While in Vietnam we were given some information on Dong Xa, the small fishing village where we built our houses:
Dong Xa village was settled by fishing families who made their living on the nearby river. As fish stocks have dwindled, they have taken up rice farming. Both occupations are seasonal and the low family incomes are supplemented by day labor and home-based businesses like poultry growing and ferrying children across the river to school.
School-age children of fishing families often live with their grandparents so that they are able to attend school while their parents are way fishing for months. Parents and grandparents who grew up on boats are likely to have little education themselves. The rapidly-growing industrial corridor between Hai Duong and Hanoi offers opportunities to work in factories or as skilled construction workers, but better jobs are available only to those who have some schooling.
Houses offer village families a stable base for children to attend school and for increased livelihood opportunities, especially in home-based businesses like tea shops or crafts. Through their partnership with Habitat for Humanity and in accumulating 100 hours of sweat equity, home partners have learned new schools, including how to make sewer covers and concrete blocks and to lay blocks.
