antipodean adventure

Well, tis a sad day. The Landy has been sold.

However, on the bright side, its getting a new lease of life to roam the roads of southern England and ActionAid will be getting a hefty donation from the sale.

This is definitely the end now just a few days over two years from the beginning of our trip. The future is in motorbikes. I’ll keep you posted.

This blog holds all the posts made by Richard Reed and Dwyer Rooney between July 2006 and June 2007 on our trip from London to Sydney overland. For some reason the blog recently decided to delete itself but luckily I had all the posts backed up. Posts are in 2 categories - Travel and ActionAid. Use the menu on the right to navigate. However, there are no links to photos. If I get time later I’ll sort this out. Hope you enjoy.

Number of Countries Visited: 27
1. France
2. Belgium
3. Luxembourg
4. Switzerland
5. Liechtenstein
6. Austria
7. Slovakia
8. Romania
9. Hungary
10. Bulgaria
11. Turkey
12. Iran
13. Pakistan
14. India
15. Nepal
16. China (incl. Tibet, Macau & Hong Kong)
17. Laos
18. Thailand
19. Cambodia
20. Vietnam
21. Myanmar / Japan (Rich to Myanmar, Dwyer to Japan)
22. Malaysia (incl. Sarawak & Sabah)
23. Brunei
24. Singapore
25. Indonesia
26. Australia
27. Hutt River Principality

Number of Miles Driven: Approximately 30,000

Time Taken: 345 days

Number of Tyre Punctures: 2

Number of Breakdowns: None (it’s actually too depressing to give the real number)

Number of Breakins: 1

Number of sicknesses:
Dwyer: 3
Turkey - food poisoning, 10 days.
Tibet - altitude sickness, 36 hours.
Borneo - strange monkey-contracted disease, 4 days.

Richard: 3
Turkey - food poisoning, 10 days.
Tibet - altitude sickness, 36 hours.
China - food poisoning, 5 days.

Number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites Visited: 40

Australia
Great Barrier Reef
Kakadu National Park
Shark Bay
Purnululu National Park
Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens Melbourne
Sydney Opera House

Austria
Historic Centre of Vienna

Belgium
La Grand-Place, Brussels

Cambodia
Angkor

China
Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa
Old Town of Lijiang
Historic Centre of Macao
Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries

Hungary
Budapest

India
Taj Mahal
Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi
The Red Fort complex

Indonesia
Borobudur Temple Compounds
Komodo National Park

Iran
Meidan Emam, Esfahan
Persepolis
Bam and its Cultural Landscape

Japan
Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities)
Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome)

Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Town of Luang Prabang

Luxembourg
City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications

Malaysia
Gunung Mulu National Park
Kinabalu Park

Nepal
Kathmandu Valley
Royal Chitwan National Park

Pakistan
Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore

Romania
Historic Centre of Sighişoara

Turkey
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia
Historic Areas of Istanbul
Nemrut Dağ
Hierapolis-Pamukkale
Archaeological Site of Troy

Viet Nam
Complex of Hué Monuments
Ha Long Bay
Hoi An Ancient Town

During our trip we visited ActionAid projects in the following countries: Pakistan, Nepal, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The projects ranged from education and skills development to disaster relief and HIV/AIDS. What did the people affected by the projects have in common across the different countries? Why are these people suffering such poverty that they require outside aid? What do we mean by poverty anyway?

The world bank compares poverty globally by examining the income of people in those countries in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms (where PPPs measure the relative purchasing power of currencies across countries) but also recognises that the social and psychological effects of poverty are terrible qualities experienced by the worlds poor. It is not possible to quantify or compare these effects among countries and people however so the economic variable is a more useful comparison tool.
Absolute or Extreme Poverty is then defined as having a daily income of less than 1 USD. Moderate Poverty is defined as having a daily income of between 1 and 2 USD. Most estimates from international organisations indicate the number of people living in extreme poverty as approximately 1 billion and the number of people living in relative poverty as 2.5 billion. The current world population is approximately 6.5 billion. Why does nearly 1/6th of the worlds population live under conditions of extreme poverty and why should we care?
A question like this is never going to have a single answer and the reasons for poverty are unique to each area. However, by examining the factors which affect each region it is easy to identify contributing factors which are closely inter-related and work in combination to trap people in the misery of extreme poverty. The often-cited “Poverty Trap” is not just a theory. It is a real and terrible economic phenomenon which has been studied by top economists such as Jeffery Sachs (special economic advisor to Kofi Anan) [Ref. 1]. His conclusion is that extreme poverty is a vicious circle that cannot be broken by the people afflicted by themselves - a certain amount of outside aid is necessary. Moderate poverty is not a vicious circle in that economic growth can and has occurred without outside aid. The aim of the UN millennium project on ending extreme poverty is therefore to help countries trapped in extreme poverty to progress to at least moderate poverty from where they can continue to grow economically.

Why does 1/6th of the world’s population live in extreme poverty?
Factors which combine to cause poverty:

Geographical Remoteness - people living in geographically remote areas suffer from economic and social service isolation due to poor or non-existent transport routes and from the lack of arable land. The projects we visited in Laos, China and Vietnam were located in 3 separate countries but were all located in remote mountain villages within 100 miles of each other. The routes to these locations were extremely rough and could only be navigated by 4×4 in dry seasons (not at all in wet) and for one we had to travel the last 6Km on motorbikes as the trails were much too narrow to allow access by car. Also, mountainous regions yield far fewer crops than flat terrain and so limit agricultural output. Subsistence farming is the norm in these locations. [Ref. 2]

Environmental Degradation - people living in areas that have suffered environmental degradation (e.g. soil erosion, pollution, salination, flooding) suffer from lack of clean water, lack of arable land and increased risk of disease in the case of flooding.

