US embassy cable - 04HOCHIMINHCITY374

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000374 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, SENV, SOCI, PREL, VM 
SUBJECT: A KINDERGARTEN FOR CAN GIO:  THE U.S. NAVY CONNECTS WITH 
THE "HAVE NOTS" IN RURAL HO CHI MINH CITY 
 
REF:  A) 03 HCMC 1144 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) On March 14, 2004, Consul General participated in a 
ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a kindergarten built with the 
assistance of the U.S. Navy and funding from a U.S. NGO.  Ground 
was first broken on this project back in November 2003, during a 
port call to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) by the USS Vandegrift, the 
first U.S. Navy ship to visit Vietnam since the war.  As one of 
three community relations projects (comrels) carried out by 
crewmembers during this historic visit, the foundation-digging for 
the two-room schoolhouse in Can Gio proved a valuable experience 
for participants on both sides.  However, USG participation in 
even clearly beneficial projects can sometimes be more complicated 
than expected, as local authorities remain cautious in their 
dealings with the USG. 
 
PART OF HCMC, BUT OH SO DIFFERENT 
--------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) Although administratively part of Ho Chi Minh City, the 
rural district of Can Gio remains a land apart.  Located south of 
the city's urban center and on the opposite side of the Nha Be 
River, it bears no resemblance to most of HCMC.  Nor is it 
particularly close to downtown.  A trip to Can Gio from central 
HCMC entails a drive of at least one hour, plus a ferry crossing. 
Traveling to the most distant part of the district, bordering the 
South China Sea, can take well over two hours.  In this somewhat 
forgotten corner of HCMC, crowded streets, busy factories, and 
noises give way to a handful of empty roads flanked by coconut 
groves, mangrove swamp, rivers, and shrimp farms.  Visitors have a 
difficult time deciding if the area is made up of water dotted 
with a multitude of islands, or land dotted with a multitude of 
lakes and rivers. 
 
3. (U) On the whole Can Gio is poor and there are limited 
opportunities for the district's 62,000 inhabitants -- short of 
commuting into the city for work.  The soil is salt-infused and 
unsuited to rice cultivation.  Similarly, the vast tracts of 
mangrove swamp do not lend themselves to other forms of 
agriculture.  In recent years, the local economy has received a 
bit of a  boost with the introduction of commercial shrimp 
farming.  Shrimp ponds dot the landscape and the most common 
vehicles on the roads are refrigerated seafood trucks hauling away 
the harvest.  This new economic prospect has meant jobs for 
residents and rising incomes (though from a low base).  Locals 
hope to capitalize on Can Gio's natural resources by attracting 
ecotourists to a nature reserve and mini-biosphere.  The clearing 
of forest and filling of mangrove swamp in the ongoing effort to 
build a multi-lane highway through the district may, however, 
underscore some basic misconceptions about ecotourism.  As the new 
highway is served only by a small car ferry service, it may also 
illustrate some weaknesses in infrastructure planning. 
 
THEY CAME, THEY SAW, THEY DUG 
----------------------------- 
 
4. (U) As in other poor areas of HCMC, providing educational 
opportunities for children in Can Gio is a challenge for local 
authorities.  In Doi Lau Hamlet -- a few patches of dry land 
crowned by houses in a sea of shrimp ponds -- there was previously 
no separate kindergarten.  The lack of classroom space at the 
local elementary school meant that kindergarteners were mixed with 
older students.  With permission from local authorities, Vietnam 
Assistance for the Handicapped-Health and Education Volunteers 
(VNAH-HealthEd) produced a plan to construct a two-room 
kindergarten on the grounds of Doi Lau's elementary school.  The 
school was to be built by local construction companies, but funded 
entirely by VNAH.  When news of the USS Vandegrift's upcoming 
visit became public, American citizen Ca Van Tran, VNAH's 
president, was one of the individuals the Consulate General 
approached for comrel ideas.  He suggested that USN personnel 
participate in the groundbreaking and help dig the foundation for 
the new kindergarten. 
 
5. (U) USN participation was envisioned as a way to save money on 
construction costs, allowing VNAH to use the funds for other 
projects.  It also presented an opportunity to bring American 
military to a rarely visited part of Vietnam to help break down 
barriers of mistrust, and offered crewmembers a chance to see 
something of the country beyond HCMC's downtown business and 
tourist areas. 
 
