Sure. Fair enough. We’ve all seen these kinds of meaningless statistics thrown out there for people to think about or not. But the reason for my instant interest was the fact that this stat applies to the USA.

That’s right. Nearly one in five children in the United States live in poverty.  The richest country in the world has children living in poverty. Not only is the USA the richest country, or at least in the top ten,  but it must rate as one of the more Christian focused countries too with a stated 40% of Americans maintaining they attend church regularly.

Comparing the poverty rate in India and in the USA is quite amazing. One always thinks of India as the poor country. Images of child beggars, even movies like Slumdog Millionaire confirming these images in ones mind.

However the USA has roughly 13 to 17% living below the federal poverty line and some 40% falling below the poverty line at some point within a 10 year time span. That compares to India’s 42% live below the international poverty line.  They don’t look like worlds apart after all.

Somehow it doesn’t seem that horrific to think of a poor India. That doesn’t mean to say that one should condone the situation. It’s just that India is fighting fiercely to right this wrong. In 1975 65% of the population fell into the category. Now at 40% there’s been a fair drop since then.

But why would the USA have such high poverty rates? This is the land where the American dream is supposedly providing every person with the opportunity to make it. In other words they can make a living, improve their standard of living, build a future for their children. Even make it big.

How does an 18% child poverty rate fit into this picture? In my mind it just doesn’t at all. What is the USA doing about it? Not that much it seems as the figures have worsened in the last years.  And let’s not blame the recession again. So convenient.

How can a mega-power like the USA allow it’s children to live in poverty? I don’t understand. Maybe somebody can explain it to me.

There are some small murmurs every now and then questioning the reasons for the UK’s involvement in this war that lead to the death of 1.2 million people. So far. Most of those  are innocent civilians.  Johann Hari, one of my favourite journalists, has a good article on this in The Independent.

But one thing that is mostly overlooked is that the UK is a democracy and it has houses of Parliament where elected representatives sit earning nice little salaries. And in order to avoid having a Prime Minister go off pop and do something stupid like getting involved in a war that has no purpose whatsoever, these folk get to vote on issues. On issues for instance whether to send ones soldiers off to fight a war that is none of ones or their business.

After all there was no real threat to British safety from Saddam Hussein and his rather motley crew of ragamuffin army folk.  But off they went to war regardless. Regardless even of UN disapproval.

The question has to be asked, why did so few people stand up to stop this idiotic action? Isn’t this what the Germans had to suffer after the war. The recrimination about not stopping Hitler, not stopping the Holocaust and not stopping the second World War.

So where are the recriminations this time around? Why is nobody pointing fingers at the British government, all those politicians still getting their pay, not having to be accountable for the deaths of 1.2 million people.

Surely it’s not just Blair. It’s a whole bunch of other folk who should be held accountable too. What did they do to the Germans after the war? They brought to court anybody they could find who had any kind of say with respect to the massacres at the holocaust. Is the Iraq war any different? And what on earth is everybody doing in Afghanistan?

Maybe it’s about Oil in Iraq and Opium in Afghanistan? The BIG money spinners… So then who was pulling the strings one wonders.

Traffic in Co Nhue, Hanoi

Anybody who has had the chance to visit Vietnam will get the chaos of the traffic. If you haven’t had the good fortune you will just have no idea. Unless seen, it is beyond being imagined. The pictures here just don’t do it justice.

Yet the way the traffic works in Vietnam is kind of how life seems to work here too. It could be a reflection of how society works.

Imagine yourself stuck in traffic on your motor bike. There is no room to move. So you squeeze yourself into a non existent gap. You overtake on the wrong side, you take advantage of a bare patch on the pavement, you duck around an obstacle which gets you into oncoming traffic. Eyes wide open while you drive straight into a swarm of motor bikes. They all part to make way for you. Huh?

Yet when it truly can’t move anymore, when you have absolutely exhausted all options then you sit quietly and wait for things to move. And you can wait for a fair time while nothing changes ahead of you and you can’t even see what’s up. And when you do get past whatever it was it is usually a very insignificant blockage. Nothing major. But because traffic flows so busily any small thing can cause a huge jam.

