Vietnam mission

This was a trip to a unique and exotic culture. It was a trip backwards in history for me to find a new vision of Vietnam to overlay the experience of the Vietnam War years (they call it the American War).

It was primarily a field course for Barbara as co-leader of 10 nursing students from SPU. They did pediatric and community health training in a duel learning and outreach effort.

And then there were the collaborative interactions with the Vietnamese doctors that proved to be equal amounts of giving and of receiving knowledge and support. One more layer of training extended to having VN nursing students accompany us to the mountain villages.

For me, I had a separate opportunity to do two 2 hour classes a day for 24 total VN doctors. My given job was to go over medical terminology in terms of pronunciation. But as the course evolved it became one part rote repetition, and two parts teaching word entomology and applying the understanding to each of their specialties via case presentations. I came to a much deeper understanding of their medical culture, and hopefully they came to know me and know better the basis of words, not just their rote usage.

Finally there was the experience of a total retreat of 5 weeks with one group of people that became more than I expected. We told our stories, we related over patients, over meals, in one-on-one conversations, in times of need. We played games, we worked hard, we shared goals.

And then it was over. I can only trust some whisper of hope and some small breeze of our faith was felt by those we encountered. I know I ended up both drained with the length of intense time spent, and also sad that once we left this 'community', this 'family' we had created would be gone also.

It was a trip I put a lot into, got more out of,... and can't make again.

Vietnam Video

We have returned home, and have almost recovered from jet lag and re-entry shock. Instead of too many words, here is a video slide show that captures a bit of our view of Vietnam.

The first half is in Hue (pronounced 'way') and at the Central Pediatric Hospital. Some are pictures of the children and Vietnamese doctors. We worked side-by-side, then sang Karaoke at the end of the day. Other shots are of 'diplomats' of the course I taught, and of us having tea together. Many others are of cultural sites at the tombs and the 'forbidden city' of Hue.

The trip then moves by bus to the mountainous rural district of Nam Dong. Here we made rounds of various small clinics, along with another 1o Vietnamese and 2 Finnish nursing students. Our 10 students worked as a team with the others to assess patients and deliver health education. The ethnic people there are the KaTu. Barabara and LaRelle coordinated this very diverse project with much grace and perseverance!

In the end we celebrated with a hike up to a falls, and jumped in... scrub suits and all. Most importantly was the depth of not only the water... but of the relationships we formed, and the appreciation of another culture, and the power of being a Christian community in thought and in action.