UNCLE HO

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, 2 September 2006 

Ten years ago I attended a conference of HIV / AIDS, Gender, and Leadership in Hanoi, Vietnam. One day was a lecturer unable to attend, I joined two colleagues from Indonesia and Laos to visit historical places in Honai, Ho Ci Minh Moseleum which is located not far from Army Hotel, where we stayed while. The streets of Hanoi City filled two-wheeled motor vehicle in motion as if the flow of ocean waves with the sound of the horn that fulfills the crowd. We took a taxi, a small car that drove over the asphalt slippery roads, the riders are quite friendly.Shortly after leaving the Army Hotel we reached the destination, the beginning we walked around in the neighborhood of Ho Chi Minh Museum, the Presidential Palace and the yellow-walled two-story houses on stilts that are too simple as a presidential residence. In the surrounding neighborhood is a lake and park with trees that shade. Finally we headed to the crowded center coincides with the anniversary of independence. The same date as the day of mourning when the President passed away, 2nd September 1969 at the age of 79 years. Ho Chi Minh was born on May 19th, 1890 from married couples Nguyen Sinh Sac and Hoang Thi Loan.The new state ceremony finished, the crowd is not over, we passed several examinations, leaving the bag and the camera then joined the long line to the Ho Chi Minh Moseleum, majestic granite building which was heavily guarded for 24 hours. At first the sun seared, more and more dim, as we stood on the applicability to the first stair building "sacred" it. At first they heard a human voice say, but the longer the speech was growing quietly until it stopped altogether, which left the sound of feet up the stairs without a word. Cold air ambushed when they first step on the ladder in the building of granite, the longer the air gets cold, narrow corridor without daylight, fluorescent lights except the dim strengthen mellow atmosphere. I forget the atmosphere in the outdoors, sucked into silence long lines of pilgrims, waiting for the seconds determines to stare at the figure lying peacefully in the eternal rest forever.Memorable moment finally arrived, on a rectangular niches with surrounding corridor. The pilgrims converge in a long line silently, staring at one point, faint sound of sobbing women to participate sayapun eyes glazed. The entire pairs of eyes glued to the middle of the room, a prayer in the deepest recesses of the heart. Inside the glass casket looked a body lying in the bed as if he were dreaming a long, dark color safari shirt, covered up to the waist in a similar color boundaries. Yellow glowing lights shining on the figure, the face of the President looked calm, without fear or anxiety. Ho Chi Minh City is not just a fighter who later became the first president sworn in Vietnam, he is uncle to all the people of Vietnam. Colleagues of Vietnam always said, "He is my uncle," with compassion and pride. All currencies Vietnam Dong displays the face of the uncle, in every room of protocol statue or picture of Uncle Ho always appear as pride. Along the way was a picture of the President with a boy in uniform Praja Muda Karana, helping wearing a neck tie.Uncle Ho beat Lyndon Johnson's war strategy repel enemy soldiers of the homeland, in the guerrilla attack corrugated forwarded all fighters. His remarks are always remembered are:

"You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win. It was patriotism, not Communism, that inspired me. Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show Reviews their strength and their stability ... "Eleven years after the enemy soldiers disappeared, the people of Vietnam entered the period subsidies, food rations and basic necessities in limited quantities, without exception. As a country that not long ago in spite of the occupation, the State's ability to produce basic necessities in order to very limited public welfare. Community life very simple, but the people of Vietnam is a tenacious worker, tough, and love for the State. Twenty-one years later, Vietnam has become a developing nation to give the possibility to every citizen to create establish themselves. History continues to roll on the ground, changes continue to occur. But there is one figure that is still remembered by all levels of the Vietnamese people, Uncle Ho. The uncle's body was preserved, buried in a place of honor, a place of pilgrimage at once a monument to always remember sekalus emulate the struggle to free Vietnam from military occupation, proving itself as a sovereign and independent state after war-torn.Moseleum past me down the steps with an impression that will never be erased, even after ten years of pilgrimage was passed. One country really need a leader who dared, fair, and wise, able to sacrifice for freedom and ideals throughout the nation. I have met the obsession, the first country to be I visited was Vietnam. Strands of Ho Chi Minh photo I save for my take home back to Indonesia, for me an unidentified visitor figure of the Uncle remains a paragon.