Terra cotta army in Xian and working in Vietnam

(Excerpted from Memories that Linger: My journey through the world of disability by Padmani Mendis)

I first heard of Xian when the famous Terra Cotta Army was discovered here in 1974. I was at Guys Hospital in London at the time, studying to be a teacher of physiotherapy. This was world news. Little did I think that I would one day actually see this spectacle. And here I was, taken on a tour of the site by an official from the Provincial Department of Civil Administration. He was born in this city. The people of Xian were proud of their cultural heritage. Our guide took his time explaining to Susan (my co-worker) and me the story of the discovery.

He said we were standing near the Mausoleum of the first Emperor of China by the name of Qin Shi Huang. The Emperor’s tomb has never been excavated. One day in 1974 while some farmers were digging a well near here, they found lots of pieces of pottery, including what appeared to be pieces of terracotta statues of soldiers and of horses and so on. The government took note of this and had Chinese archaeologists explore the site.

We were seeing what they found. Figures of a whole army that had been buried apparently surrounding the Emperor’s tomb as if to protect it. We gazed at the statues amazed. They were life-size, but heights varied. Each face was different with different features and expressions. They were dressed in different uniforms and had different hairstyles and head gear; this he said indicated their rank. Some were standing, others were kneeling with bows and arrows poised. And still others with bows and arrows by their side.

Only three of the pits on the site had been excavated. In the first pit there were more than 6,000 figures, and he said this was the main army. We paid more attention to the second pit. This had soldiers both as cavalry units with horses by their side and others as foot soldiers. We even saw chariots like those they would have gone to war with. And to think that these dated back to more than 200 years BC.

This was spectacular. But we found Xian itself a rather drab uninteresting city. Free market reforms had hardly touched it as yet. Tourism was yet to invade. Our hotel had seen better days. My husband visited here ten years later, and what he described to me was an amazingly different city.

Xian had been the capital of successive dynasties after its first Emperor Qin, and this was now showcased. Some of their mausoleums, tombs, old city walls and towers, ancient pagodas and other sites had been restored. It was now a “must visit” on any tourists’ itinerary or youngsters bucket list.

After Xian I stayed another three days in Beijing so I could experience some of its wonders. I chose not to join organised tours and went solo so I had time to drink it all in. It was relaxing spending time strolling along the Great Wall thinking of the many emperors who had a hand in the building of it from the time BC and the numerous wars it would been the focus of, the enemies it would have kept out and those that it did not.

Time was also spent at the Forbidden City, much more recent in comparison, built in the 15th century by the Ming Emperors. It remained as the residence of subsequent emperors and as the political centre of China until as recently as 1912. I had thought that the Forbidden City dated much further back. Two other sites I did not want to miss were the Ming Tombs and the Summer Palace. To visit both on one day I took an organised tour.

The Ming Tombs, although not as ancient as I had thought they were, was important not to miss out on simply for the fact that so many of the great emperors had been buried there. Only one of the 13 tombs had been excavated. We did not enter it. Instead, we walked around the parks and on part of what is called the Sacred Way. There were huge sculptures and lots of carved arches. Altogether very pleasant and relaxing. And it was good to know that we were at this historical place.

Our visit to the Summer Palace in a way was similar. We walked around a lot seeing the lakes and gardens landscaped in beautiful surroundings. The names of the three gardens in the complex were interesting – translated, they meant ‘perfect brightness’, ‘elegant spring’ and ‘eternal spring’. The Chinese have very meaningful names for everything.

I visited Beijing twice more to participate in meetings. On each occasion I spent time at the Great Wall and the Forbidden Palace. I did not go back to the Ming Tombs and the Summer Palace again.

Memories of Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) that I have recalled until now I realise quite suddenly, come mostly from work which I have carried out for WHO. But there are other great CBR growers that I had the privilege of assisting in their goal of reaching disabled children and adults in the southern hemisphere. The first of these was Sweden. I have in Geneva recalled the Swedish International Development Agency, SIDA. Among others are Radda Barnen or RB later also known as Swedish Save the Children.

