1. “in sober colours”; 24.8.2016, việt lâm (hà giang province)udržitelný turismus v...
TRANSCRIPT
GLEN Internship 2016
Final report
1. “In sober colours”; 24.8.2016, Việt Lâm (Hà Giang Province)
Name: Alžběta Srovnalová
Home organization: INEX-SDA, Czech Republic
Project number: 632
Internship title: Setting up a homestay for sustainable tourism
Country and place: Việt Nam, Hà Giang Province
Internship period: 3.7. - 25.9.2016
Hosting organizations: Inside North Vietnam, Jungleman Homestay, Bản Tùy Homestay,
Du Gia Backpacker Hostel, Dong Van Homestay
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SUMMARY
The GLEN internship is a project based part of the Multipliers Training Cycle (MTC) that
allows young educated people to broaden their horizon while being sent to a country in the
so called Global South. Within this framework two GLEN interns took part in the project
“Setting up a homestay for sustainable tourism” in the Hà Giang Province in northern Việt
Nam. This province is a mountainous region with nearly 90% of its inhabitants belonging
to ethnic minority groups. Quite recently the tourism has started to flourish in this region.
This fact has already brought many local people on the idea of running their own homestay
as perceiving it as an alternative source of income. At first glance, the concept of a
homestay might seem as a way that could potentially go in the direction of sustainable
tourism. Nevertheless the author of this report questions this assumption referring to her
personal experiences from Việt Nam. She draws attention to the problematic aspects of
tourism in the context of current neocolonial structures. Hence, the focus of this report lies
on the critical reflection of experiences gained in the freshly opened homestays or that have
been established within the last years in diverse communities in the Hà Giang Province.
Among the tasks that were conducted by the interns belonged everyday’s activities of the
families running a homestay – like food preparation, farming, housework, promotion
activities for the homestay etc. While working together with the local people, the intern
gained an insight unto the diverse modes of living and thus a possibility to become
conscious about the complexity of hybrid forms of modernity. Rather than stories of success
the reader will be offered a sober view on voluntourism and author’s role in it.
SHRNUTÍ
Stáž GLEN je praktickou částí programu globálního vzdělávání, jež umožňuje mladým
Evropanům a Evropankám rozšířit si své obzory zkušenostmi získanými pobytem v zemi
globálního Jihu. V této souvislosti se dvě GLENní stážistky zúčastnily projektu zabývajícím
se vytvářením homestay (alternativního způsobu ubytování místmími) s ohledem na
udržitelný turismus v severovietnamské provincii Hà Giang. Tato provincie je horskou
oblastí, která je z téměř 90ti procenty obývaná lidmi z etnických menšin. V poslední době
zaznamenal tento region nebývalý rozvoj turismu.
Tato skutečnost přiměla řadu místních k otevření si vlastního homestay jakožto
alternativního zdroje příjmu. Na první pohled se jeví koncept “homestay” jako cesta, která
by mohla vést k sociálně a ekologicky udržitelnému turismu. Autorka to nicméně na základě
vlastní zkušenosti zpochybňuje a upozorňuje mj. na problematické stránky turismu v
kontextu novodobých neokoloniálních struktur.
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Tato závěrečná zpráva se tedy zejména snaží o kritickou reflexi zkušeností se zakládajícími
či během posledních let etablovanými homestay v různých komunitách provincie Hà Giang.
Stážistky se účastnily všednodenního provozu rodin provozujících homestay – vaření,
farmaření, domácím pracím, propagací etc. Během společné práce s místními lidmi byl
autorce umožněn vhled to různých životních podmínek a tím pádem možnost uvědomit si
komplexitu hybridních forem modernity. Spíše než příběh úspěchu je čtenáři či čtenářce v
následujícím textu nabídnutý střízlivý pohled na volunturismus a roli autorky v něm.
1. Background
While writing this report I tried to make it comprehensible even for people not knowing
me personally. Hence, at this point I would like to recount some basic aspects of my path
towards the GLEN Program. In this regard I will also briefly touch upon questions related to
the motives and motivations I had while joining the program.
I got to know the GLEN program in 2014, when I conducted my internship at the
organization Ekumenická Akademie Praha. One of the former participants, Barbora
Chmelová told me about it and highlighted the critical approach inherent to the GLEN
program. I have become interested in that and thought such learning cycle might be
complementary to my theoretical knowledge gained during the studies of International
Development at the Vienna University. In that study program the focus lies primarily on the
critical views on theories of and approaches to ‘development’ as well as on the machinery of
the development assistance. Accordingly, at one point during my studies I had to begin to
reflect on my own mindset and attitudes towards ‘development’, ‘aid’ or neo-colonial
structures as well as on my position within them.
