The Next Project: Part One, Meeting Matt

In the waning days of my Asia trip I began to feel a need for something more familiar, something that felt a little bit like home. I was in Hanoi and I was really craving a cold pint served in a sleeve and some good fries. My Lonely Planet guide mentioned a place called LePub and it was everything I was looking for in that moment.

Frosty pints, good food and a professionally trained staff who knew how to balance efficiency, friendliness and fun. The people who worked there will never remember me, but I will never forget them. As someone who has worked in the hospitality industry for many years, I tend to be silently judgmental of other places, but the staff at LePub were exemplary. LePub was an oasis at a time when I needed to be in a place where people spoke the same language.

At this point I was beginning to feel a very personal sense of disappointment. Part of my commitment is to make giving a component of my traveling, and I had not come anywhere near that goal, in spite of the obvious need that surrounded me. The level of need I saw in Cambodia will haunt me for a long time, but projects on the scale required are far beyond the means of myself and the people I know.

Then I had a realisation that I had made an error. My intention should not be to create sustainable charitable projects, but to support ones that I find while traveling. The people who are already running these projects know better than I. The only trick is finding the well run project, which brings me back to Matt.

I accidentally met Matt because of some drunken tourist. I had been sitting at a hightop adjacent the bar when twice someone had smashed into my table and caused my beer to spill a little. The staff responded promptly and it was hardly worth getting upset about.

The third time it happened really made me laugh. I had just ordered a fresh pint and excused myself to the washroom. I never saw the pint. When I returned my table and chair were slightly damp, and my notebook was a little soggy. No harm, no foul, I figure, keeping in mind that getting publicly upset is the worst thing one can do in Vietnamese culture.

It was then that I met Matt, one of the owners of LePub. He graciously explained the situation and replaced my pint. We got to talking.

Matt is from the UK. He is a new father, married to a Canadian lady who works for the UN. She is from Dundas, Ontario. I have a friend in Dundas. I tell him about my website and the charity component. He tells me about charities in the area and gives me a multitude of great leads.

Its late now. Hanoi is a city that gets up early. The staff is gone and it is time for me to let Matt go home. I head out into the night gratified that I have found a lead, feeling hopeful that I may yet be able to live up to the very public promises that I have made to myself.

http://www.goyestoeverything.com

Ethical Dilemmi

Image by alex.ch via Flickr

When I search for prospective recipients for the next microproject, I like to see a positive aspect of building something.When people are brought together for a common positive purpose they are generally willing to throw aside differences for the greater good. However, it is impossible to consider building anything in a place where there is no recognition of the rule of law in a given country.

I know we are all busy in our lives, but if you have seven minutes please take that time to watch the first part of this video.

If you don't have time to watch the video, here is the synopsis. After the Khmer Rouge fell there was nothing but chaos in terms of land ownership on the capital, Phnom Penh. This was due to the fact that most of the residents had been forced out of the city and murdered by the Khmer Rouge.

To help alleviate the ownership chaos a law was established that entrenched squatters rights. If you lived on land for five years, it was yours.

Now the land has become valuable and people who have clawed out a tiny dream in the echo of the most unspeakable aspect of the human experience are having the rug pulled out from under them by their own government once again. They may not have much, but they have made homes that have electricity and running water and they are being evicted into what are essentially refugee camps outside the city.

No power, no schools, no running water.

So here are my dilemmi.

• Am I supporting this obscene corruption and defilement of human dignity by visiting Cambodia or does my presence and bearing witness to this situation help, (even if it is in the tiniest way).
• Should I contribute to a microproject in a place where the government could simply steal it for its own greedy needs?
• Should I support the people who are fighting this fight?
• Should I find one small group of people who are being evicted and give them enough to bribe a judge?
• Should I try and build something in these refugee camps that these people are being banished to?
• Should I even go to Cambodia at all?