June 11 Mr. Tho (Katie)

Mr. Tho
The South Vietnamese Soldier Who Lost His Leg in the War

The first family we visited Saturday was Mr. Tho and his wife. He was busy weaving baskets as we approached. After hellos, my father and Khanh got to work assembling the fan that we purchased for him.

Our original reason for purchasing a new hose for Mr. Tho was to replace the weaker one he was currently using outside that looked like the sun had really taken a toll on it. However, when we brought the more durable one, he said that he may want to hook it up inside to have running water in his house as well instead of replacing the exterior one. In addition to the hose and the fan (and extension cord), we delivered a case of thirty packages of noodles, two boxes of milk with two glass mugs to go with them, and a pouring pitcher. 

He also had the baskets that we ordered ready for us. He said he would not take any money for them, so instead, we gave him a donation of $500,000 đồng (about $22 USD) for him to spend however he sees fit. He usually makes larger, shallow baskets (shown in a picture in a previous post), but the smaller, deeper ones he made to fit our requests were just as strong and beautiful and the baskets he's used to making. He is very talented, but only sells his work in his little community for less than $70,000 đồng (about $3 USD) per basket and can only make two baskets a day. After a short discussion, it was agreed that Mr. Tho would make another basket for Khanh to pick up at a later date to display in the Hearts for Hue office. There, visitors to his office can also place orders, and he'll be able to sell them at a higher price than he can get in his village!

The main crop that Mr. Tho and his wife grow is the chili pepper. You can see some drying in the background in the picture holding the three baskets. They plant them at the base of the tree trunks in their yard, and the vines creep up and wind around the trunks as they grow. My father, Kira, and Khanh all tried out the homemade bamboo ladder that they use to harvest them.






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