Western bride helps protect Vietnamese nature

16:19' 29/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Bettina and her mother back in Germany are playing traditional Vietnamese instruments VietNamNet Bridge – People in Na Hang district in the northern province of Tuyen Quang are all familiar with Bettina, a Vietnamese painter’s wife, who has worked to protect wildlife for 10 years. Ten years ago, from her home province of Baden Wuntemberg in Germany, Bettina first came to Vietnam to take part in a project to protect snub-nosed monkeys endemic to Tuyen Quang. At first, the sight of a blond girl was rather strange and unfamiliar to local residents. But Bettina was determined to learn Vietnamese in order to meet and mobilise local people to protect forests. Her efforts paid off. Local residents said they began to realise what was happening: a foreigner came from far away just to protect their own forests which they themselves had been destroying by felling trees and killing wildlife. To forestry officials in particular, she was like a sister who used to accompany them on their forest surveillance tours and never failed to tell local residents not to kill wild animals in an imperfect Vietnamese accent wherever she went. “If I didn’t know something, I asked. If I didn’t hear things clearly, I asked again. I spoke to people, and if they didn’t understand me, I explained until they understood,” said Bettina about her efforts to communicate with Vietnamese people in Vietnamese. So when Bettina recently returned to Na Hang, Tuyen Quang with a team from the University of Forestry to work on an agricultural support project she had persuaded Schmitz Stiftung Organisation to sponsor, she was instantly recognised and warmly welcomed. Since her first trip to Vietnam, Bettina has taken part in other wildlife protection activities. Protection seems to run in her blood. Once on her way from Tuyen Quang to Hanoi, Bettina happened to see a wild cat being sold on the road. She immediately called the Tuyen Quang Forestry Department’s head and told him to send somebody to pick it up. Yet, life in Vietnam means more than just wildlife to Bettina. Married to painter Tuan Anh, who won the first prize at the 2003 Vietnamese Art contest, she is also part of a Vietnamese family and fulfils the role of a Vietnamese wife, doing her share of cooking meals for her in-laws during Tet. “My heart belongs to Vietnam,” she said, smiling, and taking out a traditional two-chord fiddle to play a song. (Source: Tien Phong, Viet Nam Net)