Tiger grass helps improve Co Tu ethnic people’s lives

Co Tu people in Quang Nam Province’s Dong Giang and Tay Giang Districts are harvesting tiger grass flowers to bolster their incomes.

Harvesting tiger grass flowers to subsidise their education

The plants grow wild in local forests and increase people’s livelihoods post Tet.

Tiger grass flower season

Two thirds of the forests in Dong Giang and Tay Giang Districts are home to tiger grass. Flowers of this plant are often dried and used to make brooms for domestic and foreign customers.

Tiger grass can be easily seen along the Ho Chi Minh Highway and Highway 604, as well as throughout the two districts. This plant also flourishes in forests.

Zoram Thi Blong, a girl from Chonet Hamlet, Ating Commune in Dong Giang District, is carrying tiger grass flowers home. She said that she is studying in sixth grade at Le Van Tam Secondary School. She often goes to school in the afternoon and uses her free time in the morning to help her parent gather tiger grass flowers to earn some money to support her studies.

Forest wealth

People in Aso, Song Kon and Ating Communes in Dong Giang Districts and A Vuong and Bhalee in Tay Giang District often trade in tiger grass flowers.

Bling Heng, a man from Phu Mua Hamlet of ZoNgay Commune, said every family in his village have someone to pick the flowers. Each person can harvest between 20 and 40 kilos of flowers and earn nearly VND100,000 (USD5.7) per day.

Village Patriarch Briu Abuc in Choco Hamlet, A Ting Commune, said, “Tiger grass have helped improve people’s living standards in recent years. Previously, people were not aware of the plant’s value and often destroyed it to grow acacia.”

Currently, there are six tiger grass flower agents in Dong Giang District’s Zo Ngay and Song Kon communes. Merchants use two or three trucks to carry the flowers to Tam Ky City in Quang Nam or to Danang City for daily sales, he added.

Ms. Ha in ATinh Commune, who has traded in this flower for over a decade said, “Fresh tiger grass flowers are sold wholesale at VND3,500 (USD0.16) per kilo, but dry ones have better prices. This year local people have been very happy, as they’ve had a good crop. Many people started harvesting the flowers from Lunar January 4.”

Dong Giang District is home to over 4,600 Co Tu ethnic households. As many as 2,000 households take part in harvesting this type of flowers.

Local people happy with new crop

Classifying the flowers before selling them to agents

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Countryside specialties popular gifts for Tet

Many people are seeking to buy countryside specialties as gifts for their families and friends on Tet holiday, in addition to unique fruits of wine-gourds and other items.

Many people are seeking to buy countryside specialties as gifts for Tet

Countryside specialties grow in popularity

Born in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang, Tran Dinh Hoan has lived in Hanoi for nearly 20 years, since enrolling in university. But he still perfers to buy things for Tet from his home town.

“I had my relatives in Cao Bang buy five kilos of roast buffalo in Bao Lac and 10 kilos of mien noodles from a company called Binh Nguyen. These things help me to feel connected with the place I grew up, and keep me from getting homesick. I'm happy to share these things with my friends," he said.

Quach My Uyen Nhan, of Hue City, said she often sends over 50 jars of tom chua, a sauce made from shrimp and chilli, to her daughter, who is studying at a university in Hanoi for Tet.

Hoang Dinh Trong, owner of a communications firm in Hanoi, has his mother send 400 kilos of Dien Bien rice, something that can be found in the northern mountains of Vietnam. He then divided it and sent it to business partners as Tet gifts.

"I had this idea after eating a meal with some of my partners at my house. Many people complimented the dish and one asked me if I could help him get 30 kilos for his family."

Trong added even a lot of well-to-do people prefer simple, countryside products to luxurious foreign ones.

Me xung, known as sesame candy, is a specialty in Hue

Growing market

After seeing a request on an online forum for parents asking for certain countryside specialties for Tet, Uyen Nhi, of Hue City, decided to make a business out of it.

With help from her family, Nhi started to offer products from her hometown via the internet. She started receiving orders within days.

Some people have even set up a website at Quatetvn.com to trade in presents including countryside specialties like salted vegetables, pickled scallions, banh chung, banh day, an other kind of rice cake. Packages of such specialties are offered at VND545,000 (USD25.7). Dozens of people have ordered these gift packages.

