I have been 2 weeks away from Bhutan,
There was so much work to be done in Vietnam for the Eurasia Foundation (www.eurasia.org.vn), that I had to go to supervise
and help prepare all the upcoming important events in October and next year.
TTG , Tinh Truc Gia the Peaceful Bamboo Family one of the main Eurasia projects is in a very dynamic phase. The new vocational workshop buildings, the tea room,
the renovation and expansion of the existing buildings…developing the bio dynamic garden…etc…the many trainings that are on the way…OH my….and our old ladies in Tinh Duc...
Sometimes I wonder how we do
all this ? If you come and see and experience life in TTG you will be impressed. I am impressed and in admiration each time ,
But I think, sorry to bost, we really are such a great team ! 🙂
I think we have such complementary capacities, characters, networks and we have such an honest and deep way of working together, questioning our deepest motivations again and again,
looking in the same direction each one of us in his own way
There is Mrs Trinh : She really is at the heart of TTG,
We met her in 1998 when Eurasia started the first special classes in a primary school in Hue.
At that
time as it was a project with Hue City education departement 3 special classes in Thuan Than primary school. We, Eurasia, had no way to « choose our team ». All teachers that would work with us in the special classes, were chosen
by Hue authorities. Probably at this time the criterias were very « narrow »(family backgrounds, political backgrounds?). They were the first special teachers « to be » in Hue. They would work closely with Eurasia
as we Eurasia, trained them until today,
But for some wonderful reasons (destiny!) Mrs Trinh, Mrs Hoa, Mrs Nhi, Mrs Quyn were chosen by this very formal recrutement in 1998 and we could not have found better partners and friends !
All of them still work with us ! There were 3 others at Thuan Than School, that left for personal reasons since then, but those who replaced them also are very motivated special teachers.
So you see…destiny goes its own mysterious
ways…
But Mrs Trinh was like their leader from the start ! I interviewed her for my Master thesis in 1998 and I remember the « fire » in her eyes when she spoke of children living with disabilities, and
of her mission to integrate them, teach them to become fully respected human beings,
She is such a hard and dedicated worker, So quick, so intelligent, so capable ! She is doing everything with so much passion and so much heart !
Sometimes we all wonder does she not work too much ? As I said she is at the heart…a heart needs a good and healthy rythm, enough rest and exercice…specially when getting older, so please Mrs Trinh we need your at the « heart »,
but please take good care of yourself !
We all admire you !
I really do hope her younger team, Mrs Huyen, Miss An, Mrs Phu etc, will slowly take over some of her tasks in a way that she can do her work in a more « relaxed»
way….
I already wrote a whole blog on Mrs Hoa (blog entry Mrs Hoa) who is here from the start with us ! Also without her we would not manage ! Now Mrs Hoa does a Waldorf Kindergarden training and I feel it is like what she
has been waiting for for so long. She is blooming like a flower ! Yes Mrs Trinh needs you too mrs Hoa
Then there is Mr Tu,
Mrs Trinh’s husband. He joined us in 2005 (I think ?). He had been working in Hotel Morin,
Hue’s oldest high end Hotel, colonial style. Trinh and Tu wanted to work together and he was looking for some more meaningful work.
First he started a jam workshop at Long Tho Pagoda, Beloved School a school for children with severe disabilities
in Thuy Bieu village, also a Eurasia project. Already then we were worried about older students still going to school, they need vocational training to prepare them for life and to find their place in society. (we still have the same problems now in Thuy Bieu
School...children grow older but find no place to go)
Eurasia sent Mr Tu to Camphill « le Béal » in France for 3 months to learn about social therapy and about making jam.
He found « his teachers »
there, Andreas and Jaqueline. And believe me you could not find better teachers !
They opened his mind and heart for social therapy, working with adults living with disabilities.
Mr Tu is now the director of TTG. His dedication and hard
work are in every corner of TTG.
Some people are « great this or that » but they could never do what Mr Tu has done and is still doing in TTG. The care for the detail, the thinking from A to Z, the dedication and faithfulness and
most of all the love and care for the persons living with disabilities. All this he is doing with humility and kindness,
Together with Mr Hung, the bio dynamic gardener of TTG, Tu will go next month to India for a training with Vandana Shiva at Earth
University! With special education and social therapy, ecology and organic agriculture are the main tasks of Eurasia
Khanh of course also is here from the start. He is Eurasia’s representative in Vietnam. He trained for 4 years
in Perceval St Prex Switzerland special education. He was our student there.
When he came back to Vietnam in 2002 he started working for Eurasia.
He is like my counterpart as I am the director of Eurasia in Switzerland. We both do all the « larger
thinking », making plans, budgets, projects, organizing trainings, networking, PR, fundraising etc..
It is so pleasant and easy to work with Khanh,
His kind manners, his flexibility, his being at « ease » with
everyone are truly very precious qualities.
Of course in his heart he is a special educator and what he likes doing most is parental advise, early detection and training…so now he is very busy with his new parental advise office in Saigon, but
still without him all the bigger projects in Hue would not be possible,
Then there is Tho and me. Tho is the president of Eurasia Foundation, giving us all his support and inspiration whenever we need it ! We all are looking forward
for the trainings he will again give in Hue in October. This time he will help us with working on the « identity » of TTG. TTG being a Camphill institution and GNH Centre partner,
His help is so precious for the project
proposals, networking etc…Of course we know he is very busy in Bhutan, but we also know that he is here for us whenever we need him,
Then of course there is the whole Eurasia Foundation and Association team. Their work is like the
soil on which we can do our work on the field in Vietnam. Their solid support, in training, fundraising, in « keeping our directions right », in inspiring us is essential and we know without their work we could not do anything !
Thank you Sam, Pierre, Pierre Yves, Igor, Elisabeth, Sara Martine, Paolo, Andres, Hong, Tuan, Khoi, Sabrina, Jaques, Etienne,Peter, Marc, Nadja, Andreas, Jaqueline, Barbara, Gitti, Bob, Hung, Mrs Vong, Mr Hanh, Hai, Quang, Long, etc..all of
you…the list would be toooo long
So actually I started out my blog : Can Samsara be fixed…what a strange title…This morning I woke up thinking : why do we allways try to « improve »
things…Samasara is flawed from the start…Is it worth while? Why not leave Samsara aside just as it is…life is a constant pendulum of polarities…this is good sometime, then gets not good after some time, duality is at the heart of
Samsara, etc…sorry to sound a bit strange, but sometimes I wake up with funny thoughts like this,
But then I started thinking of all our « improving » work of « Samasara »…and
all I could think about was the love and dedication and the tremedous gratefulness I feel for all the wonderful friends and partners,
Of course it is worth while because it is all about LOVE