Houses of Wisdom: Vietnam offers a new, old model for community education.

• Author: Gramse, Shannon

Earlier this year, my family and I had the honor of piloting an educational and cultural exchange between UAA and ten Houses of Wisdom (Ngoi Nha Tri Tue) in rural Nghee Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in north-central Vietnam. Based in schools, community centers, churches, apartment buildings, and private homes, Houses of Wisdom promote lifelong learning in disadvantaged communities and provide spaces for local people to share knowledge and wisdom across generations.

Houses of Wisdom do so through libraries and classes on a range of subjects including traditional music and dance, agricultural methods, electrical safety, sewing, swimming, cooking, personal finance, and anger management. Many also include small museums about the history of their village, traditional knowledge such as medicinal plants, and local points of pride. English language clubs are especially popular.

Everything is free for everyone of all ages. There are no tests or grades. No one gets paid. The sole motivation is a passion for learning and sharing. More than 120 Houses of Wisdom operate in thirteen provinces across Vietnam, yet its decentralized nonprofit parent organization has an annual budget of just $5,000.

Why can't we do something like this in Alaska?

A Fishing Pole

The House of Wisdom is the brainchild of Nguyen Anh Tuan, a successful Saigon businessman who grew up in Nghe An province as the eldest son of a disabled war veteran and an elementary teacher. At that time, the province's per capita annual income was about $130; today it is $1,913, approximately 6 percent of what the average Alaskan earns each year.

Nguyen worked in the fields as a gleaner, collecting leftover rice and peanuts to supplement his family's monthly food rations: 1 kilogram of spoiled meat and 15 kilograms of wormy rice his father would procure by standing in line at 3 a.m. in the nearest village, which was five kilometers away and seemed to Nguyen like a distant city.

Nguyen still remembers the day his father brought home a book along with their food rations, the first book he ever had. The Tortoise and the More became his most prized possession and changed his life. Soon Nguyen was collecting firewood to sell to earn money for more books. Today, he has investments in five growing companies but spends most of his time promoting the House of Wisdom.

Nguyen spoke to me over iced coffee in an elegant open-air restaurant overlooking the Saigon River. Before founding the first House of Wisdom...