Then of course, in academia, that which had the earliest and greatest impact was ICH or the International Child Health Unit of Uppsala University. There was also the Norwegian Association of the Disabled more popularly called just NAD. Yes, the Scandinavians were into CBR in a big way. Then came the Japanese. This was through JICA or the Japan International Cooperation Agency. They were conscious of the situation of disabled people in our part of the world. And they were keen on playing a part in changing that situation.

Radda Barnen or RB, Sweden in Vietnam

Soon after Vietnam won their war against the USA, the country was in a desperate state with the loss of lives and physical destruction the Americans had left behind. Yet unknown were the long-term effects the Vietnamese would face from the chemical warfare used by the mighty enemy. I am sure the immediate effect of what the chemical warfare did was familiar all around the world.

Many images of a forlorn people on their barren land were featured in the World Press and on television. Images of massive environmental destruction are still vivid in my mind. Perhaps in yours too. And six decades later we still hear of infants being born with severe disease and disabilities. Because those chemicals still persist in Vietnam and continue on their seemingly unending path of destruction.

But one thing the Americans could not destroy was the Vietnamese spirit. Fighting a war using purely indigenous strategies and tools with no generous donors fattening their own arms industries by supplying weapons for mass-scale slaughter. Supplying these in their own interest. The war they were forced into brought the Vietnamese people together to fight together. And even when the Americans were long gone, the Vietnamese people stayed together to rebuild their lives, their communities, their country.

It was at this time that Radda Barnen, or RB, asked me whether I would go to Vietnam, VN for short, to help them start CBR. The incredible Olaf Palme, Sweden’s Prime Minister, had stepped in to help VN at a time when the rest of the world treated her as an outcast for her victory over the Americans.

The two countries had a bilateral agreement, with the former assisting in the development of VN’s Timber Industry and Health System, two of Sweden’s strengths. It was in this context that RB was in Hanoi with a programme directed at improving child health through Primary Health Care or PHC. VN had no other development partners at that time. The Dutch came in later, in a small way at first.

My Introduction to Vietnam

Radda Barnen, RB, had offered to include children with disabilities in their cooperation package. The health authorities wished to have an institution built for disabled children. RB talked to the authorities about the possibilities that CBR would offer. Their response was negative; the health people preferred the known, an institution.

Discussions went on for over a year before VN’s Health Ministry was persuaded that CBR may be a better option. Suited both to Primary Health Care and to their culture. In the context of the task that needed to be done of working closely with local people to introduce CBR to them, RB felt that it may be more prudent to send a fellow Asian to do the job with them rather than a Swede.

Having carried out a joint feasibility study, Dr. Anders Norman, who had spent many years for RB in VN, stopped over in Colombo on his way home to Stockholm from Hanoi to brief me about the task. When I greeted him at the Colombo airport, the look of surprise on his face was obvious.

Later, after we got to know each other I asked him about it. He said, “You know, in VN they believe that wisdom comes with age. And you looked so young. I wondered how they would respond to you. Now I know you, I have no concerns on that score.” I was in the fifth decade of my life.

And so it was that over the next 10 years and more I had the great good fortune to get to know these fascinating people, the Vietnamese, and their indomitable spirit. Together with that spirit and the war they fought, the Vietnamese had acquired exceptional organisational skills. They had systems in place to reach their people from the centre to the periphery. And this is what was surprising in a communist system, that at the same time they had systems from the periphery to the centre. I was of course most familiar with their health and their social welfare systems which grew from needs of their people at the grass roots.

Vietnam was a discard also because it had a communist government. Whatever ideology one may attach to the word “communism”, the system I found in VN was not the usual one that is associated with communist political systems. There was indeed a rigid hierarchical structure from the Central People’s Committee of the Communist Party in Hanoi, through those in the province and district to the Commune People’s Committees in every town and village.

These formed the government at each level and must conform to party principles and toe the party line. Deviation from this was not possible. But within the practice of those principles, I found that each People’s Committee was remarkably autonomous and could do their own thing for their members, VN’s citizens.

