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Neighbourhood in the hamlet of foreigners

VietNamNet Bridge – We attended the First Friday Party in Chua hamlet on the bank of West Lake (Quang An ward, Tay Ho district, Hanoi) with the family of Jim and Mary Packard-Winkler. They have just come to work in Vietnam with two children and this was their first introduction to their neighbours in Chua hamlet.

Chua hamlet is called the hamlet of foreigners because there are many families of foreigners of various nationalities here. The party started at 6pm with around 50 attendants, both Vietnamese and foreigners. The party, thus, was a combination of many cuisines from many countries. Besides Vietnamese cuisines like nem (spring rolls), cha ca (grilled chopped fish), and gio lua (lean pork paste) were cuisines of France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands. The children of various nationalities also had a separate zone.

Like Vietnamese in a village

The host, Mary, was busy with logistics. She rubbed her hands against her pinafore, smiled and said: “It’s wonderful! We are very surprised at and interested in this First Friday Party and the neighbourhood is like a village here.” It has become a ‘custom’ in this Chua hamlet as whenever it has a new member, despite Vietnamese or foreign, they all organise a ‘presence’ party like this.

Ms Consuelo from Ecuador has been in Vietnam for five years with her husband and they’ve lived in this hamlet for a long time. She said that at first she was very lonely and she missed her children very much. Through such presence parties, she has made many friends who are her neighbours, who “talk and help each other like Vietnamese in a village”. That friendly atmosphere, according to Ms Consuelo, doesn’t exist everywhere in the world.

The party was very joyful. After the hosts introduced themselves, they immediately became an official member of Chua hamlet. Everybody came and shook hands with the hosts. They talked and shared with each other about their jobs, family life, their children.

Pham Chi Lan, an economic expert, a former member of the research board of the Prime Minister, is also a member of this village. In late 2006, her family organised a party with the participation of over 80 neighbours, both adults and children.

“Our family is a member of this hamlet and foreigners who are living here also consider them part of this Vietnamese hamlet. They want to live in the neighbourhood atmosphere of Vietnamese. That’s wonderful!” she said.

Inter-hood!

The first First Friday Party in Chua village took place two years ago with the participation of over 30 foreigners and Vietnamese. The one who took the initiative of organising the party is Bruno Moser, a Swedish expert on public finance whose wife is an American.

“Our hamlet has many foreigners of different nationalities who live together with Vietnamese. All of us are far from our home so it is wonderful to have meetings and sharing among strange people to turn them into friends along with the local people,” he said.

With that thought, he took the initiative of the party two years ago and the party has been maintained until now to become a ‘custom’ of Chua hamlet.

Moser has the list of members of all 52 families in the hamlet, their emails, telephone numbers and he announces necessary information in the hamlet to all families.

Once a family in the hamlet lost a bicycle and the whole hamlet was immediately announced to be vigilant. When a family moves, they will leave the information of the house for the newcomers. Families in the hamlet also tell each other practical information and recommends good services.

When someone is ill, other families will send representatives to visit and even provide financial assistance if that family is in financial difficulty. Each time a family returns to their home countries or a Vietnamese family returns to their home village, they bring back specialities of their home to share with their neighbours.

When a Vietnamese family invites others to their wedding party, birthday party, longevity party, or death anniversary, all families in the hamlet come. Those international citizens even take part in traditional rituals of Vietnam.

Recently, Mr Hieu, a member of the village, received a Swedish family as his adopted children.

It is thought that in modern life people don’t have time to share but it is different in Chua hamlet. They are all modern people who have good jobs and a good neighbourhood.

(Source: Tuoi Tre Online)

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