I miss Vietnam and the kids over there. What I want to say is that I never regretted my decision to embark on this mission to help the people over in Vietnam. I never thought that we could actually learn from the people there too, what I thought was that we will only be providing aid to them and that is all. From this trip, I have learnt the importance of being happy and contented in life. It is not about owning a huge house, a car or even lots of money but about doing things you like and being happy. I have learnt independence and how to survive on my own for the 10 days in Vietnam. Most importantly, I have learnt more about my friends, understood them more and fostered stronger bonds during this trip.

The trip was not one without hiccups. We, as a team, faced many problems during our planning and also when we carried out the activities. Communication was a problem as the command of English of the students there were limited, making it difficult to bring our ideas through to them. However, we worked around it using actions, or simply using basic Vietnamese/English language to communicate. We also faced another problem of confirming the activities we were going to carry out during the five days at the school as conditions and plans of the school were not known to us. Therefore, we held daily debriefing sessions to discuss the activities we would carry out and the back up plan if that plan fails. I feel that our iProject team had done well in managing the challenges we faced.

During the five days there, we did construction work, teaching and also played games. During the construction, I did things that I would never get to try out in Singapore, like picking up stones near a river, or using simple equipment to transport sand and stones. The sessions were tiring but also satisfying. From the construction work, I learnt to appreciate the work the construction workers in Singapore had been doing, not thinking that what they do are low class jobs. The construction has allowed me to know that I can push my limits and do things that I have never done before.

Teaching to me, can be counted as the most difficult and tedious task we carried out during our trip. We were supposed to teach them simple English through the aid of nursery rhymes and pictures. From all this, we taught them simple sentence structuring and greetings which they can use. This task has taught me to think on my feet as we had to react to the responses of the students and use different ways of teaching to capture their attention and interest.

Carrying out of the games was fun as every student was competitive and gave their all during the proceedings of the game. Their competitiveness is one to be commendable about. I have learnt that during competitions friends become competitors but after that friendships still continues.

Overall, the trip has allow me to gain a lot of experience, if one is given the chance to go for this trip, he or she should accept this opportunity without any hesitation.

Labels: Cindy