6. (U) During the ship visit, many USS Vandegrift crew members 
volunteered for three planned comrels.  (The other two projects 
involved painting portions of a school for street children and 
distributing supplies donated through Operation Handclasp to a 
city orphanage.)  Early on November 20, 2003, a group of 
approximately 30 crew members ventured out to Can Gio District, 
where they broke ground for the new kindergarten in tiny Doi Lau 
Hamlet.  Ground-breaking on the kindergarten went smoothly.  The 
DCM, Consul General, and DATT accompanied the USN contingent to 
Can Gio.  On site, the CG offered remarks in Vietnamese on the 
importance of education to a gathering of local officials and 
students.  Local officialdom appeared pleased with the remarks and 
the kindergarteners were clearly awestruck by the strangers in 
their midst.  The USS Vandegrift crew pitched into digging the 
foundation after a short dedication ceremony.  Their energy seemed 
to unnerve their Vietnamese hosts, who became clearly agitated at 
the sight of 30 Westerners sweating profusely as they wrestled 
with the fifty-fifty combination of earth and water that seems to 
make up Can Gio.  Afraid that heatstroke or other calamity was 
only a few shovel loads away, local officials began calling for a 
lunch break at 10:15 in the morning.  The American volunteers kept 
at it for at least another hour until the foundation was well 
started.  Then victory was declared and all participants settled 
down for a lunch of Can Gio delicacies, namely shrimp and crab. 
Lunch was followed by a second, shorter, work period, after which 
the sailors loaded up in their vans and departed for their liberty- 
call downtown. 
 
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL 
----------------------- 
 
7. (U) On March 16, 2004, the new kindergarten opened its doors 
with a ribbon cutting by the CG and the director of Can Gio's 
education department.  The director openly acknowledged the work 
of the Vandegrift's crew and the support of VNAH in his remarks. 
It was clear from conversations with the teachers and district 
officials that everyone remembered the Navy's contribution.   The 
school's new occupants, in their finest school uniforms, filed 
into the classrooms at the conclusion of the ceremony, looking 
ready to undertake the daily rigors of kindergarten.  The students 
did not begin their time in the new schoolhouse empty-handed. 
VNAH and ConGen personnel also donated several boxes of toys and 
school supplies for the new facility. 
 
8. (U) This collaboration by an American NGO, the U.S. Navy, the 
Consulate General, and Can Gio officials was precedent-setting in 
Can Gio.  Many of the local officials involved had never dealt 
with Americans before.  The positive and tangible contribution 
made in November and reinforced at the school opening clearly made 
an impression on the local residents.  Americans came to Can Gio 
and they helped -- with money from the NGO and labor from the 
sailors.  Just as importantly, they spent a day with rural 
residents of Vietnam -- sharing food, joking, and working 
together. 
 
COMMENT: NOT AS EASY AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN 
------------------------------------------- 
 
9. (SBU) There were other lessons in this experience as well. 
Building a kindergarten should not be controversial or 
"politically" dangerous, but the days leading up to the ground- 
breaking and the ribbon-cutting were filled with mixed messages. 
District officials moved very slowly to approve "public" American 
involvement and were uncommunicative about their plans.  They 
insisted on specific approval from the HCMC External Relations 
Office (ERO - the MFA branch office for southern Vietnam) at every 
step of the planning.  ConGenoffs, FSNs, and NGO staff were 
constantly on the phones or in meetings trying to smooth the way 
for the project.  Some of the local reticence can be chalked up to 
inexperience and fear of the unknown.  Americans haven't been 
around Can Gio much since the war, when the area was a site of 
significant guerilla activity.  Outside of official meetings, 
however, Can Gio district officials were much more positive.  They 
were friendly, talkative, and grateful for assistance from the USN 
and ConGen.  VNAH contacts attributed this strange dual behavior 
by district officials to admonishments from the HCMC government 
"not to get too close to the Americans or appear too eager." 
 
10. (SBU) ConGen appreciates the goodwill and efforts of the USS 
Vandegrift in helping VNAH build a kindergarten in Can Gio.  They 
did good work and left a positive impression.  As a learning 
experience for the ConGen, this comrel project showed that our 
counterparts at the city level may insist on calling the shots to 
a greater extent than they let on -- and are wary of any local 
body developing its own relationship with the ConGen. 
YAMAUCHI