iProject - Commitment of Hearts




Monday, 26 March 2007

TavaNova – Not just a portmanteau

TavaNova, a portmanteau of TaVan (secondary school) and Innova (junior college) is not just a fusion of 2 words. It’s the union of 2 different countries and their uniquely different cultures, the merger of souls, the bonds of friendships. It represents our blood (for some) and sweat, our commitment of hearts, our fun and laughter, our journey, and the sweet memories that are etched in our hearts for all eternity.

I had always wanted to help, to make a difference, to do something significant during my holidays instead of lazing around doing practically nothing during my spare time. Thus when I got the call from Ronald last July informing me that I was on the team, I was naturally elated.

I envisioned myself in Vietnam, helping the unfortunate, giving, instead of taking, for once. Looking back, I realised that in fact, Vietnam, and iProject as a whole, have given me more than I had contributed.

iProject set many milestones of my life, with me having my virgin attempt at many tasks I never had the chance to do. Sure, there were challenges abound, and you would have read from the articles from my fellow iProjectians how we trudged on, giving no regard to the blazing hot sun and the fatigued, previously under-worked muscles of ours, to lay the bricks and level the ground. How we surmount the language barrier to teach the kids English and arts-and-crafts, how we realised that games are a universal language which transcends geographical boundaries, without the actual need for verbal words to get the message across.

Several events which I witnessed during the trip gave me food for thought and made me feel unexpectedly inferior amongst the Vietnamese who were supposed to have a lower standard of living, a lower quality in almost all aspects of life as compared to us Singaporeans. Almost all aspects of life. Almost. At least they are superior to us in compassion, in being contented with what they have, in spirit and passion of such colossal magnitude that dwarfs us all.

Once, I stayed back in the classroom to clean up after the arts-and-crafts while the rest of my group took the kids out to play games. There I was, alone, or so I thought, in the classroom, keeping the left-over paint and picking up scraps of paper littered on the tables and floor. To my surprise and awe, a girl, a few years younger than I, entered the classroom and assisted me in cleaning up the place. I asked her, restricting myself to the simplest of English vocabulary, why she wasn’t joining her friends in the games. She replied, with apparent difficulty, in English, that she wanted to help clean up the place and that she can always join her friends later. I was speechless. Instantly, I felt mediocre in-front-of this girl in faded clothes and slippers identical to most of her friends, and possibly carrying the same UNICEF bag.

Another time, we were wrapping up our English lesson, and gave out a pack of colour pencils to a student for her attentiveness in class. She received her prize with a huge grin on her face and immediately opened her pack of colour pencils and distributed them to her friends. The smiles on her and her friends’ faces were incredible. The looks of admiration on OUR faces were priceless. There we were, supposedly the teachers, looking at each other with a stab of inferiority, having learnt more in this one minute than we had thought them the past hour.

Sure, we have made an impact on TaVan Secondary School. We have refurbished their school compound, taught them new English words and games. But the impact they have on us is so much more. I will always remember the times we had together and how hard it was to leave them. How the most notorious boys cried the hardest, and the most hardened guy fighting to keep back his tears. I will never forget the boy who hugged me and grabbed my hand, refusing to let go, and the girl who tied a friendship band around my wrist.

TavaNova – Not just a portmanteau.

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