Natural Disaster - Disasters such as earthquakes, flooding, drought, typhoons etc. can cause massive initial casualties which focus world attention for a week or two. However, the survivors are left without shelter, access to clean water and with devastated farmland. When the initial disaster relief gets withdrawn these long term issues are often left unaddressed. In the area of northern Pakistan affected by the earthquake in October 2005, people are still living in tents on the hillsides in July 2007.

Over-population - studies have shown that poverty tends to result in over-population which of course exacerbates poverty in a vicious cycle. Over-population puts additional strain on food, water and social resources which contributes to poverty. It is well recognised that in affluent societies the birth-rate tends to decline to such an extent that the population will actually decrease unless inflated by immigration.

Lack of Education - the lack of adequate provision of education is a major factor in the poverty trap. Children born into this situation are deprived of any opportunity to better their situation.

Politically Closed Systems - people living in politically closed systems have little or no opportunity to trade internationally, can suffer repression for their political views or ethnicity. It’s no co-incidence that most of the people we met on our visits to projects sites were from ethnic/tribal minorities within their countries.

Other factors - include violent conflict and pervasive diseases e.g. malaria, HIV/AIDS.

Why Should We Care?
Purely Selfish Reasons:

1. Environmental Destruction.
Poverty is closely related to over-population and environmental degradation. The loss of bio-diversity, loss of carbon sinks in the form of woodland and peatbogs, erosion of soil and pollution of water resource has major effects on the global environment including weather patterns and directly affects us all. The increase in natural disasters such as flooding in the UK and USA in recent years is as a result of global warming caused by increased Co2 emissions combined with decreasing carbon sinks. Water and air quality are not restricted to one country as demonstrated by acid rain and the dust cloud over Asia. The large number of species facing extinction is due to the lack of funds available to poor governments for conservation and due to poaching as a means of income by poor people with few alternatives.

2. Economic Benefit.
Global capitalism works more efficiently when countries can trade on an equal footing and reduces waste in the form of inefficient protected markets and the unnecessary transport of goods. Helping developing countries out of poverty will also contribute to economic growth in affluent countries in the form of increased trade and market efficiency.

3. Armed Conflict.
Extreme poverty regularly results in violent conflict as increasing numbers of people compete for a decreasing resource base. Modern armed warfare results in huge numbers of casualties, can quickly spread to other countries not initially involved and causes mass forced emigration i.e. refugees/asylum seekers. May people in affluent countries are worried by the prospect of large numbers of refugees arriving at their borders and the possible effects on society and the economy. By reducing poverty, one of the major causes of armed conflict and therefore forced emigration is reduced.

4. Illegal Drug use in Affluent Countries.
Crops such as poppies and coca are grown in poor countries by farmers unable to make a living selling food crops. By giving these farmers a viable alternative to drug crops, the availability of illegal drugs and the associated crime and social problems can be vastly reduced. It is clear that police and court attempts to curtail drug use in affluent countries within the last 30 years have failed miserably. This failure is a glaring example of how ignoring poverty in other countries directly affects us.

5. Disease.
Diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and Tuberculosis are more prevalent in poor countries lacking money for prevention measures e.g. education, mosquito nets, contraceptives, and treatment medicine. The increase in disease increases the chance of mutation resulting in more virulent disease which cannot be combated by the modern medicines we possess in affluent countries.

Why Should We Care?
Ethical reasons:

1. The Ethical Argument.
Modern utilitarian ethical ideology has as its central premise that the outcome of any decision or action is justified ethically if it results in more conscious creatures being better off than if an alternative was chosen. In short, it’s better to make more people happy than fewer. All the major religions have similar premises. It should be fairly obvious that people living in poverty would be happier if they were better off and that affluent people would be happier knowing that they were better off.

2. Human Rights.
People living in poverty suffer human rights abuses such as lack of adequate food, shelter, access to education, lack of political and religious freedom.

3. Loss of Culture, Art, History and Diversity.
Lack of resource to maintain diversity in the form of art, historical monuments, unique music and language results in the degradation and loss of these priceless cultural traditions.

It should be obvious from looking at the factors contributing to poverty that one quick solution is never forthcoming when attempting to combat poverty. Donation of emergency relief aid packages in the the form of food or medicines can help mitigate sudden disasters that otherwise would cause alot more death and suffering but fail to address the root causes. International aid and development organisations recognise this and so work on a number of fronts in each area to eliminate the main causes of poverty to allow people to break the poverty trap and reach a point whereby they can continue to progress. For this reason ActionAid works in the following areas: Food security, HIV/AIDS, Education, Capacity Building, Gender, Micro-credit schemes, Governance, Water Resources, Trade Justice, Disaster Relief and Land Rights.

It should be equally obvious from looking at the reasons to combat poverty that it is in everyone’s best interest to work towards achieving the end of poverty regardless of ethnicity, political or religious persuasion.

What Can You Do As An Individual Living In A Society Of Comparable Affluence?
The ethical argument for action is clear and has been presented by moralists and ethicists for many years. [Ref 3]. There are several things you can do increasing in effort required but also effectiveness:

1. Individual Monetary Donation
As a bare minimum donate an affordable proportion of your wage to international aid and development organisations.

2. Active Fund-Raising
Actively fund raise by organising events e.g. concerts, fun runs etc.

3. Exercise your political clout
Help put political pressure on your government to fulfill their continual, self-congratulatory and rarely fulfilled promises to developing nations to increase aid and cancel historical debt. This can take the form of simple email petitions to government ministers which take less than 5 minutes or more active protest or political involvement.
The importance of this step cannot be underestimated. With single stroke of a pen, the UK government could cancel all historical debt from developing countries thereby immediately improving the lives of many millions of people. It would take a huge number of individuals doing activities 1 and 2 to achieve a similar result.

4. Volunteer.
Undertake voluntary work. This can take many forms, from working in a high street shop e.g. Oxfam a few hours a week to performing volunteer work abroad as part of a vacation or sabbatical.

