Many loyal Montagnards who put their lives and those of their families on the line during that disastrous time in our history still wait for the fulfillment of this promise. After the war, the Vietnamese government relocated the Montagnards, moving them to areas where they could keep a better eye on them. Due to all this readjustment, I knew I stood little chance of meeting any individual I might recognize from three decades earlier, and in fact, I did not. Public education, however, remains unattainable. With poor diet, no vitamins and no dental care, many experience painful toothaches.
Sufferers chew on native beetlenut root, the juice serving as a natural painkiller.
It stains teeth a reddish-black, explaining the presence of individuals with totally darkened teeth. Due to gum disease and infection, many Montagnards have lost all their teeth by the time they reach forty-five of fifty, a decade short of their average life expectancy. Those who have the money may now walk the twenty or so miles into Pleiku to see a doctor, although most doctoring remains traditional, dependent on generations-old herbal and root remedies. Women still bear their babies squatting on their haunches, their hands tied above their heads to the roof of the hut. The people continue to raise their cattle and farm a little, drink untreated water, wear loincloths or an occasional pair of shorts, and live in huts built five or six feet off the ground to keep animals out.