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

2

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.

3

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

4

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.

5

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/

6

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

7

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

8

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

9

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.

10

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

11

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.