And that’s kind of how it seems to work all round. There is a great patience in the people when nothing can be done. It’s an acceptance of fate or karma or whatever you want to call it. As an aside one can’t see too much road rage happening here.

At the same time there is a fully awake mind that is scheming to take advantage of any gap that could possibly present itself. Whether that is with respect to a business opportunity or traffic. It is the same kind of approach.

Getting to work in the morning, on the back of a motor bike!

Eagle eyed looking out for the gap, but at the same time patient enough to wait it out when there is just no gap to be seen.  It could be a great philosophy to live by.

Is it possible to assess a nation’s characteristics in the way they navigate traffic? Ha, probably not, but it is certainly a lot of fun speculating about it when stuck on the back of a motor bike in traffic such as this. Thank goodness for face masks. A must when this kind of dense exhaust fume gets blasted into ones face. It’s certainly not something for the super health conscious people to experience. Black coated lungs anybody?

Temple of Literture, Hanoi

Does knowledge rub off one wonders. For young Vietnamese a visit to the Temple of Literature seems to do it for them. Walk down the aisles of the Turtle Steles and rub their heads. Those turtles represent the students who were successful at the imperial exams. Maybe their wisdom will literally rub off onto one.

Well let’s see if it works. I did my bit of rubbing turtle heads to see if at my venerable age I might still be able to acquire some wisdom. Never knock a tradition. You never know. In any event any belief system you have that you truly feel will bring you something – whether good or not – could just come about. Sending all those vibes into the Universe…

That’s the wonderful part about Asia. It is still a part of this world where the acquisition of knowledge is of utmost importance. Regrettably the West has kind of bastardised that a little. Sure, we send the kids to school, but we do that because we think a good education will get them a good job. By good job read loads of money to be earned.

In other words, knowledge becomes a ticket to wealth rather than something you acquire for yourself. Of course having said that, knowledge is of course acquired in Asia as well with one eye on a well paying job. However, it still seems to be a pursuit for wisdom itself as well.

Many years ago I asked a classics lecturer why one would want to study ancient Greek and Latin language and literature. And he said for the fun of it and because it’s interesting. Huh? That didn’t quite sit right for me. A University degree was a qualification. Classic Greek didn’t fit into that.

Of course nowadays with the internet at ones finger tips who needs to study anything anymore. I can use my online free software to translate any language to any language. And yes, sometimes the English that I’m trying to get to while translating from Vietnamese looks a bit strange at the end of the process. Still, mostly I can see what is meant.

So why learn anything? Why not just use the internet for ones hugely immense library (bring on Wikipedia) and spend the rest of the time on the beach or in front of a computer playing games?

Maybe we go back to the classics professor. For the sheer fun of it. That’s what learning should be all about.

Anyway, whatever your reasons for learning something new, pick up some wisdom if you ever visit Hanoi by taking a turn past the Temple of Literature. Take a bow, light a stick of incense to Confucius and his wise disciples maybe some of it will rub off on you. How does it go again? Confucius says…

This meant that more people survived. Babies survived birth and the first few years and older folk had a longer life to look forward to. What was missing was the education with respect to birth control. Well, so I thought.

However, in a short ten minute talk on Ted, Hans Rosling managed to show up my errand ways. In fact he proves that in developing countries where the infant mortality rate has been reduced to minimum percentages the birth rate has plummeted.

More medicine, more health, more probability that your young one will survive and suddenly birth control becomes a welcome addition to life style and family values.

Who would have thought. I certainly didn’t. Maybe for many people this makes total sense. I always viewed it from the point of view that if you are a subsistence farmer, or tiny scale trader you can’t possibly take on the responsibility of feeding many mouths. In other words, reduce the family size.

But that wasn’t the point for poor families being able to feed the family. The point was more about having many young ones because inevitably some were going to die. You wanted to preserve the family in whatever way you could. Even if you couldn’t quite see how you were going to have enough food for everybody.