References
Ref 1. The End of Poverty - Jeff Sachs
Ref 2. Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
Ref 3. Practical Ethics - Peter Singer

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org
http://www.actionaid.org

Dwyer

Since we’ve now travelled through over 20 countries on this trip, this seems like a good time for a High Fidelity style Top 5 listing of various country aspects. I’ve ruled Australia and New Zealand out of this because they are English speaking countries and so our experience in them will not be comparable to the others (and cos we haven’t been there yet).

Top 5 Friendliest Countries:
1. Iran
2. Pakistan
3. Nepal
4. Malaysia
5. Thailand

Top 5 Unfriendliest Countries:
1. India
2. Tibet
3. Indonesia
4. Japan
5. Cambodia

Top 5 Countries for Beautiful Women:
1. Slovakia
2. Thailand
3. Nepal
4. China
5. India

Top 5 Sweatiest Countries:
1. India
2. Cambodia
3. Malaysia
4. Indonesia
5. Singapore

Top 5 Worst Passports to Own:
1. Israeli
2. American
3. British
4. French
5. Japanese

Top 5 Amusing Currencies:
1. Dong (Vietnam) [Its almost too good to be true]
2. Kip (Laos)
3. Ringgit (Malaysia)
4. Baht (Thailand)
5. Rial (Iran) - [not for the name but for its relative value]

Others that could be in here but we didn’t travel to on this trip are:
1. Ngultrum - Bhutan
2. Colon - Costa Rica & El Salvador
3. Balboa - Panama
4. Togrog - Mongolia

Dwyer

Well, its the end and what have we learned? Hopefully some things about the world, hopefully some things about ourselves but definitely some things about how to do an overland trip. If you’re reading this site it’s likely you’re thinking about undertaking a similar trip, maybe to Africa or South America instead. We can’t really comment on those routes but I’d be very surprised if conditions there made any significant difference to the do’s and don’ts below. It should be noted though that these snippets of advice reflect our own experiences and personalities. Other people will tell you different things. Sorting through all the advice is one of the many time consuming tasks that awaits you. My advice? - just to follow the list below. Ignore everyone else.

Do’s:

1. DO use a diesel engine.
Why? They are more reliable, more efficient and more resilient to water ingress and more tolerant of fuel quality. Also, diesel is available everywhere and is almost always cheaper than petrol.

2. DO use a rugged dashboard compass.
Why? This device is all you need to get to where you want to go. even if there are no road names or signs you can head in the general direction and be fairly sure you’ll get there eventually. Without one you’ll head in one of the many wrong directions. It needs to be rugged though because ours eventually disintegrated. The compass and even the most basic map (we only used guide book maps) will see you right. A GPS is not necessary and is a target for theft.

3. DO use a mosquito net and repellant.
Why? Without one you will almost certainly die of one of the following maladies: a) malaria - unpleasant, b) dengue fever - more unpleasant, c) incessant scratching and rage induced by being covered in hundreds of itchy bites - its hard to describe the capacity for misery induced by these little feckers. The prevalance and seriousness of these diseases should not be underestimated. Prevention is far more desirable than treatment.

4. DO sleep inside your vehicle if possible.
Why? You can park practically anywhere including towns and cities and sleep with a reasonable chance of not being disturbed. A roof tent attracts curious passersby who will decide that their desire for a chat is of the utmost importance regardless of the time of day or night. A roof tent will mean you will have to look for secluded areas to park every night. This is not easy in heavily populated countries. Not sleeping in your car means you have to look for accommodation and secure parking every night which is arduous at best, impossible at worst.

5. DO get a fridge and a very large second battery to run it.
Why? The vast majority of countries in the world are very hot and sometimes humid places. For people like us from colder climes, the temperature is nearly unbearable for large portions of the day. A cold drink goes a long way to making life more enjoyable. You’ll need a very large battery though because fridges require alot of power and have to work hard in these temperatures. A 32 litre Engel fridge will drain a standard car battery in less than 24 hours (despite what the manufacturer data may tell you).

6. DO have darkened windows/sun tints.
Why? Heat as in 6 above and they prevent people peering in to see if you have anything worth nicking.

7. DO get a Carnet de Passage free from a European country (don’t pay the RAC).
Why? You need a Carnet de Passage for your vehicle to cross borders or else pay large amounts of import tax. You can get a Carnet for free from some European countries (e.g. Holland). You don’t have to be resident in these countries. The RAC is the only organisation in the Uk which does carnets and will charge you a large amount for one and only return half the amount when you bring the car back.

8. DO use a vehicle with good ground clearance.
4 wheel drive is desirable but not essential. What is essential is ground clearance. Many 4×4s don’t have adequate ground clearance. Use one that does and you shouldn’t have any trouble. The roads of the world are not as bad as people make out.

9. DO extensively test drive your vehicle (at least 20,000 miles) before leaving the country.
Why? It will break somewhere else otherwise and it’s much harder to find a decent mechanic to fix it (it’s hard enough in the Uk).

10. DO have at least 3 cash/credit cards and accounts you can access through the internet.
Why? In case of loss and to cover you in places where certain types are not as widely accepted. So don’t have them all Visa cards. Have internet access accounts so you can transfer money from higher interest savings accounts to current accounts when you need it.

11. DO have a bank account that doesn’t charge you for foreign ATM withdrawal.
Why? You will make many, many ATM withdrawals and any charge will quickly add up causing you to withdraw larger amounts to avoid the charge which means you’ll have to carry more cash around than is advisable to do.

12. DO choose your travelling companion wisely.
Why? You’ll have to spend an inordinate amount of time with this person and trust in their driving and organisational skills. Are they likely to flake out when the going gets tough? Are they reliable financially? Have you travelled with them before? Will their insistance on continually repeating lines from 10 year old comedy sketch shows make you want to strangle them? Alternatively, are you the sort of person that needs space and privacy? Maybe you’d prefer to travel alone? These are just questions off the top of my head. This issue really is the most important one though. The others pale into insignificance in comparison.