Almost two years later I decided to hand in my GLEN application and welcomed the
opportunity of becoming one of the participants. Together with my tandem partner Britta
Muth, chosen by the German organization ASA I was assigned to the project called “Setting
up a model farm for sustainable agriculture”. The project was supposed to be conducted on
the Thien Thai Farm in the Đà Lạt area in the South Central Highlands of Việt Nam1.
I was truly keen to become engaged in a project dealing in a sensitive way with persisting
South-North asymmetries and expected I could partly deconstruct these structures. Hence, I
perceived GLEN program as an imaginary bridge between the academic milieu at the
University and my consecutive occupation. Besides, due to my strong interest in issues
1 One of the contradictions I have come across was that I considered Việt Nam as one of the Global South
countries whilst this country sees itself at reaching the industrialized countries by 2020. See:
http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/281918/vn-targets-high-growth-to-2020.html#YI0agKkBTtQRgrBc.97
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covered by the agenda of the food sovereignty movement2 I was excited about a project
related to organic farming as one of the underappreciated knowledge complexes. Having a
background in social sciences, I thought I could broaden my horizon and get an insight into
peasant farming practices in Việt Nam.
However, after our arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh), our tandem was
notified of the project’s cancellation. That was primarily due the divergence regarding
expectations on the aims of the internship. Apparently, our hosting organization expected us
to be agriculturists whose know-how transfer would eventually lead to an increase in Thien
Thai Farm’s higher productivity and efficiency. Neither me nor my tandem partner Britta fit
such expectations.3 On the contrary, our tandem intended especially to learn from the locals
and not to behave like white experts that would need to “enlighten” people.
To shorten it up, the project and its tasks were adjusted. Finally, Britta and I found ourselves
working for families running a homestay in the Hà Giang Province. The path to the new, sort
of spontaneous “project” had been fairly challenging, but it definitely paid off.
2. Hà Giang Province
The new kind of “project” was conducted in diverse communities in the Hà Giang Province
situated in the far north of the country. This province consists mainly of rural areas, often
rocky highlands, natural forest cover or terraced paddy fields. From both geological and
cultural heritage perspective this province is an outstanding region.
In this province is located also the Dong Van Karst Global UNESCO Geopark (UNESCO Cao
nguyên đá Đồng Văn) that is unique due to its geological heritages dating back 540 million
years ago. In addition, this area has kept rich ecosystems; rare and valuable fauna and flora is
still to be found there. In fact, this added value of the region has a lot to do with its
population that kept living/working in balance with nature and its abundance for
generations.
Solely the Dong Van Geopark is home to 17 different ethnic groups whose culture uniquely
shapes this region. And in general the whole province is rich and diverse regarding the
2 See the global peasant’s movement La Vía Campesina and the Nyéléni Declaration:
https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/food-sovereignty-and-trade-mainmenu-
38/262-declaration-of-nyi
3 Consequently, I would stress the importance of a careful selection procedure of prospective GLEN interns as well
as hosting organizations.
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population composition – according to the Vietnamese Government ethnic minorities
account for up to 88% of the province’s inhabitants.4
Nonetheless, this province is being assessed as one of the „poorest“ 5 regions of Việt Nam.
Heretfore, several Hà Giang “development” projects have been made often under the
supervision of international institutions like the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank.
Currently, Hà Giang Province is experiencing rapid growth in tourism that in fact hasn’t been
an issue for this region just until recently. Increasingly more tourists seeking „authentic“
local connections, places, culture or/and people come to this region. In fact, the government
anticipates Hà Giang’s economic growth rate will rise to 8.5 percent between 2021 and 2025,
and 9.5 percent between 2025 and 2030.6
The question “How will these (pursuits of) growth rates interact with the environmental,
cultural and social facets of this region?” yet remains to be discussed.
3. Homestays – an overview
3.1. Inside North Vietnam
In Hà Giang Province many villages are scattered throughout the mountains and accessible
only by a motorbike or by foot. One of them is the upland village Cao Bồ located
approximately 25km far away from the province’s capital Hà Giang.
Our tandem stayed there at the place of the family Nguyễn although it hasn’t been registered
as a homestay yet. We just came across the possibility through their son Ngữ volunteering for
the local NGO called „V4D“7. Due to the fact that neither our tandem nor the hosting family
had such experiences from before we were invited to look for a way that would somehow fit to
4 Ministry of Planning and Investment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Ha Giang anticipates pace of growth
to hit 7.5 percent by 2020 (4.2.2016). (Online access:
http://www.mpi.gov.vn/en/Pages/tinbai.aspx?idTin=31418&idcm=92)
5 When I use the description „poor“ while talking about Hà Giang Province I do refer to the term ascribed to this
region in e.g. the report written by UNDP (2009) A Human Rights-Based Approach Toolkit.