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Motorbike fires stir up public concern

A number of motorbikes in Hanoi and other areas have caught fire recently for no apparent cause, causing worry among consumers. 

Motobike  fire on Chuong Duong Bridge

According to the Hanoi Fire Prevention Department, between December 1, 2010, and November 30 this year, there were 40 incidents of vehicle fires in Hanoi, including 11 motorbikes. In seven of these cases, motorbike owners simply left the site, leaving people and fire department to deal with the situation.

A Honda’s SH motorbike burst into flames at the crossroads of Kim Ma, Lieu Giai and Nguyen Chi Thanh streets after crashing into a car, causing a one-hour traffic jam at midday on December 12. There were no injuries.

In the end only the metal frame of the VND100 million (nearly USD4,700) motorbike remained. The fire lasted ten minutes, during which time the owner fled the scene. 

On December 9, a Honda Air Blade caught fire while driving in Hanoi on Nguyen Trai Street. The driver also escaped injury.

On December 14, an Attila Elizabeth of SYM suddenly caught fire on Cao Thang Street, Thanh Hoa Province. Luckily, the fire was quickly put out. The owner said she bought the motorbike in 2007. According to her, she saw smoke coming from the rear of the vehicle, She said that flames appeared when it was being parked in front of her hair dresser. 

Colonel To Xuan Thieu, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Fire Prevention Department, said, “It is difficult to find the cause of these fires because the debris left is often not enough to find the source. Also, there has been a lack of cooperation by owners of these vehicles. Most of these cases involve older motorbikes that have had previous owners. For this reason, it takes time to track down the actual drivers. We still have to uncover the reasons for these incidents to determine whether there was any criminal activity involved.”

Vuong Ngoc Tuan, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association, showed concern about the issue and stressed the importance of regular maintenance. He added that although there have been a lot of these types of accidents recently, only one owner has stepped forward and asked for help from the association. The accident in question occurred in Bac Ninh Province on December 1  and killed a woman who was three-months pregnant along with her four-year old daughter. 

Problem with motorbike production?

According to Do Huu Duc, Deputy Head of the Vietnam Register, the Ministry of Transport will conduct regular inspections of motorbike assembly plants in Vietnam.

To date, only Honda has given comment on the issue. They said that, despite adding additional safety checks, they have yet to detect any technical problems in the manufacturing process. 

 Honda SH on fire

Air Blade in flames

 

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Society alienating gays and lesbians

Gay people in Vietnam are struggling to overcome social prejudice and family opposition to live true to themselves and find happiness, heard a workshop held in Hanoi last Friday.

Actor Thai Hoa plays a gay man in the film De Mai Tinh (Fool for Love). Gay people have to struggle to overcome social prejudice and family opposition, a workshop heard last week. — VNS File Photo

“When my mother found out I was gay, she took me to a counselling centre and asked the counsellor for a cure,” Nguyen Thanh Tung (not his real name), shared in an interview conducted by the Information Sharing and Connecting group (ICS), a community of LGBT, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in early December.

Tung said he had wanted the counsellor to help him find ways to explain to his mother his sexual orientation and make her accept the fact, but was otherwise disappointed because the counsellor did not understand anything about homosexuality.

“She said we had to wait until I reached 28 years old to be sure whether I was gay or not, which led my mum to believe that I could still become “normal”, added Tung.

Tung is not alone in facing his family’s denial of his true sexual orientation. Many other LBGT people also expressed their desperation in persuading their family to accept their sexuality. Le Van (not his real name), another gay youth, was even locked at home once after his family found out he was gay.

He said his family’s opposition pushed him to seek counselling as he wanted to find the courage to confront his parents.

According to an online survey conducted by ICS with 1,020 respondents, 78 per cent of those surveyed had sought counselling to find help for their problems revolving identity confusion, social prejudice and relationship problems. Among them, nearly 30 per cent were forced into counselling services by their families because their parents wanted to find a cure for their homosexual status, which was seen by them as a disease.

Counsellors at the workshop said strong social prejudice against homosexuals was a major challenge to the quality of counselling services offered to the LGBT group.

