Dien Bien Phu: Still waiting....

Well, with all this positive momentum, it makes sense that now is the long waiting period that I have heard about...the period where we are ready to operate, we have a team ready, we have products to offer, we have money to lend, we have the time to do so...YET we do not have permission. While we have received permission as an NGO to operate in Vietnam (from PACCOM), we are waiting from the permission of the Peoples Committee (the govt and party), the police, the Women's Union, the Dept of Foreign Affairs...etc.

It has been hard for me to write this blog, continue with the newsletters, correspond with donors because it seems as though we have no progress to be proud of. I was hoping that we would have started our loans by now. Yet we are in the toughest period of negotiations - the moment of truth where we are negotiating the budget, the payments, the long-term ownership plan... I will admit that there have been many times in the past month where I have considered dropping everything and coming home...but with highs, there are lows..and with support, there is responsibility. I am responsible to the donors to make good use of their money, I am responsible to the women we have promised to help, I am responsible to EDM as they have given me this wonderful opportunity and I am responsible to myself. We just have to be patient....