NGO Self-Profile:
Aid to Southeast Asia
Aid to Southeast Asia (ASA) celebrated ten years of partnerships in Vietnam in 1999. It was founded by Steve Sherlock, a veteran of the Vietnam war, along with three other veterans, who shared a commitement to the reconstruction of Vietnam and reconciliation between the people of the US and Vietnam, at a time when Vietnam was devastated by an embargo and desperate for access to modern technology and equipment. In the ten years of ASA’s work, the end of the embargo brought diplomatic relations and a rush of businesses hoping to reach Vietnam’s nearly 80 million people. Economic development and modernization have increased access to goods and services as well as the disparity between those who are prospering and those left behind. Homelessness, prostitution and street crime are on the rise, and access to education and medical treatment are increasingly dependent upon one’s ability to pay for services.
ASA aims to provide Vietnamese medical professionals with the tools to serve the needs of their people. Its philosopy, which has been critical to continued success, is one of respect for the ability of Vietnam’s medical professionals to define and meet the people’s needs when adequate equipment, supplies and access to information are made available. In keeping with this mission, ASA aggressively solicits and delivers medical supplies and equipment. In the coming year, it intends to focus more on rural areas of Vietnam which are not benefiting proportionately from urban-centered development. ASA is also exploring the possibility of offering AIDS prevention services in response to a dramatic increase in the spread of this disease which has accompanied the growth of foreign business and tourism.
In celebrating ten years of service and partnership, ASA wrote that “the last decade has been a journey of hope, of compassion, of giving and friendship. It has resulted in a strong foundation upon which ASA will continue its work. None of this would have been possible without the people who cared and who gave of themselves and their resources. We hope each of you will join us in celebrating your success and ours.”
For more information, contact ASA at 1316 4th St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN, 55414; phone (612)378-9491; fax (612)378-9479; sherlockusa@uswest.net
The Floods in Hue
by Bob Lesser [Editor’s note: Floods in central Vietnam last year may have been the worst in a century. Following is an eyewitness account of the Vietnamese response by an American who was on the scene.]
During the fall of 1999, I was a Program Leader for Where There Be Dragons, an experiential education program for American high school students in Vietnam. My job was to introduce the history and culture of Vietnam based on what I’d learned the year and a half I lived, studied, and worked there beginning in 1994.
The program emphasized getting off the beaten path away from plush hotels and banana pancakes, traveling on local buses and trains, and trying as much as possible to experience life as Vietnamese do. The flooding that devastated central Vietnam this past November brought this experience closer then we ever imagined.
The rainy season in central Vietnam begins in October and during our three weeks in Hue it rained daily. It was just like any other night as I biked home in heavy rain drenched as usual. The next morning I awakened to ankle high water in the courtyard of our hotel just off the bank of the Perfume River. By the afternoon the water was waist high. It continued to rain as heavy winds downed power lines, knocked over billboard signs, and uprooted trees right outside the hotel.
By the time the sun had gone down electricity was out and we were given candles for light. Phones were dead. And running water was soon to follow. In order to flush the toilet we had to fill buckets with flood water which had risen halfway up the first floor. We were on the third floor and although most of our stuff was damp and moldy we were lucky to be in a dry place. For the three days that this storm continued the only time we ventured out was to get food.
Helicopters with lights flashing buzzed by overhead, a spectacle I’d never seen in Vietnam before. This was when I realized how urgent and far reaching this situation was. The rains ended by the fourth day and waters began to recede. It was at this point that we were able to get out and see the extent of the damage. People were saying that this was the worst flooding in over 100 years. Water marks stained the walls of every street level shop and home. Buses lined streets with Vietnamese passengers sleeping in them, stranded in Hue and unable to go anywhere for days. Refuse was piling up all along the river especially near the central market and foul smells emanated throughout the city.
The first visible signs of an international relief effort began with the Royal Thai Air Force flying in ten planes with supplies. When the roads were open, buses arrived carrying relief workers from all over the country. And students from various colleges were enlisted to volunteer in the clean up effort.