It is a fundamentally different way at looking at the situation. Because now all you need to do is spend money to improve the natal care to mothers to ensure that their children will survive and you no longer have to preach anything else. No longer is there the moral or any other issue around birth control. It just falls into place.

Watch this ten minute talk. Well worth it. You never know you might also have that AHA moment about high population numbers. One wonders whether there is some inherently wrong way that HIV/AIDS is being looked at too.  Could a different perspective create the cure or at the least stop the spreading virus?

In this instance it seems an unexpected passing away. Granny was only 68 and she died at 2.00am. By mid morning the funeral preparations had started and the first signs of what was to come were to be heard around the area.

In the alley tables had been set up with a shade cloth draped from a building to a building on the other side of the alley. The band arrived and the shrine had been set up showing a picture of the person who had died. Incense burning and flowers, offerings all made a display.

In terms of unexpected, the immediate family only started wearing their white head scarfs by lunchtime. But the sound system had been set up and the band was playing well before then. And played for most of the day. Only to be interrupted by the odd breather or refreshment. A singer contributed his bit too on occasion.

One thing is for sure, the music played at these events is totally suited for a funeral. For a somewhat lengthy but very interesting podcast on this music go here. Lament, dirge, painful are words that one would associate with it. There is no mistaking that this is a sad happening. And it’s also not a shame to cry loudly and with passion. And a further article may be found here.

How different it is in places such as England or Germany where the less noise the more dignified the funeral is deemed to be. Church music is played that soothes the people attending and allows them to blank out any feelings. And the quicker it’s over the better.

Not here. This music will continue until the procession leaves the house scheduled in this instance for the next morning. And in fact the lament can continue for up to three days. It probably depends on how far relatives and friends need to travel in order to pay their last respects.

There is no way that one can ignore this rite of passage  if one lives in the area. You have to walk through the area on your way to anywhere. There is no getting around bowing ones head and looking respectful. A bunch of white flowers or the burning of incense should have been undertaken too.

Death becomes a communal affair with all parties contributing their sorrow and sympathy. It’s a part of Asia and in this case Vietnam more specifically that is precious. The woman next door had lived with the extended family as is custom.

Her many friends that came to keep the mourners company would have been local too and the people who brought their own small chairs and lined the adjoining alleys would have all known the deceased and each other.

It’s something the big city life in the West has lost – that sense of community where people from your immediate environment know you and appreciate your existence. It’s a good thing that has been lost.

Hold the Future's Gardens in Co Nhue

Hold the Future and it’s director Mrs Hien is an example of total commitment against all odds. And here is a brief history.

Mrs Hien, herself a disabled person resulting from a vicious bicycle accident in her final year at University, found herself widowed at an early age with two teenage children that still needed support through higher education.

She was a civil servant at the time and salaries not huge. To supplement her earnings she spent her evenings and week-ends working on extra projects. She sold food on the pavement and worked at making handicrafts.

It was during this time of huge effort that she started to get to know other disabled people who were also eking out a living. Eventually this informal group grew to such an extent that it became worthwhile to open up a business and lease premises.

This was in 2002 and over the years the focus of this Centre has shifted slightly to become more vocational training focused than purely a facility for a co-operative of people working in handicraft production.

Over the past years the Centre has nurtured and offered training to close on 300 young people between the ages of 18 and 30. Currently there are just under 90 young people benefiting from vocational training sponsored by Caritas Germany.

During these eight years the Centre not once received assistance from the local government. There has been most welcome assistance for the vocational training by charities and foreign government agencies. A small grant for instance was provided by the Canadian International Development Agency some years back .

Young disabled people at Hold the Future

But it is the sponsorship of Caritas Germany that has enabled the Centre to substantially improve and extend it’s training portfolio to not only promote the acquisition of handicraft skills but to also add tuition in numeracy, literacy and sign language  to the mix.

During 2010 with a much more substantial grant awarded during the second half of 2009 by Caritas Germany it has been possible to add soft skills to the training. These cover such subjects as building, confidence, communication skills and presentation and sales techniques.

