Here in Viet Nam I'm lucky enough to get CNN and BBC on cable and the NY Times via the internet. So no, I have not been living under a rock, and yes, I have been following the news about Haiti.

Since I've been in Vietnam--almost 6 months now--I have witnessed some devastating levels of poverty. When I had my preliminary Fulbright interview with Fordham's board, one of my interviewers said that his one concern about me, or perhaps for me, was that because my travels had only ever taken me as far as London, I would be unprepared to deal with the shocking poverty which exists in a developing country like Viet Nam.

Now, it goes without saying that I have not personally had to "deal with" poverty in Viet Nam. I have everything I need, and my complaints about rats and power are just the trivial ramblings of privileged girl from Pennsylvania--made more trivial in light of recent events.

However, like anyone who has set foot in Viet Nam, I have seen the poverty. Here it exists not only in the Northern mountains or some slum-like section of Ha Noi, but also in the homes of my students' families and on the farms of women I buy my food from everyday. Poverty is palpable to me here in a way that it never was in America.

Living in New York, I of course witnessed different levels of poverty. By the end of my time at Fordham, I could have recognized the homeless men of the neighborhood had I seen them anywhere in the city. But living in America, I also bought into this stigma about the poverty and homelessness that existed even right in front of me. I had this idea of the "American Dream" and pulling yourself up "by your own bootstraps." With the exception of children, its easy to look at certain poor sectors in America and think that they are somehow responsible for their own misfortune. They were addicts. They were users. They were criminals. They didn't try hard enough. They didn't look for help...etc, etc.

I will tell you that I was mistaken in this, and it is pretty hard for me to admit to harboring such an opinion given my liberal leanings. But if I'm honest with myself, those are feelings which I had and feelings that I think others have, too.

This is a view point which I simply can't comprehend in a landscape like Viet Nam. Everyday I see people who never even had a shot at getting out of poverty. You can't say it's their fault for not "trying hard enough"; you can't say it's their fault at all. You can only hope that their children have a shot at something better. Actually, perhaps you can hope for more than that: You can hope that their children demand something better. If Americans are too entitled, I often think that my students and colleagues here aren't "entitled" enough.

All of this is basically to say that as I sit in Viet Nam and watch the chaos enfold in Haiti, I have a different perspective on it than I would have if I was still in America. I also wonder, what if something like the earthquake happened in Viet Nam while I was here? What would I do? What would happen to my students, my colleagues, my friends?

And Haiti is an even poorer country than Viet Nam. What is next for them? I hope the help keeps pouring in.