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A Visit To The New Economic Zone: Tam Thom Siep Commune

By Pete Zastrow

The VVAW delegation was taken to the Tam Tom Siep commune, south and east of Ho Chi Minh City to show us how the New Economic Zones were functioning. While the tour accomplished that purpose, it also did much more. It was in fact a moving demonstration of the words of Ho Chi Minh, "Our Party has brought up a revolutionary generation of boys and girls full of zeal and courage.

"These are beautiful flowers of revolutionary heroism..."

Just getting to the commune was no simple task; we left in our air-conditioned Toyota Foreign Ministry van and drove for 45 minutes to a car ferry, where we waited since, of course, it was on the other side of the Saigon River. Surrounded by children, entertained by us, our pictures our watches and cameras, we finally left the van to walk to the cabin on the car ferry—a tugboat pushing a large barge on which the cars and busses floated. Back into the van on the other side, we drove through the countryside as flat as Kansas, with water everywhere. Ducks swam in and out of the rice paddies, a perfect example of getting two crops from the same place as the same time.

Another drive and another boat, this time a sampan waiting for us. We crossed a narrow board, walking the plank into the boat which then navigated through wide rivers, rimmed the villages, until we got to the commune. The village head and most of his assistants were there to greet us: he was the old man of the village at 34.

Until 1978 the area was vacant, a mangrove forest having been destroyed by U.S. dioxin during the war. It was 1980 when members of the Volunteer Youth Organization in Ho Chi Minh City began to make the attempt to bring the area back. Long on enthusiasm, but initially short on experience, they tried a number of crops without much success. Perseverance and planning paid off, however. We saw the maps of the area where each square yard's produce was planned for years to come—and next year more acreage would be planted. Now there was mangrove, there were eucalyptus trees (used all over the South since they apparently have some value in bringing back the soil devastated by Agent Orange). Shrimp farms flourished during the rainy season, and they could grow some coconut.

What they had done, more important than crops, was to build a community where there was nothing. Members of the Volunteer Youth Organization devoted three years to this project; at the end of that time they were free to return to the bright lights of Ho Chi Minh City. If, instead they decided to stay in the commune, they were given a house, tools, space for their garden. We could see a small town had been built—all of it in the last 7 years. At this point, there were 49 families, about 150 people. They worked hard( that was evident everywhere we went—paths were covered in sand, there were bridges, some of them good-sized across many streams criss-crossing the area), but watching the kind of private play/conversation that went on among commune members while we were listening or eating, they also seemed to be having a hell of a good time.

A beautiful building for the childcare center filled with children, showed both their priorities and their investment in the future. A medical center treats almost everything and will send patients on to larger facilities if necessary. A school section of the commune has facilities where a Ho Chi Minh scientist comes out regularly to give classes so that the commune inhabitants will understand their fight against chemical poisons.

Life in the commune is certainly well-filled, although the volley ball nets we saw in several places suggested that it was not all work. Life was not easy: the area floods every December with sea water up to as much as 4 meters (12 feet) high. Fresh water which cost just over 1 dong in Ho Chi Minh City cost over 500 dong out in the commune because of the cost of getting it there. Wells drilled to get fresh water locally only got more salt water.

When we arrived there were cigarettes on the table; tea and coffee arrived as we did; iced towels were given to help us recover from our long trip to get to the commune. And if we did not always know exactly what we were eating for lunch, the several courses were delicious. And the beer we were served was plentiful. Understanding that we were in an area of no frills, bare-boned economy only made us feel more grateful for the honor done to us and to the organization we represented.

With all of that we could not escape the fact that the leadership of the commune—and presumably everyone else there—were kids. People joined up for their three years at about the same age that many of us joined up to go to Vietnam. Thank goodness they have more sense than we did, and can devote their youth to a cause worthy of their zeal and dedication.

We ended our remarks in the commune's Visitors' Book with the thought, "May our children play together in peace." But, it was and still is hard not to feel ashamed of the role our government is and had played: not only did we destroy the land in the past, but now that people have revived it (at least partly) and U.S. technology could make a hard life a little easier (a desalinization plant, for instance) the U.S. government refuses to trade with Vietnam.

—Pete Zastrow
National Office