As much as the production of handicraft is still a major focus there is a move towards providing additional skills. It is hoped these skills will provide young disabled people with more choices and opportunities to build their own future so that they may live independent lives.

To follow the heart warming stories of the people involved in Hold the Future visit the blog at www.holdthefuture.org and sign up to the newsletters.  Your participation is most welcome.

Now one might think that legislation and local laws are totally necessary to protect the individual in society. You would think and in all likelihood agree. But to a certain extent this protection can get so overwhelming that it stifles life.

And maybe it has to do with people handing over their responsibility for their own well-being into the hands of the state.  Somebody is to blame. Everybody else. Maybe.

Delivering eggs Vietnam style

In the area of transportation anything goes! Eggs are stacked in trays on the back of a bicycle. A person on a motor bike will carry a ten meter section of aluminium pole, a dozen chicken will hang in a cage carried from poles across the shoulders. And all of these business people use the roads as normal. Moving along in the middle of the traffic.

If it fits onto a vehicle of some sort it will be transported.  Actually not quite. If it needs transporting, it will be moved. Somehow. Gravity defying so sometimes.

It’s brilliant.  It is a true reflection of the spirit of mankind. The drive, intelligence, motivation and the plain determination of people to look after themselves and their family. That doesn’t mean there aren’t hardships, injuries, road deaths and much more that could be avoided with stricter rules and regulations.

But that’s not the point in Vietnam. For people it is all about getting things done within the constraints of limited budgets and even more limited resources. A communal drive towards looking after yourself, your family and friends. Let’s hope that the creeping Western influence won’t kill that off too soon. It’s part of Vietnam’s charm.

In a way the traffic that will astound the traveller coming from Europe or America is an introduction to this country. Think of how fish swim together in shoals. The way they travel together, dividing when they come up against an obstacle. And how they merge again when that’s passed. That’s how traffic flows in Vietnam.

It’s a hair raising experience for the person who is used to driving themselves in a well ordered traffic system. If you’ve never driven a car yourself you won’t notice it as much. The rules of the road that you are used to are non-existent in Vietnam.

The same applies to society itself. Life is handled in a similar manner. You go with the flow. You find ways around obstacles. You keep together and travel together. Help to overcome hurdles in life is given by those you are moving with.

Travellers from the so called developed world who are used to having all their activities controlled by rules and regulations will find this country quite different to what they are used to.

Sure there are rules in Vietnam. In fact many. After all it is a Communist country. However, somehow the Vietnamese seem to be able to navigate these rules without losing their identity, their way of life and in a strange sort of way their freedom.

Don’t think that there are no influences and examples of the Capitalist world. Bentleys and Porsches, SUVs and Harley Davidsons dash in and out of the traffic. But they share the road with busses, bicycles, motor bikes, three wheeler bikes, as well as women carrying the traditional baskets over their shoulders.

And pedestrians. All somehow following the principle of flow.

The same applies to small eateries on pavements. Just walk around or through them. They are set up specifically for just a meal. Or to serve a cold drink during the day or a beer at night. Within minutes everything can be packed away and a bike or baskets are used to take everything away.

You will feel alienated if you expect to follow Western rules in this country. You will not enjoy your visit as much if you expect the same structure as you are used to at home. Move with the flow and see how this charming country gives you an experience all of its own.

However, what is interesting to note is that the electric motor car might have had a head start over the internal combustion engine propelled vehicle. The only reason why the petrol guzzling motor car won was because Ford invented the conveyor belt driven assembly line. It was just plain cheaper to produce the gas propelled vehicle.

Yet there will be folk out there who will swear blind that the petrol vehicle is the far superior mode of transport. Sure it is currently because all development money has been spent on this. What if the same kind of Research & Development investment that went into refining the petrol car had gone into the electric car?

Different story that altogether one would imagine.

It is amazing how a small thing can lead to such a huge change in direction. And how people can be hood winked into thinking this is how it should be. Always. Some interesting info on this point to be found here. And can you imagine what this would have done to the oil industry?