We have been in Ho Chi Minh City for less than 48 hours and already the city has shown us what everyone knows: endless lines of easy-honking mopeds, impossible crosswalks, noodle soups with the unmistakable scent of cilantro, towering skyscrapers surrounded by garish little houses, lights, lights and more lights. There is, however, something more that we have been lucky enough to learn about. Something that you don’t see online but that gives you some insight into that famous “belly” of a country. And it tells you there is much more if you take the time to review the clichés.
As we walk through a city park in District 1, we are stopped by a small group of girls. There are three of them. They are in their 20s. “Do you speak English? Do you speak English?” they ask us with some shyness. We answer yes and a smile melts away any awkwardness. One of them tells us that they are college students. As a mid-semester assignment, they have to do interviews in English, their subject of study. “These are not difficult questions,” she reassures us. “And it will only take us a few minutes.”
We willingly accepted, partly because it would have been impossible to say no. Within seconds the girls set up the setting. Yes because this is a video interview. One of them sits me on a park bench and sits beside me. She has a crumpled piece of paper with questions written on it, and her smartphone to record the audio. Another stands in front of the bench ready to film everything, again with her smartphone. The third holds a cardboard bag and with an umbrella shadows the girl making the video.
One, Two Three… ACTION !!!
There is talk about bullying in schools. Have I ever been bullied when I was a student? What is bullying in my opinion? Has it changed today from what it used to be? What motivates a person to engage in bullying? What can parents and teachers do to prevent bullying?
So much for simple questions, I say to myself. At the same time, however, it makes me think about being in a park in Ho Chi Minh City and talking about bullying in schools. In a city where on street corners you can still find people who custom-make shoes for you by drawing the shape of your foot on a cardboard box, there is also a generation wondering about problems that you also know about, even though you live almost ten thousand kilometres away. Global problems, sure, but ones that you foolishly never bothered to think might exist here too. Between me and myself, I always find the excuse of time. There is never enough of it – I think, although I know in conscience that this is not the case. What also strikes me, however, is the absolute normality of talking about it. The girls haven’t asked me where I’m from, assuming that no matter where I come from, bullying is still and everywhere a problem to be dealt with.
After the interview is over, the girls thank us again. Then, before saying goodbye, one of them takes two sweets from the cardboard bag. “These are typical sweets from this area,” she tells me. “We wanted to give them to you to thank you for your time.”
In a Ho Chi Minh City running on mopeds without ever stopping, I had the privilege of interrupting this ride and taking the time to reflect on something I had never considered before. And it was that genuine kindness of these girls – which precisely because it is genuine costs nothing – that gave value to the time, mine and theirs.
