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"Yet this mission intrigued me. It was my chance to give
something back to Vietnam, in particular to my own colleagues
in nursing. My assignment was to co-tech a four-week course to
upgrade the teaching skills of Vietnamese nursing educators.
The U.S. Committee for Scientific Cooperation with Vietnam sponsored
the project in collaboration with the Vietnamese Ministry of
Health (MOH) and the newly established Vietnamese Nurses Association
(VNA). Unlike other outreach programs that tend to focus on providing
direct care, the goal of this project was to teach the teacher.
By working with Vietnamese nurse educators, I could help in building
their profession. Strengthening the nursing infrastructure would
ultimately improve the status of health in Vietnam." |
"In 1994, I was invited by the US Committee
for Scientific Cooperation with Vietnam to participate in a nursing
teaching project in Nha Trang, Vietnam. When I first thought
about this opportunity to go to Vietnam, I was ambivalent. All
I knew about Vietnam was associated with "the war".
Thinking of it brought back all the feelings of confusion, guilt,
sadness, and fear that were so much a part of my college experience.
I had known that young people my age were dying in a foreign
country half a world away. And I had understood that innocent
Vietnamese women and children were also victims. The horrible
images of war that had remained dormant in my mind for nearly
20 years were reawakened".