[Charity event #15th] Raglai – The story of giving and receiving – and the meaning of life!

Reach to the sky – although you can’t get the brightest star, at least, you may stay among the stars to lighten your dreams! 

That is the really valuable and fantastic experience of life at a place which is still unknown to many people...

We came back Raglai in a typical shining but cold and windy year-end day of Thuan Bac district. We passed over 400km to Bà Râu area just view the dry land along the vast rock mountain, the quietness of modern life tempo and the difficulties of people there. In front of us, they are the dusty street like the ones of primitive age, the dirty children playing with sand on the deserted yard, and the cottages made from burned clay. Even though Tet (the Lunar New Year) is coming, the spring doesn’t exist here. The life here looks so harsh, and old–fashioned as it is.
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However it can’t stop them from welcoming us warmly. Mothers, covered with the full-face veil, were taking their children, most of them were barefoot and bare headed, waiting eagerly outside the church. The children surrounded Ms. Tinh, innocently joining in all the games after a second hesitation, as if that was their only expectation.

Their simple joy was taking pictures with people, seeing the visitors from other places, especially expatriates, though just standing around. Those people were so unusual for them, coming from a different world, a world without worries about anything...

But today, it was the visitors who brought to Raglai people the warmth of sharing and sympathy. It's not just the material gifts, boxes of instant noodles, bags of rice, cakes or candies, but above all, it was the warm sharing among people.

 

 

 

It's strange that in such a wild place, there seemed to be no boundaries of ethnicity, language or culture; and there is no concept of the rich and the poor or the give-and-take. What we could see was the respect in giving away valuable gifts of life, the love of caring and sharing with each other. We just saw the smile of spring - warm, fresh and joyful on everyone's face…

And we also saw concerns for days ahead...

Leaving Ba Rau church, we followed a sandy street to Ms Chamalea Thi Mi' s house, one of the most difficult lives in the village.

After her husband’s leaving, she has had to bring up her two children on her own. Her day starts by collecting bull shit or things like that for a very small sum of money of less than 1USD per day. Sometimes, she is lucky to earn up to 2 or 3 USD if she is hired to plant rice in the paddy field. But she rarely has such a job. As a result, she has to live miserably from hand to mouth - as most of people here do. According to Mr. Phuong, there are many poorer villagers in the two farther regions.

On this trip, PVTrans Emas has offered her a house with the hope to better her living condition. We cannot answer the questions posed by a Singaporean friend: "Do these children drink milk daily? Do they have enough food? Do they spend their childhood at school? What will their future be?"  Those are remained concerns no one can answer for a bright future for the kids here.

Before leaving, we thanked to Mr. Yossi and everybody for what they had done for the people there. His answer was compacted and really moving: “You don’t need to thank us. It is our honor to share with you, and it is YOU that gave us this opportunity.” We would like to say the same to the people of Raglai. The life, sometimes, is something unimaginable – within 24 hours of one day, you can experience all the chord of emotions, the up and down of life, and find out the reason for your existence. It is the time you listen to the call of life, the time when you do something meaningful for the surrounding people with all your heart – the time when you learn how to give and receive something – by your own way. Even though you can get the brightest star, at least, you may stay among the stars to lighten dreams!

If I were a bird or a leaf,

The bird would sing well, the leaf would be green.

Should we always borrow without returning?

‘Cause Life is for giving, not only receiving.

(To Huu)

Overall, I would like to quote Mr Yossi’s statements for the conclusion: “I want to give a warm thanks to Mr. Phuong, to Raglai people, Little Star Group and PVTech Group. With me as well as all of us in general, this is a warning bell for our well-off life, for things we have at home, compared to the stuff we see here. I expect that this activity will be organized more often. This is the first shot, and we will continue launching similar activities. Our way back takes 8-9 hours, but that’s not the big problem. The company’s contribution is too small for the help of the pastor and people here. That's a big deal, and we believe that it will be a meaningful way home of everyone. As long as I am in Vietnam, I will try to maintain the help (and will authorize Mr. Malcolm Watson – in case I return home) for supporting the construction of two houses per year to people." 
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I would like to take the liberty to send the most sincere thanks of Mr. Phuong on behalf of the villagers in Raglai and Little Star Charity Group to Mr. Joseph Azran (Yossi) – the General Director of PVTrans Emas Company; Ms. Hoai Huong – Deputy Director; Mr. Malcolm Watson – O&M Transition Manager; Mr Vu Quoc Diep, Mr. Quyet Huong together with all members of PVTrans Emas Company, PVTrans Group, PVTech Group for their companion on this trip with 120 Tet gifts for old people, 450 portions for children, and the house which is about 40 million dongs for Ms. Thi Mi and her kids.

“On behalf of the house owner and the community here, we would like to send the warmest thanks to your award. We appreciate a small part of your contribution but bring a very big return, happiness and gratefulness (…) Just don’t think about what you can earn, think about what you can give. Give out today or tomorrow we may need help.” (Mr. Phuong, Translator: Quốc Điệp).
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A bird cannot bring the whole spring, but thanks to contributions from PVTrans Emas Company, spring in Raglai this year is full of warmth of love. We look forward to receiving your companion and support for the next charity events so that that warmth of love will be spreading on every corner of other villages.

Little Star Charity Group.