(Online access: http://www.un.org.vn/en/publications/doc_details/115-a-human-rights-based-approach-
toolkit.html) or in the promo video of the NGO “My Hope Bag” (2016) Ha Giang the poorest province in Vietnam
(Online access: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJrxYml9ZDI). I would like to stress that I do not identify
myself with this ascription.
6 Ministry of Planning and Investment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam:
http://www.mpi.gov.vn/en/Pages/tinbai.aspx?idTin=31418&idcm=92
7 „V4D“ stands for Volunteerism for Community Development & Environment Education. It is a non-government
organization promoting ethnic minority‘s empowerment through vocational training classes, capacity building
and community development activities. See: http://www.v4d.asia/
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both sides. At the beginning it seemed to us -as being privileged Europeans- quite challenging
to get engaged in family’s daily activities. Therefore we attempted to take a sensitive
approach which meant for us to listen, to observe, to learn from the family – the real experts.
Often we couldn’t really understand the actions and found out that much more time would be
needed in order to get closer to the way of thinking and acting of people we got to know.
However together with Mrs. Binh, Mr. Huyên, Ngữ, Oanh our tandem could plant peanuts on
the field, collect wild herbs, feed their four buffalos as well as join them in preparing food and
cleaning the house. As the family mainly relies mainly on subsistance agriculture, they also
grow Shan Tyuet tea8 for sale. Meanwhile (after we returned from Việt Nam) the family has
also set up own homestay called „Inside of North Vietnam“.
2. Wild herb "rau rừng" being used for cooking
For more information see:
- the Facebook page „Inside North Vietnam“:
https://www.facebook.com/InsideNorthVietnam/
- the promo-video „Inside North Vietnam. A weekend with volunteers“:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-kIeX_OEUQ
3.2. Jungleman Homestay
Another homestay we stayed in was close to the city Hà Giang, in the village Phương Thiện.
The homestay officialy belonged to Mrs. Nghiêm working as a teacher and Mr. Liem,
employed by the bank, both living there. However the homestay was run in cooperation with
8 Apparently the oldest Vietnamese Shan Tuyet tea trees are located in Hà Giang Province. There has been made a
video about the tea tradition of Nguyễn family:
https://www.facebook.com/InsideNorthVietnam/videos/1914437065512308/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED
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Mr. Luân working enthusiastically also as a tour guide, and Mr. Nghĩa owning a local travel
café „Km 0 Cafe“. Both Luân and Nghĩa shared a very optimistic view on future development
of the homestay. As the numbers of tourists coming to Hà Giang have been rapidly increasing
they expected to have even more „customers“ in the future. Together with them Britta and me
worked on the reconfiguration of the house so that more people could fit in. It was a strange
feeling to see how with the enlargement of the homestay (becoming actually a hostel), key
lockers for valuables, smartphones etc. are put in place at every floor.
Our tandem did the laundry and washed newly bought blankets, sheets, pillows, helped with
food preparation, washed dishes, cleaned the house. In addition, few times we worked in the
Km 0 Cafe or took part in the homestay’s advertisement (see the picture).
3. A picture made for homestay’s advertisement. From left: me, Britta and Mr. Lun; 24.8.2016, Phương Thiện
For more information see:
- the Facebook page „Homestay Jungle mans“: https://www.facebook.com/Homestay-
Jungle-mans-1635772986736025/
- the Facebook page „Cafe Km0“: https://www.facebook.com/cfekm0Hagiang/
- the Web page of Mr. Luân: „Ha Giang Travels“: https://hagiangtravels.wordpress.com/
3.3. Bản Tùy Homestay
Bản Tùy village where this homestay is placed is just about 3 km far away from Hà Giang city.
We got to know Mrs. Châm and her family’s homestay via Luân and Nghĩa whom we were
working together with before.
The family seemed to get to used to that way of living and hosting people as they have run a
homestay for more than 3 years. Mrs. Châm took care of the organisational matters related to
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the homestay and her parents, grandfather, brothers, sisters and other relatives supported it
by other means like cooking, cleaning, farming. I experienced this homestay as a very friendly
place and got a feeling of how it is when do four generations live under one roof. Together
with the family members, our tandem could take part in the routine activities of the
household. Moreover we appreciated the fact that we were also given an opportunity of
working on the garden or in the field.
At the end of our stay, the family begun to build two new bungalows in front of their house in
order to be able to accommodate even more turists. To some extent, Britta and me joined the
construction workers and experienced how exhausting the work can be while being exposed
the direct sunlight, hot and high humidity the whole day long.
