Let start a trash pick up group.

Hey, this is exactly what I want to do in Vietnam when I move back next year. We have the Clean Up Australia Day and it is a fantastic community clean up and environmental awareness initiative. I will not be in Vietnam physically but I will be there early next year. We can start planning now and I will be able to assist with getting sponsors as well as donate my own money to the initiative.

Social awareness and responsibility in Vietnam is so low and it pains me that the people are creating and living in such an unhealthy environment.

Everybody doing a little can add up to be great thing.

In smaller cities thy do this. It is some sort of governmental youth movement that wears uniforms, white tops and a dark blue skirts or pants.

We have them, in Buon Ma Thuot and I've seen them out weekly in Hue and elsewhere.

I think there's a tipping point where a city gets too large, too impersonal, and indifference takes over.

Watching a smoker open up a pack of cigarettes makes me sick. A stream of cellophane, foil, etc. just tossed on to the street.

There again, in some areas the street IS the garbage pick-up point. People toss their garbage from above into the street and the cleaners come along and pick it up.

TP Ha Noi has had a street sweeping machine for some years now, and TP HCM has only, in the past two years, purchased street sweeping machines.

We also have at least one drain cleaning machine.

TP HCM have a valiant crew of street cleaners who, within minutes of passing, have their work made for them, as residents toss out more garbage on to the street.

Dong Khoi gets at least five sweepins each day, fewer at Tet, whereas Tan Vinh in Quan 4 only gets two - one day time and one over night.

There are garbage boxes, bright orange, yet people still toss garbage on to the street within a metre or two of them.

One thing that gets me, is how residents like to stuff garbage down the street drains, as if there is some magic cavern underneath cavern underneath.

I have watched, at a respectful distance because of the smell, huge piles of trash being recovered from the street sewers.

Of course, it might help if the city actually deployed grates as they do elsewhere.

What I think that is needed is education. People have to be embarrassed in to not doing it. An this sort of civic education begins in the classroom where malleable minds can be found who will make the 'clean' project part of their life style.

I think a more worthwhile project, that will have a much more noticeable effect, is to adopt a stretch of highway, where the garbage exists but is not added to in great amounts each day.

Choosing crowded, and - in parts - dirty, Singapore over VietNam is more reflective on the company than the country. Many high tech companies have selected VietNam to be a base for operations including Intel whose need for cleanliness is paramount. Samsung and Panasonic think so, too.

It's hard to change 4000 years of bad habit.

Hi Huy,

That is very sweet of you, to think about this little underdeveloped place and these mostly backward people.  Generally, guys like yourself would be too busy chasing girls or their American dreams to think about Vietnam, let alone worry about it in such light.  My hat goes off to you, bro. 

But, that little project you are proposing will require a lot of commitments on your part.  If you don't get the right person to spearhead it, as soon as you are gone, it will be back to square one again.  Worst yet, all of those cleaning tools will become litters on the very street that you seek to clean.  So, please prepare yourself, personally and professionally.

If you don't have the finance or the energy, I highly suggest that you start at something smaller, like donate some of that money to a nearby school.  Then, use that leverage to speak to the teachers and their kids about the importance of hygienes, as you know it.  Then, you can start again, at another school, the next time you come here? 

Regardless, you are a man of courage and compassion, exactly the type that Vietnam needs.  Keep it flowing, bro!  Also, please keep a good eye on the leeches (figuratively).  There are many of them in this land.

If you have any question or run into any problem, feel free to drop me a line, or just post it on here.  I, along with the many good guys on here, will be more than happy to help get you on your ways. 

Best wishes,
Howie

Weild_1,

Those guys you're mentioning are probably doing nails. And what really piss me off is that so many Vietnameses here in America trying to make a quick by doing nails. I really wish more Vietnameses here in America would try to get an education, work in the corporate office, business, marketing, IT, dentist, doctor, lawyer, or engineer. We need more professionals Viet Kieu coming back to Vietnam.

How about this ? Anybody get caught littering get fine 1,000,000 VND. I've remembered Hong Kong used to be dirty too. Until, Hong Kong start fining people for littering.

My plan is to within 1-2 years to move back to Vietnam and open an engineering firm. On the side, I wanted to do something to help the orphan children in Vietnam.

Huy,

Those fellas have their own reasons.  Personally, I don't want to learn about them, because I don't need to know them.  If that is what they want to do with their lives, so be it!

You have a lot of ideals, don't you?  This is Vietnam, Huy.  Many things that work in the US, or Hong Kong, don't work here.  The individuals and institutions are different, very different.  Therefore, everytime you want to introduce something, you must be directly involved.  If not, you will be in for a lot of frustration, even disappointment. 

Getting on here and giving yourself some lead time is very good of you.  Keep pecking at it.  Eventually, you will pull through.  Again, if you have questions, feel free to post them on here or PM me.

Best wish,
Howie