Don’ts:
1. DO NOT bring sandtracks, a winch or other heavy/expensive recovery gear.
Why? They are heavy and expensive and you don’t need it unless you are really going to be going properly off road. Good ground clearance will get you through most situations.

2. DO NOT bring a water tank bigger than 40L.
Why? It will add alot of weight and restict space in your vehicle. And you won’t use it.

3. DO NOT use a rooftent if you can avoid it.
Why? See do’s number 4.

4. DO NOT bring more than 2 jerrycans for fuel.
Why? Same as for 2 above.

5. DO NOT bring a vehicle into China until the regulations change.
Why? It’s very expensive and a great deal of hassle and in my view not worth it unless it is an essential part of your route. If the regulations change then yes, driving in China is quite easy.

6. DO NOT waste your time with Travellers cheques.
Why? They are a pain to change in most places in the world. Nearly everywhere has ATMs now which you can withdraw from. Countries that don’t are unlikely to accept traveller’s cheques. Just change a bunch of cash at the border.

7. DO NOT underestimate the cost of your trip.
Unless you are very lucky you are unlikely to be getting much income during your trip. The lost earnings for the year are the biggest cost but unforeseen events can add considerable bills - e.g. a catastrophic mechanical breakdown or crisis at home requiring your return. Make sure you have adequate finances available before setting off.
Finances are only one issue though. From another prospective - you are going to spend a considerable amount away from family, friends and familiar surroundings, often in places with language and cultural barriers to surmount. You will have the freedom to see new things but not the freedom to continue with past activities you may have been interested in (e.g. sport, music, cinema, theatre) If you are the sort of person who needs bacon, eggs and toast every morning to be happy then you are not going to make it. Be honest about what sort of traveller you are. Do you prefer to stay in nice hotels? Are you a beach resort or adventure sport type? This sort of trip is probably not what you want to do. If you are interested in learning about different cultures, social, financial and political methodologies, ethnicity and language and are prepared to forsake almost all home comforts and spend long hours driving through hot and uncomfortable terrain to attain this knowledge then this is undoubtedly the best thing you will ever do.

Dwyer

Projects in Tsunami Affected Areas, Andaman Coast, Thailand

Locations: Ko Muk Island - Trang Province, Tab Tawan - Phang-gna Province, Ko Lao Island - Ranong Province, Khuraburi - Phang-gna Province, Thailand.

Date: 22nd January 2007 - 24th January 2007.

We are so used to things going wrong now that it has long since ceased to be a surprise. So when the engine wouldn’t start on Monday morning it was just a matter of course. Richard got a taxi to Trang airport while I tinkered with the engine before coming to the conclusion that all it needed was a good dose of start pilot and sure enough it soon spluttered back into action after an application. But it didn’t end there. Turning the car around to head out of the city to go to the pier, I got forced down some one way streets and into a warren of smaller ones so Richard got left behind. I was assured that he’d get a lift with the ActionAid staff in their van. Unfortunately not, so the nightmare of trying to get to the pier began for Richard. As it turned out, there was no need to rush because the boat was having trouble too so we had to wait for a few hours for it to show up. Eventually though, we arrived on Ko Muk island. This island was heavily affected by the December 2004 Tsunami which destroyed all its buildings and infrastructure. The huge amount of work undertaken by charitable organisations and NGOs since then has gone a long way towards rectifying things. Boats have been repaired and fishing equipment donated and housing and public buildings have been reconstructed. ActionAid continues to work in the area through partner organisations Save Andaman Network (SAN) and Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF) to help ensure long-term rehabilitation.
Arriving on Ko Muk we were struck by the beauty of the location. An upmarket bungalow resort was located on the beach and several tourists were strolling along the beach. Further along the island though, the local people are living in very small, basic structures and are heavily reliant on the fishing trade.
One of the projects on the island is Disaster Management and Risk Education. This project has local teachers working on creating a detailed curriculum and lesson plans on disaster awareness. The completed curriculum will be presented to the government as a basis for the subject to be introduced into schools at a national level so that the risk of another natural disaster causing such huge loss of life is mitigated.
While on the island we met with one of the women’s groups set up by ActionAid to help develop long-term sustainable livelihoods. The groups now operate small businesses in a variety of areas including coconuts, chili paste and deserts. These groups have been created to help diversify the trades that the community work in and reduced their dependence on the fishing trade which was severely damaged by the Tsunami and has resulted in lower fish yields throughout the region.

After staying overnight on the island, we had a long drive to Tab Tawan the next day where we visited a project run by Foundation for Children. Aside from the obvious physical destruction caused by the Tsunami, many people especially children suffered psychological trauma. The project has been running for 2 years and mainly focused on afterschool activities for children. The focus was on team building and helping children to come to terms with the disaster. Activities undertaken at the FFC centre included sports, painting, fishing, gardening, additional education etc. The project has been a success with around 70 children attending activities and has led to the children having a better social community. From here, we had another few hours drive north to Ranong where we stayed the night.