For more information see:
- the Web page „Ban Tuy Homestay”: http://hagiang-homestay.com/index.php
4. Mrs. Châm’s mum Tiên collecting rau muống
(morning glory) on the field;
16.9.2016, close to Ban Tuy Village
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3.4. Du Già Backpacker Hostel
The next place our tandem stayed at was the Backpacker Hostel located in a mountainous
village Du Già (Yên Minh District); approximately 80 km northeast from Hà Giang. It also
belongs to Mrs. Châm’s family and is run by her brother Mr. Tuân and his wife Sy. Except of
taking part in the hostel’s routine activities, we also experienced a so called “traditional”
market that takes place in Du Già every Saturday. In spite of the bad weather, many people
came even from fairly remote areas. The market with its sellers, buyers, arrangements and
diverse supply seemed to me to be a mirror of how I experienced Việt Nam – with all those
contradictions and floating borders characteristic for a hybrid society incorporating various
features of globalization.
For more information see:
- the Facebook page „Du Gia Backpacker Hostel”:
https://www.facebook.com/dugiabackpackerhostel/
3.5. Dong Van Homestay
The last homestay we got to know –and that opened up just couple weeks ago– was the Dong
Van Homestay termed according to the city’s name Đồng Văn. Our contact person of this
homestay was Mr. Lê Hải Yến, a passionate farmer and currently also a tour guide. He has
taken up learning English by himself and came up with the idea of opening a homestay at his
brother’s family’s place. From his point of view is the homestay a good opportunity to
practice the language and meet people from abroad in person. As it was the harvest season on
the rice fields at that time, our tandem could join Mr. Yến’s work. We experienced just the
end of the harvest season and I felt already overwhelmed by the amount of work/ time/
energy that stands behind a package of rice. Moreover the seasonal workers we worked with
on Mr. Yến’s field belonged to the Hmong ethnic minority who lived outside Đồng Văn.
Before starting work on the field, they had to walk approximately 14km. I would be truly
interested in getting in deeper conversations with them, but that was due to the language
barriers and time limits not possible.
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5. Treshing the rice crop on the field; 12.9.2016, Đồng Văn
4. Questions instead of answers
From the very beginning of the stay in Việt Nam -when the initial project got cancelled-, our
tandem was invited to recall some of the thoughts of postcolonial thinking discussed on the
training seminars. I had to struggle with the deep failure that I felt while finding myself being
a part of the structures that reproduce neocolonial power asymmetries. In this regard I
questioned again and again my own motivations, expectations and goals concerning the
GLEN internship phase as well as my future occupational aspirations.
Surely, our tandem got the opportunity of facing diverse challenges, changing places, meeting
people, making experiences, becoming more aware of the complexity of a globalized world –
and that all in a Global South country.
Moreover, the internship provided me with an incentive to think about contemporary
Vietnamese society in the framework of a hybrid modernity which combines the legacies of
the colonial as well as the socialist projects of modernization. Both of them also used ethnic
classification with the aim to have control over the highland ethnic groups. The Vietnamese
history is everything but simple. Therefore when analyzing the current situation, it is
necessary to take into consideration all the diverse geo-political and cultural hegemonic
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powers being in different contexts represented in Việt Nam. Spending three months in this
country enabled me to get just a sober understanding of it.
However at this point I would like to outline some questions that popped up in my mind
when I thought about my privileges.
– Having the possibility to do an internship in Việt Nam with almost no previous work
experiences/ skills and without the knowledge of Vietnamese language: Do I admit that I
gained more than contributed with to the families/ communities I stayed with?
– Being aware of the power to tell stories: How do I want to frame
people/experiences/places/situations when I come back from Việt Nam?
– Being aware of the power of visual representation: What kind pictures do I intend to
make public?
– Being white, middle-class, heterosexual cis-gendered, able-bodied student from Europe:
Do I recognize the way these privileges influenced of how I experienced the stay as well as
the way I was perceived and treated during my internship?
– The current neoliberal system expects individuals to make them selves competitive and
“valuable” for the market: Do I acknowledge that through my GLEN experience I got a
new interesting CV item and have earned a substantial advantage to my coevals?
– Travelling more than 9000 km by an airplane leaving an enormous environmental
footprint behind: How sustainable was actually my stay in Việt Nam? How do I want to
tackle this issue when thinking about travelling in the future?
…
The GLEN internship provided me with quite different experiences from what I originally
thought of. Nonetheless I can say that after all I feel compelled to further reflections on power
asymmetries and my role within them. I do not want to let the experienced failures end up in
a politically immobilizing apathy. I intend to attend a lecture at the University called
“Coloniality under De_construction. Decolonial perspectives and activisms.” and discuss
about all that with people surrounding me. My intention is also to further deal with that kind
of way of global learning/ critical thinking concerned with the material/ symbolic neocolonial
relations within the current global hegemonic system. I do not want to support a system
based on inequalities, power asymmetries, and exploitation in regard to the cheap labor force
as well as environmental devastation. There are plenty of possibilities of how to counter these
asymmetries.
Hence, I want to encourage myself to keep on working on de_construction in every_day_life
and whole_life_long_... and never give up.