GOLDEN TORTOISE, THE

Farming

85 Edward Tick I travel through the Mekong Delta, viewing the results of doi moi, which means renovation. Viet Nam’s liberalizing policy was adopted in 1986 to free their hungry land from the depression of economy and spirit resulting from war and Communism. Since land ownership was returned to them, farmers have increased productivity from starvation levels to not only feed their people but to make their country, along with Thailand and the United States, one of the world’s foremost rice exporters. Yet they retain traditions and interdependency far older than modern political theories. Each family owns its own land, yet every farmer works every paddy in the village. Farming Tending my paddy my neighbor’s bending back aches as much as mine R My veteran travelers and I sputter in a small, peeling wooden passenger boat through a green world, floating among the lush islands that freckle the Mekong River. We visit with Vietnamese veterans and their families from every faction of the old Southern and Northern armies. Long-haired Warrior Mrs. Tien is a Viet Cong veteran, a “long-haired warrior” as the women fighters were called. She enlisted in the VC at ten years old after her school was bombed and destroyed by our American forces. Amidst dead children I follow my teacher into battle Serving as a courier, she met her future husband, who became a VC unit commander, while fighting the war. Unlike American GIs, the Vietnamese troops were in the war until it was over or they were wounded or killed.Their company commander married them in a simple jungle ceremony. ...