Patrick Moreau films a Dao student learning how to make a bamboo boat.

Their faces brighten as they learn how to work with a machine they have never even touched before.

The course continues under the plan that one day, one of these students will film their daily lives, and record for the first time an inside view of the unique aspects of the Dao culture.

For the last eight months, this group of Dao Quan Trang ethnic minority students from the Ngoi Tu village, near Thac Bac Lake in Yen Bai Province, have also been learning French, English, cuisine, woodwork, masonry, informatics and economics, all tools that should help them work and manage the newly-established eco-friendly tourism village in their hamlet and take part in their region’s development.

LavieVuLinh project in the village of Ngoi Tu was set up two years ago by Fredo Binh, a French-Vietnamese man hoping for greater immersion of tourists and the local people. It is a long term tourism project encompassing education, environment, culture and tourism aspects that Fredo has proposed should be managed locally by the young Dao generation and led by the elders and some experts in fields relating to the project.

The new school is the heart of this project, said Fredo. With his confidence in Vietnamese youth, he has employed them as apprentices, paying them to study under him.

The simple classroom made of bamboo and with modest furniture houses 12 Dao Quan Trang youths, between 18-24 years old, all employed under the project. A few other young Dao are also attending classes, but don’t work for the project.

"The first objective of the classes is to teach them what is necessary for their work," said Fredo. "The second objective is to help them identify their culture while they film their culture and daily life. It’s also a way to help them recognise the changes to their environment and the context where they are living,"

Other than informatics, woodwork and masonry lessons, the students have cultural lessons taught by the village’s inhabitants. They learn about local plants and the environment, as well as receive lessons from geographers and historians among other local experts.

"What is interesting is they can immediately apply the knowledge they learn in class in their work," he noted.

The class follows French lessons from a French teacher who also teaches them English while Fredo continues to look for an English teacher.

"In the near future, we will teach them about handicrafts. We’ll teach them how to make boats with bamboo based on traditional boats. We plan to open a handicraft museum.

"The school’s rhythm is, however, influenced by the rhythm of rice cultivation. Their parents are farmers and when their family needs hands to help with the harvest, they can’t attend class," said Fredo.

Vu Linh is home

Lavievulinh, Fredo’s eco-friendly resort, has become an ideal place for tourists to discover Yen Bai and the traditional culture of the Dao Quan Trang.

"From my early days in Viet Nam in 1994, from my trips, I recognised that Viet Nam still had so few community tourism sites. Meanwhile the potential of this kind of tourism is very big," he said.

His project received the support of local authorities from the Yen Binh district, Yen Bai Province and of its inhabitants.

"Vu Linh is one of 22 important sites for tourism in our province," said Nguyen Huu Thang, deputy director of the province’s Department of Culture Information and Tourism. "We support the project and are trying to create more favourable conditions so that the project can develop more.

Thang noted that having an eco-friendly tourism approach not only helps the inhabitants develop their economy, but more importantly helps the ethnic minority people preserve their culture and protect the environment.

Although Fredo now lives in Ha Noi, he has been attached to the region after his children grew up there. He also took in four young people for one year from Vu Linh commune, Yen Bai Province and one from Ba Be in Thai Nguyen Province who all came to study in Ha Noi.

"They all want to go back home after they finished school and bring their knowledge to develop their region," he said.

The project Lavievulinh is being financed by Fredo’s Ha Noi – based Bourlingue company, also known as Freewheelin’Tours, that he opened more than 10 years ago after he arrived in Viet Nam to discover his origins (his mother is Vietnamese). The company provides tailor-made tours for travellers, on two or four wheeled vehicles under the theme, "the people meet the people."

"Viet Nam has a lot of potential. It is very young and therefore very promising," said Fredo. "I am seduced by the intelligence of Vietnamese people and I plan to stay here for a while."

(Source: VNS)