Eleven Orphan Daughters Ch. 05

She turned up every morning and told anyone who would listen not to take any notice of John, "he not helpful," she told anyone who would listen. "You're not helpful. You won't listen to me," John said after he tried once again to explain his worries about selling cattle to farmers. "Bring your daughter in one morning and I'll talk to her."

The next morning John was surprised to find a small crowd waiting. "My daughter has brought others who want cows," Mary explained. He bundled them into the mini bus and drove them to the feedlot. He told Kim and Georgia to "Give them a tour of the whole establishment don't miss a thing. When your finished bring them back to the amenities room so Rose and I can talk to them."

A few workers were having a meal when they returned. "Give them a meal and let them sit and talk to our workers," he said as he went looking for Rose. They were a different group when he returned.

In the morning while he drove them to the feedlot, Georgia told him they were angry and bitter when talking amongst themselves. "They think you don't want them to succeed because they will be your competitors."

Now Kim and Georgia reported that they had been impressed with the cows and calves and wanted to learn from John. "We told them how you have helped everyone who has asked for help."

"They have asked our workers the same questions that they asked us when we showed them around. When they were told the same answers they started to believe what we have all been saying."

Rose sat and talked to them answering their questions while John finished his meal. "If you think what the province proposes is wrong why can't we do something different to help," she asked John when he joined them.

"If they are going to buy cattle the best thing we can do is train them to look after them. I am prepared to run some classes here at the feedlot and back on their farms showing them what they will have to do to make a success of their investment."

"It is a big investment if they are borrowing the money. These heifers in calf cost us about fourteen hundred Aussie dollars to land here. Fifty thousand dong is about six bucks at today's exchange rate so they can work out what it will cost them in dong."

"Feed and cow comfort is the real problem. They must spend money feeding and looking after their cows. We have had to sign contracts with farmers throughout the province so we can get enough feed.

Our two vets are always busy. We have over three hundred cows. Some of them have never needed veterinary care others seem to need it regularly."

"A good dry shed with good food will mean more milk and stronger calves. If they like, I will show them what I would do to get ready for cows. They can come down here and work with our vets and learn the ropes."

John asked Georgia to arrange a meeting with the party secretary. "When that's finished I would like to meet with the people's committee chairman and his officers. I want to put and end to the rubbish people are saying."

The Peoples committee Chairman told John that the dairy issue had become the biggest issue he had to face. He invited John to address members of the people's congress. "If you have something to say let them all hear it." He said as he issued the invitation.

Ruby became nervous. "Be careful they think you are going to try to stop the import of cattle from Australia. Some of the members are growing angry at what they call your attempt to undermine their authority."

The room was full of committee members and officials when John arrived. He glanced around at the statue of the late Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese flag and another flag showing the hammer and sickle and his stomach sank.

This is a communist country you bloody fool, he told himself as the national anthem ended. They don't fool around over here. They play it different to politics back home in Aussie.

The chair introduced John speaking in Vietnamese. John could tell without listening to Georgia's interpretation that he was telling them that John opposed the sale of cattle to individual farmers.

There was very little applause when John rose to speak. He addressed the chair an acknowledged the many leaders present. "I came here just over two years ago to help Rose Nguyen and her orphans. It would be true to say that many locals were less than friendly when we first asked for permission to build a feedlot and import dairy cattle from Australia."

"It would be unfair if I did not acknowledge that it was only through your support and the support of the Party Secretary and his officers that Rose and her family were able to develop the highly successful feedlot that exists today."

"That feedlot is now the provinces biggest local business. It has created jobs in its own right for a whole range of local people. It has also led to the start of new industries and has strengthened the profitability of others."

"Monica Nguyen`s chicken breeding facility will eventually pass the feedlot and become the biggest employment generator in the province. The delivery of food to her shed and then the delivery of chickens from her sheds along with the need to cart fodder from all over the province to the feedlot have made one or two new trucking operations profitable."

"The third major business to grow from your original support for our feedlot is the Grand Hotel. It does not employ as many people as the feedlot and the chick farm but it has given a new impetus to provincial development through the provision of quality accommodation and entertainment."

"You have not had to provide direct financial support. The total investment is the largest and I think the only direct foreign investment in you province. "In addition our businesses have not borrowed a penny from local banks. They pay better than the wages paid by your own local government. They train workers and just lately we have supplied our own doctor to look after our workforce and their families."

"I make those points because one or two delegates present are spreading lies." Delegates had sat quiet until this moment now there were a few murmurs of discontent. John ignored them. "It is said that I do not want to see the province develop. That I don't want to help create jobs. That I do not want opposition. What bullshit."

"The more milk we produce in the province the greater chance of companies like Vinamilk or Dutch Lady investing in a local dairy processing plant reducing the costs of transporting milk to the city."

The Chairman interrupted to tell John to speak slower. "Our Interpreters find it hard to keep up when you get excited and talk fast." John apologized, "I am sorry. My friend Rose Nguyen finds it hard to understand me when I talk loud and fast. I will do my best to remain calm."

"I am here at your invitation Mr. Chairman because I continue to challenge a policy decision to loan money to individual farmers and supply them with imported cattle."

"I don't know much about your political system but I do know a lot about cattle. I know from experience that the policy that you have decided to support has failed in many Asian countries."

"I could tell you stories about those failures but you do not want to hear them. So let me tell you a success story. I was reminded of this story when I worked with some of your farmers who want to buy their own cattle."

"The only occasion I know of where supplying local farmers with cows worked, was in a province in India. The farmers involved had spent some time looking into the reasons why other ventures had failed."

"They reasoned that farmers who had to go in debt further than they had ever dreamed possible would wait anxiously for the fist milk money and spend it on everything but the cow. To keep this meeting short I will just speak of their plan. We can sit down later and dissect their reasoning."

"They set up a cooperative. The government gave the cows to the Cooperative not the farmer. They on sold the cows to the farmer at a price that took into consideration the farmer's financial situation."

"Each day when the farmer milked his cow he brought his milk to the Cooperative where the weighed it and assessed its value. Let's say it was worth fifty thousand dong for arguments sake. The farmer was paid and agreed amount say half in cash. The other half was paid in fodder or additives for his cow."

"A small amount was set aside from the cooperative's profit for assistance to the farmer when the cow was dry." When he saw some questioning looks on delegates, faces he explained.

"A cow has a calf; she produces milk for that calf. Her calf is taken away and she still produces milked. She will produce milk for some time depending on how well she is fed and looked after. Then she will stop milking and go dry. You have to get her pregnant again. She has a calf and the cycle continues."

"This cooperative system in India worked because it helped farmers through the hard times by making them save and spend money on their biggest investment their cow. In the failed experiments, farmers spent all the money they received when the cow first gave milk on things for himself and his family."

"You could not blame him. they were paying off their loan and living frugally. When milk money became available, they spent it. They neglected the cow; she gave less milk and went dry quickly. With no money coming in and debts to pay, they gave up and the experiment failed."

"You expected me to come along today and oppose your plan to lend farmers money to buy cows. I hope I haven't disappointed those of you who have been running around causing trouble. To make sure they understand let me say it again."

"If you lend a farmer large sums of money to buy cows and don't put a plan in place to provide fodder and assistance when the cow is not producing, you are sentencing him to a life of debt."

"I am prepared to sit down and talk to individual farmers. We will give them an opportunity to work with cattle in our feedlot. We will help but I won't cop lies. It's your country, your province, they are your people, and it's your decision. Don't blame me if you stuff it up."