Meet An Hoa, An Lao, Binh Dinh, Viet Nam

At the town of Bong Song on State Highway One there is, incongruously, a traffic light. It is an odd place for traffic control because the highway doesn't actually pass through the town. At the intersection, heading north, a right turn will take you into the town. A left turn takes you down the An Lao Valley road. Most travelers, of course, don't turn. If they did, after crossing a job lot of 13 tonne bridges, negotiating the Big Corner and having rattled past the rock crackers camp, a sweep in the road would reveal the final bridge and the entrance to An Hoa village.

Overseas visitors see Hanoi or Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City. They might venture to lesser known tourist spots like Mui Ne or Vung Tau. But most Vietnamese live in places like An Hoa.
It is agricultural. Each settlement exists like an island in a sea of paddy fields. Traveling down the valley there are many such islands. In some ways it's like venturing back to the 17th century. There are still working buffalo, turning the fields and carrying cargo. Most households keep chickens and maintain a kitchen garden. Almost everyone has an encyclopedic knowledge of medicinal plants and their uses. There is a rhythm to life that harmonises with the ebb and flow of sun and season. Most people live by their labors. In the evenings, children still fly kites from the berms around the paddies. In many ways it's idyllic.

For the children, however, there is little in the way of opportunity. There are no major employers here. If there is no family business to take the kids in then they will have to venture out into the world and find work. That isn't easy in a place like this. With the competition of literally millions of others doing the same thing, a desirable skill is worth gold. That's where English comes in. Anyone who has the confidence to speak English will be snapped up by employers keen to attract foreign customers. It is ironic that most Vietnamese can, actually, speak English. At least they all have the vocabulary and grammar knowledge to be able to do so. Unfortunately most lack the practice of speaking with native English speakers.

So the area can be called poor without actually being in need of charity. In fact, the idea of charity is a little insulting to a people who have endured for millennia against everything that could be thrown at them. No one is looking for charity. Just a level playing field would do, the same opportunities as the big city kids get. Little things, like their own English Language Centre.