Barbara Dovarch
158
It is hard to condense into such a tiny space what I learned in my six months in Vietnam, such a range of experiences between the professional sphere and personal growth, with great overlap and enrichment between the two. It was certainly a great opportunity to enter into a real situation in such depth, even if in a very small scale, be part of an articulate process and end up sowing a first seed for what we hope one day will be a consolidated practice. Thanks to the open mind of the vice chairman of the city, the government permitted our presence and work in the rural areas; without that permission we wouldn’t be allowed to approach the community, even if the communities themselves had wanted it. However, for the local authority, the people in the communities and the students, this kind of process was totally new. Thus, our work in Vinh started from scratch with curiosity as mainspring, coming out of our effort and passion and having to cover many different aspects. Day by day we saw ourselves adapting and the process shifting; the local people gradually changing their perspective from one of complete confusion at the beginning about what our role was, to supporting and believing, sometimes even more than us, in what we were trying to achieve. Over time we developed a purpose and kind of contribution we could offer to them that was appreciated. We experienced the slow, delicate and powerful process of building trustworthy relationships and spaces of dialogue, not only between us and the different kind of actors, but also among the communities themselves and between them and local