Save the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey

The rain had stopped a while ago, and I found myself entangled in a touching report. Initially, this was meant to keep myself busy, just for the duration of the rain. Bettina reminded me of my daughter, who had dreamed at the age of 6 to become a zoologist/director for a Wildlife Conservation Project. The first time I took her to the movie, it was about a French expedition team fighting against monkey trade in Asia. She liked it very much, but as years went by, she wanted to become a journalist. After what had happened in Iraq and Afghanistan lately (journalists were beheaded instead of monkeys!), Journalism seemed to be history for her. Actually, she is studying to become a pharmacist or a doctor. Annabel has reached her 16 years of age when I was in Hanoi for my first meeting with Bettina Martin. The occasion was set up by Thùy Dương, a reporter of the Guide. It helped me gather sufficient information about the situation for the eventual help I might bring to her project.

A month went by already, and one must adjust to his day-to-day realities before thinking about the monkeys. It was unfortunate that the originally intended donation was diverted to help a friend of mine in Hoian. The need for assistance there, was more pressing after the passage of the Xangsane typhoon. But I assure Bettina before leaving Vietnam, that I will engage myself in setting up an infrastructure to enable her commerce ONLINE. Instead of doing things on a "shoe string", this should allow her to operate much more efficiently and effectively, reaching out for the whole world contributions.

There are of course many things to scope and to identify, feasibility speaking. But I hope with your participation thru different phases of the project, something good will materialize for the snub-nosed monkeys of Na Hang and for Bettina too. This time, I would be very much surprised to see my daughter changing her career direction again, after reading my blog, to become a Wildlife Conservation Project manager. I may be wrong, but I doubt it, cause it's a no woman's job. Bettina Martin came to Vietnam in 1997 from Germany for a 3 month special assignment to replace a consultant who had just chicken out. Her involvement turned out to last almost 9 years, not without difficulties and self-sacrifices. I am afraid she probably has to stay longer, much longer now, either for Vietnam or the monkeys or for both.