asialife HCMC 1 - AsiaLIFE Magazine

THE TWO OF USLoreto Vietnam Australia programme coordinator Trish Franklin shares a close bondwith her student Nguyen Thanh Vinh—a young man who lost his sight as a baby.They tell Beth Young their story. Photo by Fred Wissink.TrishI came to Nguyen Dinh ChieuSchool—it’s a school for blindand disabled children inDistrict 10—to teach English12 years ago. When I firstcame to Vietnam, Loreto builta very small school with onlytwo classrooms in Hoc MonDistrict. While we were waitingfor funds to build another Idecided to contribute part ofmy time. I came down here andasked the then principal if shewould like me to teach English.She said yes straightawayWhen I first taught the blindchildren I was a little nervousbecause I didn’t know howto teach colour, for example.I learned quickly that theyalready know these terms inVietnamese, so you teach themas words more than somethingyou see. To help them imagine,I say red colour is hot and bluecolour is cool and green colouris very fresh.I started teaching Vinh whenhe was seven. The first timeI met him I thought he wassuch a cute little boy; he was sosweet and had this confidenceabout him, this spirit. It lookedto me like he was sure hewould be successful in life.He has continued to workreally hard and now his Englishis amazing.My fondest memories of Vinhare from when he was very,very small. He was so cute,with such courage and strength.I took many photos of himbecause I thought he was themost beautiful little boy. And heran everywhere, even thoughhe couldn’t see: around theplayground, to the toilet, overto have a drink. Sometimeshe’d crash into something, butit never frightened him. Hewas always having fun—such amischievous little boy.He was great with hisfriends, too, pulling them outinto the yard, almost as if to say,“Get on with life. We’re blind,but we don’t care". I really doremember him as that little boyand I can’t believe that he’snow 16. When I look at himI feel so proud. He’s workedso hard and he’s a very goodyoung man.VinhWhen I was 19 months old I wasstanding drinking milk froma glass when I fell. The glassbroke and hurt my eyes. My fathertook me to the hospital andthe doctors took the glass outbut after that, I was blind. Now Ican’t see anything but a dark redcolour and very big things, but Ican feel. I wish I could see, but Iwas a child when I was blindedand I’m used to it now.I came to live at Nguyen DinhChieu School when I was in Year1. There are 250 children at theschool and 85 boys and girls arelodgers. My family live in LongAn Province, which is about 60kilometres away. I see them onceevery two months. I used tomiss them lots—I cried so muchthe first time I had to sleep atschool—but now I’m used to it.I’ve lived here for a long timeso I think they’re used to it, too.Now my school is my home andmy friends are my brothers andsisters, like my family.When I first met Miss TrishI thought she was very happyand loved children very much.I felt so comfortable with her.I felt surprised that she couldspeak Vietnamese. I thought herpronunciation wasn’t so good.Now it’s better, but it’s notperfect yet [laughs].She taught me to speakand sing in English. My bestmemory is in Year 3 or 4 whenMiss Trish took my hand andtold me that I was very beautifulin English. I felt so happy andhoped that my English wouldimprove so I could talk withnative speakers.I also remember Miss Trishbringing me back many giftsafter visiting Australia. Shebought me candy and toy kangaroos.Many of the Australianteachers who work here havebought me kangaroos, so now Ihave six!Now I’m in Year 11. Next yearI will have to stop sleeping atschool and find my own placeto live. I’m a little scared butI think I must practice livingby myself. I want to continuestudying at university and Iwant to become an Englishteacher. Miss Trish made melove English.It was a strange sight: a TigerBeer bottle perched on the coffeetable in my Brooklyn apartment.For a moment, I thought I’dbeen ambushed, that I was thetarget of a sloppy plot to kidnapand repatriate me to Vietnam.(Kevin, are you there? Dean? Trav?John? Justin? Matt? Come out.)It turns out there was asimpler explanation: my newroommate Ben has a taste forthe Southeast Asian suds. Ishouldn’t have been so surprised;one can procure justabout any gustatory artefactfrom the bodegas of the fiveboroughs. But to see thatblue-and-gold feline stalkingme more than 9,000 miles fromNew York Citywhere I’d last faced him shookme.It was just another sign thatmy East Coast and Far Eastlives were overlapping, moreproof that I’d crossed over intothe Vietnamese version of theTwilight Zone.Just two weeks after departingTan Son Nhat Airport, Ihad my first Saigon reunion.With my good friend Linh inToronto visiting family andmy former Cao Thang housemateErin having relocated toL.A., we joined a crowd thatincluded San Art co-foundersDinh Q. Le and Tiffany Chungat the Museum of Modern Art.Officially we were there to seeDinh’s exhibit, The Farmers andthe Helicopters, but we soonretired to a nearby restaurant,just as we’d sometimes doneafter openings at San Art. Wedescended on that unfortunateChinese establishment, rowdilycommandeering an expanse offlattops, and proceeded to dowhat Saigonites do best: takeour good old time. Managementwas none too pleased.The following night, Linh,Erin and I connected withMaggie and Brendan, thedynamic duo behind AsiaL-IFE’s illustrated Wildlife issuefrom March 2010. Our meetingpoint? A seedy karaoke joint inChinatown where we belted out80s classics beneath the glow ofa retro reel of made-for-karaokescenes. Toss in a few shots ofHalong Bay and we could havebeen at the Saigon Hotel.These first few weeks I’velived in a sort of limbo betweenSaigon and New York. But lifegoes on. I’ve begun to do thehard stuff: adjust to the cold,stop calling soccer “football”,and—perhaps hardest of all—find an East Coast Vietnameserestaurant that approximatesthe tastes and textures of home.The hunt, thus far, is not goingwell. If I get really desperate fora taste of HCM City though, I’mpretty sure Tiger Beer tastes thesame here.Sincerely.Tom DiChristopher104 asialife HCMC asialife HCMC 105