The UNAIDS vehicle and the bad example set by NGO SUVs in Hanoi
(if you want to get in touch with me about this story you can do so via ourmanwhere@gmail.com)
There are at seven schools and nurseries that I know of within 10 minutes of my house and plenty more kids waiting each morning for minibuses to take them to schools outside the immediate area.
Before 7am there are children headed in all directions with parents. Many, despite their young age, are on the backs of motorbikes, others are seated behind pedalling parents on pushbikes.
Others are old enough to walk. Some kids, like our toddler, are in pushchairs.
We leave the house around eight. Lucky, our dog comes with us as the school run coincides with his morning walk. He predates the little one and it’s not like we can leave him to cross his legs.
There’s two routes to nursery. A 10-minute dash or a 20-minute less direct route round a small corner of Westlake.
Despite the rush we tend to take the longer route. Because the shorter route has one hellish patch.
Between Tay Ho street and the park is a small alleyway — little wider than a single car. It’s not the only route for vehicles but it’s the fastest. It takes a minute or so to walk the full length which means you’ve 60 seconds to make it out the other side safely. It means that if a car comes the other way — you have to flatten yourself against the wall.
Alternatively if a car comes behind you then you have to push as fast as you can because you’ve a peeping SUV up your arse. All of which is hard enough with just the little one. With a pram and dog — it’s frankly terrifying trying to ensue both are kept clear of wheels.
It should also be pointed out that this explanation is somewhat binary. What we usually face is a combination of several cars trying to get both ways while those of us with kids make a dash for whatever gaps we can spot.
The rest of the route is less intense but there’s no shortage of traffic. I’m very aware of pram-height exhausts and horns and the potential damage to little ears and lungs.
All of which is annoying and upsetting but probably, if I’m honest, not so different to most rush hour school-runs in the developed or non-developed worlds.
Except that some of the most frequently spotted and biggest vehicles are from international NGOs. I’ve seen the UNAIDS vehicle, for example, on various points around the school run. Parked at the top of our alley, driving through the aforementioned bottleneck to the park (as we cling to walls) and on the longer route around the lake. Occasionally it’s parked up with the engine running — even in winter when no air con is required. It isn’t the only NGO SUV I see but it serves as a good example of the madness of the whole idea of NGOs having such vehicles.
Firstly, this is clearly not daily “field” use. It is a chauffeured vehicle. Secondly you have to guess that this is for a lone international big cheese. I never understood why the more senior the member of staff the less able they are to find their own way to work.
And why such a large car, when you have to presume it’s just for a single passenger? Let’s face it — this has nothing to do with helping Vietnam. What it is about — is providing an agreeable employee “package”.
I’ve also never understood why NGO’s brand their SUVs. Funded with international public money, blocking local roads, chauffeuring a senior member of staff from an affluent area. What exactly are they trying to advertise?
And that doesn’t include the SUVs I see with UNIS parking passes. Expensive transport and schooling.
So far we’re only considering this from a public funds and nuisance situation but the UN trumpets its green credentials. Meanwhile its SUVs are contributing to a worsening traffic and pollution situation. The inability of NGOs to recognise that these cars are not universally welcomed amazes me. While they pursue green programmes and offices, their SUV habit continues.
Take also the ChildFund vehicle parked for a week outside expensive flats on the lakefront a couple of months back. Considering what they do, it was somewhat ironic that my own kid had to be wheeled on and off the pavement into traffic to get around it.
I used to work for an international non-profit where the head had the good sense to sell off the last remaining SUV when a long-serving driver left. He figured it was easy enough for everyone to get themselves to work and any visiting VIPs could have a taxi sent.
I do know local NGO heads that cycle to work or join the rest of the populace in driving scooters. Scooters aren’t especially green but at least they’re a size befitting a single passenger and can be easily parked.
Putting aside my neighbourhood complaints, the reason why air quality and climate change isn’t being tackled is that no one wants to forgo what they’ve come to take for granted. Companies and shareholders want growing profits. Countries want cheap power. I want to take long haul flights for holidays.
If anyone should be pointing the way and publicly making sacrifices it’s NGOs. And within NGO, surely leaders must, well, lead.
And make sacrifices.
There’s a further irony that when the NGOs first arrived in Hanoi everyone had bicycles. Then came the motorbikes. Finally Hanoi is catching up with the NGOs and SUVs are blocking roads everywhere.
The NGOs set a bad example. It’s time they set a good one.
