Cu Chi: A poor family, a school, and the tunnels

Where to start with this post. This was a fantastic trip in many ways. It was my first time out of the city which was a huge deal for me. When I spend too much time in the city I really feel cut off from my self. So first we visited a small school in Cu Chi. Sadly I have no pictures of the wonderful children because I was too busy acting. We put on two plays for the youngsters. The first was a well know children's folk tale, The Legend Of Son Tinh And Thuy Tinh.  It was a story about two gods who wished for the Kings daughter's hand in marriage. I was one of the mountain kings servants, a horse!  It was my debut on the acting circuit.  The next play was a dental health skit that tried to teach the kids about how to brush their teeth.  I was chocolate, and very bad character.  I enjoyed trying to entertain and teach the kids but I really despised acting.

Next we went to visit a very poor family in Cu Chi.  This family could not even afford to buy uniforms for their only child let alone school materials.  One of the daughters of the program had decided to give her lucky Tet money to the disadvantaged girl in the family.  The exchange is shown below, it is blurry because I felt awkward taking pictures of people in their homes like they were on display.  Even though in truth they kind of were on display.

Their home really was very rudimentary.  They lived very much in the middle of nowhere and had no means of transportation besides their feet.

I was sad that on this trip we were given so little information about this family.  I know little or nothing about their way of life and how they survived.  I do know that it made me deeply sad to come their with the kids in my program.  Both the Vietnamese kids and the American kids complained about how hot it was, how hungry they were, how their cameras were not working, and when we were going to leave for the Cu Chi Tunnels.  I know that we all have different concerns and priorities but it made me sad to see such lack of concern. 

Next we ate at a nice restaurant. It was outdoors and very tasty. Pictures of the tasty food.  Yes their was a great deal of regret going here after visiting the family that probably struggled to feed themselves.

This was a cool alcohol called snake wine and scorpion wine.  I had a bit,  it was pretty good.

Again coming here after the poor family was a bit difficult for me.  All of it got me thinking about the numbers we draw in the lottery of life.  I am so lucky just because I was born in America, it is a privilege that I have truly done nothing to earn.     

Next we were on to the tunnels of Cu Chi. The tunnels were the site of many an offensive operation by the US military and the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tet Offensive.  Some pictures of the tunnels follow.

US Military Equipment:

A booby trap in the forest and many models.  I am sure that these killed many US soldiers while at the same time saving many Vietnamese lives.  This is the kind of thing that really send me into conflict.  I recently talked to a friend who said that it was natural to feel this way, if I didn't it would mean I wasn't really thinking.  I feel this is true, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Me in a tunnel

Me in the medical station.  This too would have been completely underground during the war.  All of these places were connected with nothing visible above ground.  It is really incredible.

We also ate some of the food they ate underground.  It was like a sweet potato, it was the root of a common tree.  It was neat to try but I could not imagine eating it day in and day out.

This whole trip to the tunnels was a troubling experience for me.  I knew that many of my fellow Americans had died in this place and so naturally I felt sad about that, but I also felt strongly that they had no place there to begin with.  I felt terrible that the people that had occupied these tunnels had been so harassed that they had been forced under ground.  To force another human being to a life underground in the dark seems unimaginably terrible to me.  I found the site incredibly gripping and interesting.  But found it hard to feel happy in this place.