The beginning of CBR in Vietnam

Thus it was that CBR blended in smoothly within VN’s political administration and through that, its development. Within the People’s Committee at each level, one member was responsible for health and social welfare including employment. In the city of My Tho, Ba (meaning Mrs.) Nguyen was that member. She was my hostess in Tien Giang province and soon became my friend. She was the link between the Provincial People’s Committee and all the district committees with the Central Committee in Hanoi. She facilitated logistic support from Hanoi.

Each district made their own plans for CBR implementation, and within those plans so could reach peripheral People’s Committees. Health and Social Welfare Departments implemented those plans with the resources they commanded. And what is more, the Vietnamese people made this system work. They knew it was to their own benefit. This was obviously a remnant from having fought the war. It was by working together and for each other that they had overcome adversities.

In every community, many had been injured and left with impairment. Wherever possible, people had overcome the consequences of these and were active, contributing members of their communities. Take for example, the loss of limbs and other physical injuries, extremely common in VN because the war was fought on the ground, often face to face.

It was quite amazing for me to find so many amputees among the colleagues I worked with in government and among participants on my courses. So also, people who had parts of their bodies paralysed by poliomyelitis. More often than not these disabilities were not ever seen or noticed. They were not an issue. Some had improvised appliances, others had learned to adapt to living without them and get on with whatever it was they had to do.

Vietnam had also a consciousness and sensitivity about disability. It started within the family and extended into their community. Every member had to contribute whatever they could, and so also members who had disability. This was important for their sense of self-worth on the one hand and for the growth and development of their family on the other. Now when CBR brought them access to technology which enabled those members with disabilities to function and participate more effectively, it was welcome.

The WHO Manual in Vietnamese was an essential tool which they could use themselves. They had but few rehabilitation professionals in the country. When disability was extreme, community members supported the family to provide the care that was called for. In the villages, disabled people were encouraged to come together to share common problems and discuss possible issues. The seeds of what would grow into Disabled People’s Organisations were planted.

And so, the Vietnamese authorities requested RB for increasing support year by year to reach more parts of their country with CBR. First in the south in Tieng Giang, located in the Mekong delta and not far from Ho Chi Minh City. Here they made Cai Lay district a model for learning and teaching.

Then to the central region, to the ancient city of Hue and to Da Nang which had been occupied by American forces for a short while. The authorities then said to Radda Barnen, “Can you help us with the North? We have nothing there.”

So that was how it came to pass that I was with them walking the villages of Hai Hung and in Vinh Phu, where often I was the first foreigner even older children had seen. Radda Barnen support for disabled people was holistic, so there was interaction with the health referral system and physiotherapy and the employment and education sectors as well in Hanoi and in the provinces. And always, always linking with Peoples Committees for socialisation and inclusion.

Mr. Binh

With my memories of Vietnam come always to mind one individual – Mr. Binh. The community workers wanted me to meet Mr. Binh on one of my follow-up visits to their village. Mr. Binh had had a stroke. Since then, he had been confined to bed all day and all night for nine long years. This is how the community workers found him some months before, inside his tiny, dark, single-roomed home.

His wife left by his bedside all that he would need for the day while she went out to work. She left at dawn and returned after dark. After they found him, the community workers brought a few of his neighbours to Mr. Binh. They talked about his situation and how together they could help Mr. Binh. The neighbours were willing to do what they could.

Together, the workers and the neighbours first put up two bars by Mr. Binh’s bed. They helped him to stand up for some time each day. Then to take a few steps. Gradually Mr. Binh very cautiously learned to walk. As he did so, the neighbours and the workers extended the length of the bars to the door and then beyond. The day Mr. Binh walked out that door was the first time in nine years that he had seen the sun shine. But when I spoke with him, Mr. Binh told me that the greatest benefit CBR had brought him was the friendship and interest of his neighbours. They would now pop in ever so often for a chat and to help when needed.

My experience in Vietnam brought home to me the wise words of the great Ho Chi Minh, philosopher, visionary, and poet, a strength and inspiration to the Vietnamese people and to many of us in the developing world:

“By its very nature a stone will not budge by itself.

But when many people join hands,

a stone, however big and heavy can be moved aside.”