meal times. The crops are used solely to feed the family. There is not much left that can be sold for cash. Families that exceed the required “2 children only” rule pay a penalty according to the excess number of children.

Education is not compulsory although highly valued; however, many cannot afford it. Elementary schools charge an annual tuition of 25 US dollars per student; 60 US dollars for high schools (tuition may be higher in localities where schools require repairs or new classrooms to be built). Regional high schools are usually over 10 miles away from many locations (Please forget school buses; children walk to school if their parents can afford to pay for their tuition).

Teachers’ wages are poor, so is the quality of education. Their pay is about 30 dollars per month. A community college teacher’s salary is approximately 60 dollars per month. They earn additional income with odd jobs or by private tutoring classes in their home. (Manipulative ploys at one’s public school classroom to increase enrollment in one’s private tutoring sessions are not uncommon).

Catholic schools have been unheard of since 1954, as the state is the only entrepreneur in the sphere of people’s education.

Religious freedom is in theory proclaimed in the Constitution. In practice, people are free to attend their local house of worship. However the Church is subtly controlled through state sanctions on ordinations of priests and bishops, establishment of seminaries, admission of seminary students, recruitment of seminary professors, assignments of parish priests, the right to gather for cadres’ training, and residency permits which are extremely difficult to obtain and many a time impossible for pastors, religious and candidates to the priesthood and religious life.