A Mosaic of Ethnic Minorities

Commonly known as "hill tribes", a mosaic of ethnic minorities inhabits the mountainous regions of Vietnam.

The French called these ethnic minorities Montagnards (highlanders or mountain people) and this term is still used today. The Vietnamese traditionally referred to them as "moi", a derogatory term meaning savages, which reflects all too common attitudes among lowland majority Vietnamese.

The current government prefers the term "national minorities". There are more than 15 separate groups each with their own dialect which further complicates their integration into mainstream Vietnam for any possible education or meaningful employment.

Without any outside intervention, many of the children of these remote tribes would never see or know anything of the outside world.



Our good friend Mr. Minh, has sponsored annual Summer Camps specifically for these isolated children, many of them children of minority lepers. This camp is held for three days in July or August.

Depending upon the availability of donated funds they bring together 500 to 600 children between the ages of 10 and 20 years. They alternate...one year younger kids, next year older kids. The biggest cost is transportation for the kids from their remote locations. He calculates that it costs $10 each for transportation and food.

This is a very important project because without it most of these children NEVER go out of their villages. All they ever see is dirt, poverty and no education. Bringing them out to see the outside world and meet others is very important to break the cycle of their impoverished existence.

He was very sad to tell us that he was not certain that he would obtain enough donations to hold this event this year.