On Wednesday morning we had a short trip to the pier to take a boat to Lao Island. The pier was crammed with fishermen, many of them Burmese migrants who operate here illegally rather than have nearly all their profit taken by the Burmese military regime. The 20 minute boat trip deposited us on Lao Island where there is a sizable Moken community. Commonly known as Sea Gypsys, the Moken are a diverse ethnic group from either Burmese or Thai and are stateless people - not having citizenship or citizens rights in any country. They commonly spend alot of time at sea but have villages on many islands around the Andaman coast. Many of these villages and their fishing boats were destroyed by the Tsunami. While on the island we visited the Moken village and the school which now educates both Moken and Thai children on the island.
ActionAid and Foundation for Children have been working with the Moken on Lao island for over 2 years and have achieved many successes. Emergency help in the form of drinking water and medical aid to treat malaria and cholera outbreaks were provided initially along with housing and boat repair. The village now has an electricity generator provided by ActionAid. As in other areas, local groups have been set up to receive education and build capacity in various trades. The Moken have been issued with identity cards that name them as Moken so they no longer fear being arrested as suspected Burmese illegal workers when visiting the main land. This card can also be used to recieve medical treatment from Thai hospitals. Moken children are now being educated in the same school as the Thai children who live on the island and the relationship between the two groups has improved.
However, there is still progress to be made. The living conditions of the Moken on the island are not very good and they are still reluctant to integrate into Thai society. Their lack of citizenship allows them to be exploited by the people who own the land that their villages are built on. While other NGOs have been and gone (one leaving an unused christian church in the village) ActionAid continue to operate in the area to help with long-term issues.

After departing from Lao island, we made our way to Bann Hinlard in Khuarburi where we visited a community of Burmese migrant workers. ActionAid has been working with partner organisation Thai Action Committe for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) to set up community centres to encourage learning, skills development and to educate migrant workers on their human rights. The problems faced by Burmese migrants are complex and will take a long time to overcome. Issues surrounding work permits, legal status, land ownership and language difficulties can only be resolved through long-term planning. ActionAid is working in the communities to help with day to day issues concerning livelihood and education while simultaneously campaigning for change in both Thai and Burmese government policies to help ensure that the human rights of Burmese migrant workers are not abused.

The projects that we saw on the Andaman coast are only a small sample of a large and numerous range of projects that ActionAid is involved in. Other issues are prominent in the portfolio, especially land rights and womens rights. ActionAid is working both at on the ground and through political channels to attempt to improve the living conditions of poor and marginalised groups of people in Thailand and to ensure that they can claim their rights. As with all the other ActionAid projects that we have visited in various countries, we have been impressed by the commitment and dedication shown by the staff of ActionAid Thailand. We would like to extend our gratitude to the following people who accompanied us on our visit and were exceptional hosts.
- Rungtip Imrungruang: Tsunami Program consultant
- Kulachart Daengdej: Tsunami Policy Officer
- Piyanut Kotsan: Impact Assessment

For more information:
ActionAid Thailand http://www.actionaid.org/thailand/
Save Andaman Network http://www.saape.org.np/news_events/post_tsunami/Presentation6-Thailand.pdf
Sustainable Development Foundation http://www.sdfthai.org/
Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) http://www.tacdb.org/en/
Foundation for Children http://www.ffc.or.th/htmleng/engpage1/page.htm

Dwyer

Urban Projects in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

Locations: Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.

Date: 12th December 2006 - 13th December 2006

Despite getting in late on a flight from Hanoi on Monday, we were up at 7am to visit the War Remnants Museum in the centre of Ho Chi Minh. The
horrors of war are graphically depicted through stark photography in an unfortunately one-sided, no-holds-barred approach. Afterwards, we made our
way to the ActionAid office in the Go Vap District of the city again in the company of Ms. Van. Here we met other members of the ActionAid staff and
discussed the 5 main themes that are being worked on in this area.

Food Security: Most of the people involved in the city project are migrant workers who have come to the city from remote villages seeking work. The
Go Vap area is a run down and therefore cheap area of the city to rent accommodation. There is also alot of industrial estates in the area where migrants
workers seek employment and live on the sites. ActionAid operate a Micro-Credit scheme here similar to that in the northern areas to allow people to set
up small business selling bread, fruit or other items. They also provide training for the scheme members on how to best invest the money and make
profits. The scheme ideally gives sex workers an alternative employment and has been in operation since 2003.

Education: The education schemes in the city are mainly aimed at migrant children who are often forced to work during the day to provide money for the
family. The children who can be seen selling chewing gum, postcards or lottery tickets on the streets are often migrant children. Some also work as maids
or cleaners in cafes and restaurants. They do not work in garment factories because they do not have the skills required. The working children can attend
free evening classes in the locality. Other work under this theme includes funding improvements in local school infrastructure, scholarships for HIV affected
other disadvantaged children and the running of 4 counselling centres in local schools to advise children on various issues.

HIV/AIDS: ActionAid set up groups for sex workers to educate them on protection from HIV and provide support for medical treatment, especially
mothers - there is now a drug available which reduces the risk of transferring HIV to offspring to 30%. Other work fronts include financial support to
families for funerals resulting from AIDS deaths, provision of a milk alternative to breast-feeding for HIV negative children of HIV positive mothers,
testing for HIV and the creation of peer groups for monthly gatherings. These gatherings are also used to discuss other issues such as domestic violence,
trafficking of women and children, life skills etc.

Gender: ActionAid work with the government labour department and trade unions to protect the rights of workers, mainly women in garment factories.
The law has a 8 hour day working limit and a minimum wage but this is commonly flaunted. They also organise seminars with local business leaders on
labour issues such as Vietnams entry to the World Trade Organisation.

Capacity Building: This area includes the training of ActionAid staff, training for relatives of drug-users or HIV positive people on medical care and
alternative education activities for working children e.g. drama and music.

Later, we went to the home of a woman - Ms Sun - who was a member of the Micro-Credit scheme. One of her sons had died from HIV contracted
through drug use and his wife was in prison for drug-dealing leaving Ms Sun to care for her young grand-daughter. Previously, she worked wrapping
candy. This labourious task earned her 20,000 dong (1.2$) a day. Using a 1.5 million dong loan from ActionAid, she set up a business selling freshly
made bread from a trolley. This work earns her 30-40,000 dong a day for 6 hours and she still wraps candy in the evenings. The loan is being repaid
through a closely monitored account whereby 62,000 dong is repaid every week and 14,000 is invested in the group savings fund. This allows 24 weeks
to repay the loan, after which another can be applied for. The Micro-Credit scheme allowed Ms. Sun to find alternative employment which although is by
no means easy, nets a larger profit for less hours than the candy wrapping.

