Let's Celebtate - Tea Talk is closed!

April 10, It’s Tea Talk 6th Anniversary.  
But Tea Talk is closed. 
And many people are sad and asked WHY?  
Outsiders look in and ask “What went wrong?” 
“Why didn’t more be done to keep it going?”

Those of us who are insiders knows why.  
We may be sad but not disappointed. 
In fact, many of the Vietnamese who have 
expressed sadness also wrote me to tell me 
how thankful and grateful they are for 
Tea Talk. And that is true, my own sadness 
has turn to thanksgiving, then to gratefulness 
and finally celebration.  So why celebrate the 
closure of Tea Talk, a space that had
cultivated hearts and nourished souls?


This is just a fraction of the Tea Talk family.

Fun days! Learning to bake! Or is it?
Learning to serve on another!
Learning to love one another: Love does not keep records of wrongs.
Just some of the many young lives that Tea Talk has been working with.  Each of them represents at least a 1000 lives. For who they are is at the core of what we do as professionals.

It is good from a development social work 
perspective it is good that Tea Talk is closed.  
Is Tea Talk’s mission accomplished? 
Not really. Just partially, not all! 
Tea Talk is closed for a very simple reason.  
No money no (Tea) Talk. The fiscal realities 
make its very challenging to keep Tea Talk 
going. That said, Tea Talk has impacted 
many young lives.  These young lives are 
like the bud breaks that signify the coming 
of spring. They are ready to spring forward. 
It's time for me, an international development 
social worker to step back, and let these 
young lives take over.  Oh, the letting go is not 
easy. The image and statues are the easy part 
to let go. It is the sense of significance and joy 
when working with these young lives that is 
hard to let go. Let go I must for this is fitting 
with what Prof Robert Chambers in his book, 
Development: Whose Reality Counts? Putting 
the First Last, asserts.  Prof Chambers 
“reflects on the view that listening and 
participation isn’t enough: the whole idea of 
empowerment means development 
institutions need to disempower themselves 
too.” (I did not read the book but read an article 
located here: Click.) 

Over the past 6 years of developing Tea Talk, 
it has empowered many young lives. But 
unknowingly, I have empowered myself and 
many other international development workers 
too.  I remembering reading a wise saying that 
goes like this: “For the mission to be deeply 
ingrained, one must become less and less.” 
And like Mr. Tien, one of the co-founder of 
Tea Talk said: “Unless a seed dies, it remains 
only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces 
many seeds.”  So, it is good that Tea Talk 
is closed. It is time for us outsiders 
to disempower ourselves. 

I took this picture at the end of Autumn.  The sun setting, the tree lost all its leaves.  Signifying Letting Go!


It is good from a psychological point of view. 
For almost 6 years, the volunteers, staff, 
donors and many others have toil.  Many toil 
with real sweat and blood. If I may use a 
farming analogy, the past few years were 
seasons of plowing the soil. It's hard work. 
Do you know why farmers need to plow the 
soil? Truth is, seed requires two things 
for germination.  They are moisture 
and warmth. To get moisture, the seed to soil 
contact must be firm. To get warmth from the 
Sun, we plant seed when the temperature is 
favorable. Likewise, it is with developmental 
work. The person-to-person contact 
must be firm.  To be firm, we must work 
alongside our local counterparts to share 
skills and knowledge (moisture). Warmth 
can only come from the sun. In winter, some 
farmers try to create warmth by using the 
greenhouse effect. However, nothing can 
be compared with real Sun. Planting the seed 
at the right time is crucial.  Too early, you kill it. 
Because it too cool. Too late, we miss the 
season and so have nothing to do but wait for
the next planting cycle. I guess this was hard 
for me to understand when I was living and 
growing up in Singapore. All kinds of fruits and 
vegetables are available all reason round and 
often in an instance. We get it anytime and 
want it now! But the natural cycle of the 
creation the creator has installed is 
different.  There is a time for everything 
under heaven. So it is good that Tea Talk 
is closed. The time has come for the 
natural process of germination to do its 
work. For April rain comes spring flowers.

An antique plow frozen in time and in the snow along the path that I usually takes my walk.  Reminding me that winter is a season of rest from toil and wait for the first sign of spring.

Its April but it is still very cold outside so I bought a pot of tulip.  Can't wait to see what Spring will be like!

It is very good indeed.  In fact, it calls for a 
celebration. I can’t wait to see what will
spring be like. I want to be able to smell 
very flowers.  I want to look at them, admire 
them and take pictures of them and with them. 
And this is the call to celebrate Tea Talk as it 
closed it door at the end of its 6th year.  

The 7th year, will be a time of rest, of waiting 
and anticipation, that the natural process and 
power of nature will do it germinating work, 
then when the bud breaks, flowers blossom 
and plants that have been dominant in the 
winter months begin another cycle of life, of 
growth, then shedding and dormancy later 
in winter. It is also a time to re-imagine. 
It is with this same spirit that I see the young 
lives of Tea Talk, spring up and carry on the 
work of building people, deepening 
relationships, loving and sharing with one 
another, growing in joy and peace, 
being patient and kind, 
cultivating goodness, faithfulness and doing 
everything gently and with self-control. 
If you were to ask Luong if she was aware that behind her was the word "re-imagine", she probably don't.  Yes, moving forward, the young people have to re-imagine what the Tea Talk community means to them and how they can continue to keep it going.  Touching lives, one at a time.

Very simply, Tea Talk believes in LOVE.  
Literally, some found their love at Tea Talk, 
some fall in love with Tea Talk, 
some felt loved at Tea Talk, and still some 
found LOVE at Tea Talk, and this is Love. 
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, 
it does not boast, it is not proud. 
It does not dishonor others, it is not 
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, 
it keeps no record of wrongs. 
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices 
with the truth. It always protects, 
always trusts, always hopes, 
always perseveres. Love never fails. 
It is my Vietnamese friends, volunteers 
and colleagues who have taught me 
what it means to be loved. So let’s celebrate 
that Tea Talk is closed even as we 
celebrate it 6th anniversary.  We celebrate, 
because, it is in the closing that the 
LOVE we experienced can be shared to 
those outside of Tea Talk. 
Then, we can all really say, it is so! 
Mission Accomplished!

I painted this picture.  The tree is now a log, A resting place for the worn out bicycle wheel. Flowers blooming in the distance leading to a path of light. Signifying something wonderfully new is inviting us to explore.