Quach Thu Trang, an official from the Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP), said in some cases, the counsellors themselves even showed prejudice against homosexuals, as they were not equipped with proper knowledge about homosexuality. Some of them believed that gay people became homosexuals because of the influence of Western media or even the environment (for those who live mostly near people of the same sex) and could be “cured” to become heterosexual.

A recent study conducted by the Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE) with 3,231 gay people revealed that about 15 per cent of the correspondents have been reprimanded or insulted by their families, 4.5 per cent have been attacked and beaten and around 4 per cent faced problems with landlords or roommates, all because of their sexuality.

Counsellors and social activists at the workshop asked people to stop viewing homosexuality as a disease and to respect the LGBT group’s needs and rights.

According to Nguyen Van Anh, director of the Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender – Family – Women and Adolescents (CSAGA), also a counsellor from LinkTam, a counselling centre for lesbians, the suicide rate of LGBT was 13 times higher than that of heterosexual people. She said out of thousands of lesbians who called her centre for advice, 10 per cent had attempted to commit suicide and the remaining 90 per cent had considered it. A major reason for those intentions was social discrimination.

Le Huu Anh, an officer of the Ministry of Public Security who researches crimes against homosexuals, said the legal force should join hands with society to ensure the rights of homosexuals.

He said the law needed to update regulations specifically stipulated to protect homosexuals from discrimination and violent behaviour.

Nguyen Thu Huong (not her real name), whose son is gay, said she hoped for sympathy from society and understanding towards gay people like her son.

“Gay people are as normal as everyone, they are only different in their feelings, they need to be respected and protected,” Huong said in tears.

Huong added that teenagers should be given special attention as they were often the victims of bullying at school.

“We should ensure that young homosexuals grow up well without being isolated, or else it will be too late”.

Huong’s statements mirrored the concerns of other mothers in the same situation who attended the workshop.

The workshop was organised by CCIHP in co-ordination with iSEE, ISC and Rutgers World Population Foundation.

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Waterway chaos blights Haiphong cruise tourism

The US-based international SilverSea Cruises Ltd has decided to cancel cruises to Haiphong due to port’s congested waterways.

Viet Excursions was not surprised by the Silver Shadow cruise cancellation of tours to Haiphong

With substandard traffic infrastructure, including a lack of tourist dock and unimpressive tourism products, it was little surprise that the five-star cruise line cancelled their Haiphong stop.

Terrible waterway traffic

Le Dinh Tuan, Director of Tan Hong-Du Ngoan Viet or Viet Excursions, a firm responsible for welcoming the Silver Shadow cruise, said he was not surprised to receive the bad news.

Tuan shared, “I really sympathise with international tourists who had to remain on board for three hours to travel the three-kilometres from Dinh Vu port to Haiphong City.

According to Tuan, many international tourists are keen to visit Ha Long and Hanoi, but due to the time it takes to travel from Quang Ninh to Hanoi, they are compelled to call at Haiphong in the hope of saving their time. However, Haiphong’s creaking traffic infrastructure has left many disappointed.

“A delegation of nearly 2,000 tourists from Europe and America booked places on the Silver Shadow. They were disappointed with the traffic situation in Haiphong, and decided to suspend their visit and demand compensation as they felt as if they had been swindled,” Tuan noted.

In recent years, the Silver Shadow cruise ship has often visited Vietnam, but previously only stopped in the central and southern regions.

An anonymous official from Saigontourist said the firm is reluctant to recommend tourist cruises stop at Haiphong due to unfavourable traffic conditions.

Tourism port needed

Many tourists who travel to Haiphong and Ha Long want to visit Hanoi but are not able to due to excessive traffic time.

The same situation is recorded in many other tourism centres across the country like Ha Long and Ho Chi Minh City.

Although Vietnam boasts a coastline of over 3,200 kilometres and has welcomed high-end tourist cruises for dozens of years, the country has not yet built a tourism port suitably equipped to welcome international tourists.

To date, almost large tourist cruises have to call at Phu My Port in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau before arriving in Ho Chi Minh City.

These cruises can only moor after waiting for cargo ships for hours. Cruises coming to Ha Long, meanwhile, have to stop at Cai Lan Port which is also a busy cargo port. Tourists have no other choice but hire small boats to their destinations.

Le Quang Thang, an official from Saigontourist, said international tourists are often dismayed with waiting at chaotic cargo ports during their cruises.

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