Afterwards, we visited the rented accommodation of a family which had recently migrated to the area due to lack of opportunity in their home village. Ms.
Dzung and her husband sell fruit and earn 40-50,000 dong a day. One of her two daughters has a scholarship (i.e. ActionAid pay the school fees). She is
also a member of the Micro-Credit scheme and thinks the interest rate is excellent. Because she is a migrant, her citizenship card is not valid in this area
which excludes her getting a bank loan and the black market rate is 20%. Before using the loan to set up the fruit selling business, Ms. Dzung worked as
a maid earning 15-20,000 dong a day for 30 days a month with no holidays. Also at the house was Ms. Phi, a ActionAid employee who directly
approaches sex workers to educate them on HIV prevention and to convince them to come to monthly meetings. She found that HIV awareness was very
low among sex workers in the city but through her work she has educated a large number on prevention of STDs.

In the evening, we attended a group meeting. The participants were female migrant workers and the theme was stress management. Issues identified that
were causes of stress were school fees, rent, low income, unstable careers, high inflation and spousal conflict.
After this meeting we attended a working children’s education class. These children aged from 7 to 13, all worked during the day selling things on the
streets or as maids/cleaners. As this was the last meeting before Christmas, ActionAid pledged to give a small gift to each of the children (Christmas has caught on in Vietnam in a similar vein as in the west). 13 year old Nghia has health problems, including an eye infection and a heart condition but works selling lottery tickets. Uyen has a drug-addicted mother and works as a maid in a small workshop.
The classroom was a purpose made building constructed by ActionAid in 2003 and was used for these classes and as a venue for other group meetings. As part of their exercises, the children had drawn Christmas cards which they very kindly presented to us. Its easy to imagine that working on the streets from the age of 8 or 9 would harden these children and rob them of their childhood but while this is no doubt partly true, they still retained their curiosity and sense of fun and within a few minutes had lost their wary attitude and were clambering over Richard to see his photos.

The next day we visited Le Hon Primary School which employed a counsellor funded by ActionAid. This is one of 4 schools which employs a counsellor and was chosen because many of the children who attend are involved in other ActionAid projects. Many of the children are linked to sponsors through ActionAids Child Sponsorship Scheme. The scheme links a child with a sponsor who pledges 30$ a month. 70% of the money raised is spent on project activities in the area, 10% on administration, 10% on direct child related projects and 10% goes to the general fund. It may seem surprising that only 10% goes to directly child related projects which include improving school infrastructure e.g. furniture, clean water. However, by funding the project activities, the whole community benefits including the child’s family and other children in the area.

The ActionAid project in the Go Vap area of Ho Chi Minh City was our first visit to an urban project and was very informative. It was interesting that even in the city area, the poorest people are those who come from the villages - forced to migrant to seek work and a better life. Often though, the city cannot provide any legitimate work due to the low skills of the migrants and the already over-crowded labour market and it is the poor and underprivledged of the country who are again forced to take the lowest paid and most demeaning jobs. The work that ActionAid is doing in these areas gives these people the opportunity to make a better life for themselves but it is government policies that are at the route cause of many of these problems. However, the influence that NGOs have on government is small in a political system such as Vietnam’s so until such time that more can be achieved through political methods, ActionAid is working with the country’s poorest and most disadvantaged people at a grass-roots level to make important differences to their lives.

For more information:
http://www.actionaid.org/vietnam/
http://www.actionaid.org.uk/index.asp?page_id=943

Dwyer

Education and Skills Training Projects and Running Water Project in Vietnam

Locations: Dien Bien Phu Town, Tin Toc Village in Moung Pon District, Village in Thanh Nua District, Vietnam.

Date: 6th December 2006 - 7th December 2006

Having endured the 11 hour bus journey from Hanoi to Dien Bien Phu on Tuesday, we were slightly unhappy to be woken up by unknown people early on Wednesday morning asking for our passports. As it turns out, they were from ActionAid’s partner organisation in the area - TechnoAid - and copies of our passports were necessary for us to be granted permission by the government to see the project areas. At 2pm we headed to a hotel on the north side of town to meet with Ms. Pham Thai Hong Van (we stuck with Ms. Van) from the fundraising department of ActionAid Vietnam. We then headed to the nearby office of TechnoAid to find out about the sites we were going to visit the next day.
TechnoAid are a local NGO consisting of 7 full time staff. These members were previously employed by ActionAid for five years up until 2004. At that point, the ActionAid projects which had been undertaken were nearing an end but the team members had alot of ideas for further projects in 7 provinces in the Dien Bien Phu area. They set themselves up as an independant NGO and currently work with several large NGOs including Care International, Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Netherlands based international development organisation SNV and of course ActionAid.
During our meeting they expanded upon some of the themes in which they get involved.

Micro-Credit: The Micro-Credit scheme is a method to encourage people to save while giving them small loans by which they can set up or improve an existing business. The NGO effectively acts as a bank with a credit fund. Members of the scheme invest set amounts into the fund each month and the fund is used to extend small loans to individual households. The interest on the loans is very small especially compared with a mainstream bank or as is more available to the scheme members - loan sharks. Bank interest is typically 8%, a loan shark rate will be 20% while the Micro-Credit scheme rate is 1.5%. The interest just covers the rate of inflation costs and the administration costs for the 7000 members so is effectively non-profit. Loans range from 300,000 dong (20$) to 2.5 million dong (200$) with a graded scale whereby smaller loans must be applied for and paid off before larger loans can be granted.
This scheme has proved very successful and useful to the members. Due to their remote locations, there is little access to mainstream banks which are unlikely to grant loans to subsistence farmers anyway. By becoming members of the scheme, the participants can regularly save money and use the loans to expand their business when ready.

