Making a difference, one brick at a time.

July 2018 Duy Xuyen District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam

#GrantThorntonAus #UniteToBuild #HabitatForHumanity 

I really did not know what to expect when we set off in our mini bus with our pink panther mascot proudly on display in the windscreen, for all to see. There were 10 of us in the mini bus, plus a translator/habitat leader and all round good person, nicknamed “Bamboo”. She was half our height, but she was tough and definitely in charge.  

I was excited, a little eager and a little apprehensive, as we drove away from our 5-star hotel, passing rice fields, free range roaming cows and streams of mopeds, all beeping, as they passed. The houses quickly disappeared, replaced by sheds of multiple proportions. There was water and wetlands all around us, with rice fields in every direction. 

The mini bus abruptly stopped and commenced to turn into what looked like a private driveway. In fact, it was a perfectly respectable semi-main road, partially concreted. Actually it was a major thoroughfare for the locals, as we later learned. I still have no idea how the driver navigated the narrow street, dodging mopeds, bikes, dogs and an occasional chicken. 

We stopped in front of an archway, at the cross roads between road "A" which continued north, separating the houses (maybe dwellings is better way of describing them) and the rice fields, and road "B" which extended perpendicularly east, deep into the rice fields.

To the left of these crossed roads, in front of the archway of red pillars with yellow writing, proudly flying the red flag of Vietnam, together with a fading portrait of Ho Chi Minh, decorated with the yellow five pointed star on the right and the familiar hammer and sickle on the left – stood a shack. 

The shack was largely shielded from the elements by the wall of cement bags and gravel to be used for our construction. The shack, was in fact a tent-like-bamboo structure with corrugated iron bits for walls and roof, however I think it was the tarp that actually kept the rain, somewhat, out. Inside was just enough room for a double bed (where all four family members slept), a small chest of drawers, a 1.5 m round table and plastic stools. There was no kitchen, just a home-made water tank / well which accumulated rainwater. There was no oven and definitely no cinema room.   

Ah, but how can I forget the animals? Right next to the bed was a barn, actually more like an animal area where a cow and her calf, plus a pig lived. 

It is difficult to put into words the feelings, the ideas and other thoughts that flash by and percolate in my head as I view the situation. As a fixer I just want to jump in and sort things out, but slowly the magnitude of the poverty problem dawns on me. It’s on a national scale, bigger, grander and something I could never fix.

After meeting the friendly family, seeing their smiling faces and warm embrace, I realise that my perceptions were not their reality. I am sure they have issues, challenges and aspirations, but they could not be seen through my western eyes.

Lesson number 1. Don’t assume and don’t jump to conclusions.  

With that realisation, my heart lightened and my drive to help the family build a secure house was fully engaged. So we snapped a few pics for posterity, our team of pink panthers with our pink caps and the smiling grateful family of four together with their parents. 

Being amateur builders, our team consisted of Auditors, Tax advisers, a Liquidator, Forensics and me with my technology expertise - so we had to learn new skills and learn them quickly. We were only here for a week.

Luckily our fundraising efforts enabled us to hire some skilled labour, who created the foundations and laid the first row of bricks. The rest was up to us. 

The locals, from neighbouring farms, gathered to see what the fuss was about and the stream of visitors continued throughout our build.

Lesson number 2 – The locals are VERY friendly, kind and very grateful.

Formalities now over, we simply got to work.

The major piece of work was to build the outside brick wall, followed by internal brick walls. We looked around but could not see the Bunnings premixed cement bags anywhere. All we saw were cement bags and sand. Sand which had to be sifted before use.

So we got working shoveling sand, sifting sand and manually mixing the mortar.

Yes we were all colleagues, partners from different teams. We knew of each other professionally, but didn’t really know each other. From the bus ride out to the site to the minute we stepped onto the site, something magical just happened, we just clicked, instantly united into a single unit. Maybe it was the air around us or the ambiance of the location or enthusiasm one gets from doing something good, something selfless for others. I suspect the latter was the reason for our unity.

For the next week we continued to sift sand, carry bricks, mix the mortar, lay bricks, re-lay bricks as one of the batch we used was too wet (didn’t make that error again), carry lots of stuff, demolish, cut, clean and much much more. (Lessons 3-9) But above all, we had lots of fun, engaging with each other, with the family members and their wonderful children and grandparents.

Slowly, one brick at a time, our house began to take shape.

Sure our approach may have been a little agile, we had a plan on a page but there was no construction certificate and variations were made on the spot without council approval. There was lots of pointing and gestures to agree the scope.

Lesson number 10 - you you don't need to speak the same language in order to communicate.

All barriers were quickly overcome as we simply just got on with the job. 

During this build I learnt so many things about myself, about my team members and humanity generally. I learnt how to survive without checking my emails, how to build without sophisticated tools and how different people are really not that different. How we can communicate without knowing the languages and reinforcing my belief that to break the cycle of poverty requires small actions from all of us. 

One thing that I did observe is just how hard women are expected to work in Vietnam. Don’t get me wrong, the men work very hard, but I did feel that women were simply expected to do more. The female of the house was constantly with us on the build, carrying bricks, collecting fallen mortar, building, demolishing, passing, carting things, making us snacks, looking after the kids, washing, cleaning and I am sure that making dinner was also her responsibility. Normally, when the husband goes to work, his wife is also responsible for the rice field and I assume the harvest - hard life. The 80+ year old grandmother was also involved, she immersed herself into a number of jobs, but the most impressive was when she picking up a masonry mallet demolishing a small wall, very impressive. 

Maybe the secret of a long and healthy life is hard labour, I don’t know, but it just looked disproportional. It also looked that women were just expected to do more.

Room for improvement, as they say on current schools assessments.  

Yes the build was hard, the heat and humidity did not help. Our hard hats made us extra sweaty and our daily ritual of slip - slop - slap must have looked funny to the locals. However we did have fun YMCA'ing to the Village People an even a syncronised Macarena routine.

As I look out onto the horizon across the lush green rice fields, I hope that this house brings Hai and Huong, together with their children, a solid foundation to build the rest of their lives. I hope that our efforts will break their poverty cycle, that their children will simply have a good long life.

Thank you Michelle, Marilyn, Himashini, Alex, Nico, Said, Vince, Steve and Shane for making our team such a pleasure to work in. Thank you Greg for your vision in partnering with Habitat for Humanity in this awesome project, helping 13 families have a better life. PLUS A HUGE THANKS TO MY SUPPORTERS WHO DONATED TO THIS PROJECT. THANK YOU!

What about the roof?

Due to Australian regulations, as volunteers, we were not able to build beyond a specific height. The roof will be put on by professionals within the next 3 weeks. Stay tuned for a final picture.