May, Chu and Ha

Ha, Chu and May, with Abe and I

Location: Sapa, Northern Vietnam
Date: May 3, 2010

I don't remember the first thing she said to us. I wish I did, but I know it was something that made me think twice before giving her the normal "leave me alone" glance. It was dinnertime, and my friend Abe and I were in the middle of a delicious meal, and although we were being completely interrupted, I was curious. When I looked over, I saw a young girl dressed in typical Hmong clothing. Her hair was long and pulled into a ponytail, and she wasn't smiling. After the normal, "BUY FROM ME!!!!' spiel, she looked at us, and in one long line of speech, quickly spit out all of the phrases she used when selling to tourists..."Buy from me. How old are you? Are you new in town? How long are you in Sapa? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Did you go to the waterfall? Did you go to the cave? Buy from me..." She had us laughing, and we knew she was making fun of herself and the entire selling operation of Sapa. I had never heard any of the Hmong ladies comment on how ridiculous they sometimes sounded, and to do it in such a manner was hysterical and completely unexpected. From the minute I met her, I was hooked. She was the rereshing breeze that blew through Sapa and her name was Ha.

We invited Ha for a drink (non-alcoholic of course!) and she came and joined us, shutting out her world of sales. She could speak Hmong, English and Vietnamese, and all perfectly (most of the older generation of Hmong could only speak a few words in English). Ha had it all- humor, sarcasm, wit, intellect, beauty....the girl amazed me. She was tiny and already 17 and she wanted to get out of Vietnam. Sadly, I learned that she only attended schools for a few hours per week and wasn't literate in any language. She lived in the village of Sapa so she could sell things and only went back to her village on special occasions. We got to meet her friends Chu and May a little while later, and they came to join us for a meal. We spent a few hours with these girls, just chatting and laughing. In all my travels, I had never met such a threesome. They made fun of each other and played jokes and laughed and laughed. And we laughed and laughed. At the end of the night, it was time to go home, and we walked home with the girls. I had given Ha one of my bracelets earlier in the night for good luck in sales, and she had told me that the next morning she would come and give me one in turn. We got to their temporary home, which was a tiny house without electricity. The girls asked me to wait for one minute, and ran to get their cell phones for me to charge. We made plans to see them in the morning, and I walked away with their flashy cell phones in my hand trying to make sense of what was going on...

What a lovely morning!

Because of Sapa's tourism, the Hmong people have been able to profit and have overcome what used to be a very poverty-striken existence. Yet, you have these women who are 70+ chasing you in the streets yelling "BUY FROM ME!!!" They can't speak any other words in English, and so many interactions with them are hand signals and made up sign language. Then, you have the younger generation of Hmong, who can speak perfect English (yet can't read) and have flashing cell phones that use in between sales. It's a huge difference- and it seems that the older generations are jealous of the younger, English speaking girls. It makes me really wonder what will happen from here- will the girls leave the village or will they stay, making money for the family and carrying on the tradition?

Ha and I with all of our friendship bracelets

Chu braiding my hair

The next morning, we woke up to find Chu, May, and Ha downstairs of our hostel. They were making bracelets and chatting, and we got to spend a lovely 2 hours just sitting with them int he sunlight. Chu braided my hair, Ha tied about 6 bracelets on my wrist, and May and Ha dressed up Abe in all of the goods they were going to try to sell that day. I think it was just about one of my favorite mornings of my trip. When tourists walked by, they didnt even try to sell, but the tourists looked at us like, "What in the world are those Hmong girls doing with those tourists?" The girls were holding our hands and sitting on our lap, and we had somehow been able to cut the "buy from me" crap out of the equation.

Chu and Ha dressing up Abe in all of their goods

Over the next few days, we spent the evenings with the girls and before we left, we made them copies of some of the photos that we had taken with them. I also was determined to get these girls to read so I did my best to seek out the one shop that sold books. I bought a beginning to write book (to learn the alphabet in Vietnamese), a beginning to read book, a comic book (to read the pictures and go from there), and a pencil for each girl). We gave them the packages before we left and they promised to do their best to learn to read. The faces on each of the girls when we gave them the presents was something I will never forget. That night over dinner, the girls sat below us on the sidewalk, and they were each writing in the books we gifted them. It was a very cool moment. Giving the girls the photos and books

Watching the girls read and write in the books

Saying goodbye to the girls was hard. The girls meet hundreds of tourists every week, but somehow, we managed to have a special relationship with them. We exchanged Facebook information and the girls walked away, cell phones in hand, wearing their traditional Hmong attire....I will never forget Chu, May and Ha.