Literacy Education: Due to the mountainous regions in which they live, many communities have no access to secondary schools. Primary pupils are educated with no tuition fee (though other fees apply) until the age of 9. After this, they must attend a secondary school. Many children must travel a long distance to the school and therefore end up boarding Monday - Friday. Unfortunately, the schools are not in a position financially to provide any accomodation so pupils have to build their own shelters and bring enough food with them every week. They live in small groups, in poorly constructed shelters and have no supervision. Most carry rice and salt with them to eat, with the wealthier ones having rice and eggs. The monsoon season tends to destroy most of the shelters. Faced with these conditions its not surprising that many children stop education at age 9 and that 70% of the secondary school pupils are male.
The education scheme that we saw in Laos was a copy of this project. Its purpose is to teach reading, writing and numeracy to previously illiterate villagers. Through the education classes, the pupils are taught literacy and numeracy using themes that are relevant to their lives e.g. health issues, agriculture, law, gender issues etc. There are three graded levels, each taking between 5 and 8 months. The education classes are conducted by teachers supplied and trained by ActionAid.

Governance and Local Democracy: Despite the heavy bureaucratic policies of the communist government of Vietnam (as shown by having to present our passport at regional offices before being allowed to visit the villages) there is some local democracy. Members of the People’s Council are democratically elected and they appoint members of the People’s Committee which seems to have the task of day to day running of services such as schools. TechnoAid encourage people to become involved in local politics by reading the information released on planned expeditures in the area and raising any concerns in the committee meetings.

Water Projects: 800 villages in the Dien Bien Phu area do not have clean water which accounts for 80% of the population. The government has introduced a water program in recent years but it only provides water for agriculture, not for domestic use.

Other themes that TechnoAid are involved with include Gender Equality, HIV/AIDS, Food Security and Children’s Rights.

Having been given the run down, we headed off to see the historic sights of Dien Bien Phu which include defunct French military equipment and the still intact bunkers and tunnels which surround the hillside battlefield of A1. This position was the last to fall in the 1954 Vietnam-France war which ended France’s colonial ambitions in Inco-China thereby gaining independence for both Cambodia and Laos aswell. The massive defeat of the French army by Ho Chi Minh’s peasant army despite American support was to prove an omen of things to come in the North Vietnam- South Vietnam/America war which began due to the partition of the country after the French withdrawal and ended with reunification in 1975.

On Thursday 7th, we took a car into Muong Pon District and submitted our passports to the local officials before driving further into the mountains to the project villages. As we wove through the rice paddies cut into the steep hillsides, we noticed that 90% of the people working the fields were women - the previously mentioned education problems were no doubt a major contributing factor. When we arrived at Tin Toc Village, we met local villagers to talk about the running water project that had been implemented in 2000 and any other issues. The village consists of 39 households with 250 people altogether almost all of whom are from the Black Thai (the name comes from their traditional clothing) minority ethnic group. Before the running water project, the only available water was from ponds several kilometers away. The pond water, being stagnant, was frequently polluted by buffalo and cow droppings resulting in many villagers suffering from disease. The running water project installed 3 cisterns in the village which take water from a pipe which runs several kilometers up the mountain. Because of the height of the water source and because it is always running, this guarantees clean water for domestic use. The funding, management and maintenance of the water system is all funded by ActionAid. Moung Pon District has 10 villages, 5 of which have running water projects installed. The other villages are not suitably located for this type of project (i.e. the cost of installing a pipeline is exhoribant due to distance) so must still use pond water.
Aside from the water issues, the mountainous land gives rise to a whole host of other problems. The farm land area is small so there is little surplus crops for sale. The farmland cannot be extended uphill as the resulting deforestation would lead to flooding. The transport problems result in the difficulty of access to education for children which tend to be taken to the fields with their parents due to the lack of any childcare facilities other than elder daughters.

During our visit to the village we had a long conversation with Ms Ni, a 46 year old mother of 8. She told us that she was one of the luckier people in the village because her husband works hard and doesn’t drink. 9 out of the 39 households had alcoholic fathers. Two of her children have married and left the house leaving her with 6 children in school. Each pupil must pay a fee of 86,000 dong each year for the various fees - building upkeep etc. However, despite paying these fees the school is in a delapidated state and the government is claiming lack of funds for not repairing it. There is no transparency as to where the fee money goes or what it is used on. Indeed, when we asked the local school-teacher about this issue she got very angry and left. Draw from that what you will. Ms Ni is involved in the Micro-Credit scheme and used loans to branch into pig farming as an alternative source of income to rice. Her youngest child is 3 years old which is the same age as one of her grandchildren. Apparently this is not very unusual and with the population of Vietnam already reaching 85 million, may force the government to adopt a similar one-child policy as that of China.

Next, we visited an agricultural water project which had been completed in 2000 by ActionAid Vietnam. The project had cost 600 million dong (40,000$) to construct a weir and channels to direct river water to a large area of previously dry paddy fields and benefited 200 households (1200 people).
Afterwards, we entered into Thanh Nua District so had to go to the regional government office again to get permission. In the village we visited an education class that was being conducted. The classes teach literacy and numeracy through the use of relevant themes which inculde HIV, Gender Rights, Agriculture etc. At the time of our visit, the theme was domestic violence. The women didn’t believe us when we told them that there is the odd case of women being violent towards men in the UK. As in the Laos projects, all the students were female and most were attending the classes after spending the day in the fields.

On our return to Dien Bien Phu, we visited the 1954 war memorial, which was also being visited by a number of aged veterans. Despite decades of brutal warfare which affected almost every family in the country, Vietnam is undergoing huge change from a centrally planned agricultural economy to a socialist market economy. Having long signed trade agreements with Europe and America, the country has now been admitted to the World Trade Organisation. It remains to be seen whether the change in economic policy will benefit the minority groups of Vietnam whom inhabit the mountainous and remote areas of the country. In the mean time, these people are keen to help themselves and the work of organisations like TechnoAid provides this opportunity.

