Between Afghanistan and Viet Nam, a common ground exists
I went to Afghanistan in August with the intention of, like many other college grads, challenging myself with a new experience in a foreign place.
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 I went to Afghanistan in August with the intention of, like many other college grads, challenging myself with a new experience in a foreign place. I was hoping that by the end of this four-month journey, I not only would have met new people and blended into a new world that I could barely imagine sitting at home in sunny California, but that I also would have built up my resume and picked up those ever-so-useful professional skills and contacts. It was more than I could have hoped for. Working in international development always had been one of my dreams. That I was helping some very disadvantaged people in a forgotten place made the experience all the more fulfilling. It wasn’t important that I was signed on to a World Bank project. I just happened to be working in government reform — and that’s what mattered most. Coming from a liberal academic environment such as UC Berkeley, I was well aware of the criticism against the work that I was doing with the Bank, and so part of the reason I forced myself to go to dusty, isolated, and seemingly dangerous Afghanistan was to find out for myself how bad “international predatory capitalism” really is. What I didn’t expect was that as soon as I arrived, many of my philosophical questions got put on the back burner, and most of my energy was simply spent either on work — just trying to get the pieces of government to fit together in Afghanistan’s extremely sub-optimal environment for the task of “country-building” — or just trying to get by to the next day with the very limited power, water and communications available. For daily living, at times this meant bucket showers heated by hand-boiled water from the kitchen, and excruciating withdrawals from not being able to check my e-mail or (affordably) call my parents and friends back home. But what surprised me most is that while most Afghans have much less in the way of living conveniences, they still have fared quite successfully. Despite generations of war and societal deterioration, the people continue to adapt to the changing times. They are resilient. And that’s what makes them so similar to the Vietnamese. I know it’s to be expected, because resilience is a requirement for living in any developing place. But still, Afghans themselves seem to recognize the similar histories and shared suffering between Afghanistan and Vieät Nam. What continues to inspire me the most about my experience in Afghanistan is the talent and the hope that drove my colleagues, my Afghan counterparts, with whom I worked while I was there. Some of these individuals came of age in the worst of circumstances imaginable: living during an oppressive Islamic regime, growing up with the fewest of material conveniences, receiving an extreme lack of support for education, and so on. Yet these guys were still shining bright. One was a medical student, a soon-to-be doctor, so in the mornings he went to class and clinic while he spent his afternoons at the Ministry of Commerce chasing down trade data and information on price controls with me. Of course, he never slept because his nights were devoted to anatomy books and whatnot. Despite our differences, some of their accomplishments made me feel like I should be doing so much more. In the end, I have no regrets about working in a faraway land. Good governance continues to be a primary concern for Afghans, just as it is for the rest of the world. Reaching out and being part of the development of disadvantaged societies is crucial, especially considering the current security concerns of the U.S. So I encourage readers who are considering such a path to take it seriously and to go after this field of work that’s so untraditional for Vietnamese Americans. I actually met other senior Vietnamese American development consultants while I was out in the field in Afghanistan, and that inspired me, as well. So believe it or not, we’re out there. Theories and philosophies aside, development work is challenging and real and Vietnamese Americans are well-suited to take part in it. After all the trials and hardship that refugees have been through, we especially understand the post-conflict situations such as those in Afghanistan, and it only makes sense to give back after we’ve all received so much.
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