Dwyer

Locations: Nabone Village, Nam Dua Village, Ponsay Village, Nam Thi Village and Lak Seep Village near Lak Sao, Bolikhamsai province, Laos.

Date: 27th November 2006 - 28th November 2006

On Monday the 27th of November we left Vientiane to spend two days visiting projects in the Central Eastern side of Laos. These projects were being undertaken in partnership with the Laos government and it was members of the local government branches that kindly showed
us the project sites.
Getting off the bus in the dusty town of Paksan we walked to a hotel where we phoned Ms. Thongsakoun, the government co-ordinator of the project. Within a few minutes we were in a car and taking a short trip to the Provincial Education Centre were we met with government
officials employed in that sector including Mr Khamsy Ngommalath - deputy head of the provincial education service.After discussing the project sites we were to visit we got back in the car for the long trip to the village sites near the town of Lak Sao. The road trip takes in
some beautiful scenery, with Karst formations on either side sloping down to narrow valleys and scattered villages. However, the remoteness of these settlements is part of the reason for their poverty, due to the difficulty of transport to and from the areas.

After four hours of mountainous road we reached Nabone Village. This village had been identified by ActionAid and the government as one of the poorest in Laos. Until recently, most of the villagers had been subsistence farmers with any extra income coming from selling
surplus rice in local markets. The aim of the ActionAid project in this area was to introduce infrastructure and skills to allow the villagers to produce other products for sale. The needs assessment and  decision process resulted in two different products being identified as
suitable for this village - fish and textiles.
Materials for the building of small fish farms were provided and eight tanks were constructed in the village. Each tank holds a large number of catfish which are now bred by the villagers. The fish provide an extra element to their diet and an important source of income. There are
not any large lakes in the area so fish is not widely available in the local market. Eighteen traditional style looms were also constructed in the village, along with other simple machines for silk and thread processing. The looms were constructed from simple wooden materials
which are available in the area and have no motorised parts which makes their maintenance very easy. The local women were trained by a textiles producer bought in by ActionAid and now know how to make a variety of textiles, mainly the complex traditional pattern used by
Laos women on the hems of their skirts. The sale of these textiles creates a profit for the village women who previously worked in the fields and allows them to spend more time caring for their children at their home. We were very warmly welcomed by the people of Nabone
Village and they kindly presented us with some handmade textiles.
Next, we drove a bit further to come to Nam Dua Village. The assessment completed for this area had resulted in the construction of a goat farm. Similar to the fish breeding project in Nabone Village, the project aimed to provide an alternative source of income to the village
from the breeding and sale of goats. 120 goats were currently on the farm and several kids had been born recently. This project had only begun two months before so no sales had been made yet. If the project proceeds well, there will be scope for the villagers to expand the
trade to include milk and skins. The kindly folk here presented us with some Cambodian style headscarfs which will no doubt come in handy when we get there.
The last destination for the day was an education class in Lak Seep village, 10Km from Lak Sao town. This project had begun in 2004 and its purpose was to teach reading, writing and numeracy to previously illiterate villagers. The class members were almost all female and
there are clear cultural reasons for this. There are no fees for tution of primary school pupils (up to age 9) although there are other fees (building maintenance etc.). After this, most female children are kept home to work in the fields or to help look after younger siblings while
their brothers continue to go to school. The result is that many females never learn to read or write properly and their calculation skills are poor. This can cause problems for them later when dealing in the market place or travelling to other towns. The low importance attached
to the education of females in South East Asia is a large factor in the gender inequality that is evident in the region, others include traditional stereotypes e.g. women do housework including fetching water and wood; women care for children; female children are less
desirable than male children for parents; females tend to marry at a young age etc. Through the education classes, the pupils are taught literacy and numeracy using themes that are relevant to their lives e.g. health issues, agriculture, law, gender issues etc. There are three
graded levels, each taking between 5 and 8 months. After reaching level 3, the students can participate in a skill-training exercise to learn an alternative skill such as weaving or fish farming. The education classes are conducted by teachers supplied and trained by ActionAid
and are currently operating in 15 villages in Laos with a view to expanding to another 10 villages next year. Of the 43 classes initiated, 18 have completed level 3 so far.
The next day we went to KamKueth District Education Office where we met government officials who informed us about the other sites we were to see that day. The first was Ponsay Village where villages were being trained in the art of rattan weaving, having completed their
level 3 education classes. The rattan weaving trainer was supplied by ActionAid and had been teaching 111 students in 3 villages in the area. Rattan is a vine that grows in forested, tropical regions and is useful for making furniture and baskets. After 2 months of training the
villagers could construct quality baskets and mats which fetch a good price. This however was only level 1 training and future training would give them the skill to produce more complicated and large furniture pieces. Rattan is available in the local forest and is easy to
harvest. Weaving rattan is not widely done in Laos and it is a highly valued product in Vietnam so future sales should be good.
After this we visited a school building in Nam Thi Village which had been constructed with the help of ActionAid. The government education budget is not enough to provide schools for all villages resulting in some children having to choose between travelling long
distances to a school in another village or not going at all. This building was being used as a day school for local children and as a night school for the ActionAid education projects.
The majority of the projects we visited in Laos are still in their infancy and it remains to be seen whether they prove to be successful long term. However, the signs are good and the government is showing enthusiasm and support which will undoubtedly make the expansion of
successful projects easier in the future. The government employees we met were keen to help and seem dedicated to their work although they are hampered by a lack of funding due to the poor economy of Laos. This combined with the inaccessible terrain and lack of trained
teachers makes education in Laos a difficult task but the work that ActionAid is doing is definitely helping some of the region’s poorest inhabitants improve their prospects in life.

Dwyer