Vietnam Service Trip 2014
For the third time in the schools history, ISWA has organized a school service trip through the organization by the name of rustic pathways. Rustic Pathways is an Australian organization which provides school service trips during the holidays. After the success of previous trips to Thailand and Cambodia, a lot of interest was shown by students and staff, which is why the spots in this years trip to Vietnam were again filled quickly. Although I had gone to Vietnam before, I was looking forward to a different kind of holiday, one on which I could help people less privileged than myself. Considering that I went to the school's trip to Cambodia end of 2013, I already had a vague clue of what to expect, but at the same time I was also excited to learn and discover what service in Vietnam had to offer.
Day 1
On the last day of term, similarly to the Cambodia service trip, we started our journey to Vietnam by flying via Bangkok, Thailand, before arriving in Vietnam's capital Hanoi. Waiting at Hanoi Airport, were the Rustic Pathways group leaders and a local guide that would guide our service work and activities throughout the trip. As we had had two long flights, we were all feeling quite tired when arriving at our hotel in the middle of Hanoi city, but nevertheless we went our for dinner on the very first night to a local restaurant on the street, in which we were severed with undoubtedly the best beef noodle soup anyone had ever tasted. Looking at my peers during the dinner, it was quite clear that some had never experienced the chaos and loudness of Asia, but having lived in Asia for the majority of my life, I tried to support and lead them through their culture shock.
On the last day of term, similarly to the Cambodia service trip, we started our journey to Vietnam by flying via Bangkok, Thailand, before arriving in Vietnam's capital Hanoi. Waiting at Hanoi Airport, were the Rustic Pathways group leaders and a local guide that would guide our service work and activities throughout the trip. As we had had two long flights, we were all feeling quite tired when arriving at our hotel in the middle of Hanoi city, but nevertheless we went our for dinner on the very first night to a local restaurant on the street, in which we were severed with undoubtedly the best beef noodle soup anyone had ever tasted. Looking at my peers during the dinner, it was quite clear that some had never experienced the chaos and loudness of Asia, but having lived in Asia for the majority of my life, I tried to support and lead them through their culture shock.
Day 2
On the second day, we mostly did some local sight seeing in the capital city of Hanoi. Not only did we get to see Ho Chi Min's burial and body, but we also visited his residence and the square on which he conducted many speeches in order unify Vietnam and attempting to introduce socialism.Later that nigh, we also had the choice of going to the night market to do some shopping for family as Christmas was soon.
Day 3-7
On the morning of the third day, we started our 5 hour bus journey inwards of the country to the mountain region, which is where we would be conducting our service work. Upon arriving at a local town by bus, we still had a 7 km hike ahead of us to reach the village in which we would be staying. In the village, we were privileged to overnight in a beautiful house which belonged to a local family. For three full days, we then completed our service work which was located in a local school nearby the village where we were asked to build brick walls around trees on their campus, allowing for the mud to be contained during heavy rainfall which prevented the school to experience heavy flooding. In total, we completed about 20 trees, which personally I found really accomplishing considering we only had three days and a group of twenty students and staff. At the end of our service project, we were giving a thanking ceremony from the school to which the whole local village attended making all of us feel like we had done something worthwhile and rewarding.
Day 8-10
On the last few days of our trip in Vietnam we were lucky to go on a cruise to the beautiful Ha Long Bay, which is a place I will never forget due to its breathtaking scenery and fun activities like kayaking, swimming, and Tai Chi. On the very last day, we had time to relax and do some shopping or go on a three hour food tour, which I chose to do. It was some of the most interesting and delicious food I have ever tasted, and was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
But overall, the service work that we completed was the most rewarding for me personally, yet it was not only because of what we had accomplished as a product, but the teamwork that lead to the final accomplishment added a lot to the rewarding feeling. It did not matter if there were year 10s and year 12s in the same group or if we had never talked to each other before, we all worked so well together as a group and helped each other in any way that we could. I learned that service work like this can bring out other sides of people, including myself, in which we can all focus on one goal and by being open-minded to anything that we might have experienced.
On the second day, we mostly did some local sight seeing in the capital city of Hanoi. Not only did we get to see Ho Chi Min's burial and body, but we also visited his residence and the square on which he conducted many speeches in order unify Vietnam and attempting to introduce socialism.Later that nigh, we also had the choice of going to the night market to do some shopping for family as Christmas was soon.
Day 3-7
On the morning of the third day, we started our 5 hour bus journey inwards of the country to the mountain region, which is where we would be conducting our service work. Upon arriving at a local town by bus, we still had a 7 km hike ahead of us to reach the village in which we would be staying. In the village, we were privileged to overnight in a beautiful house which belonged to a local family. For three full days, we then completed our service work which was located in a local school nearby the village where we were asked to build brick walls around trees on their campus, allowing for the mud to be contained during heavy rainfall which prevented the school to experience heavy flooding. In total, we completed about 20 trees, which personally I found really accomplishing considering we only had three days and a group of twenty students and staff. At the end of our service project, we were giving a thanking ceremony from the school to which the whole local village attended making all of us feel like we had done something worthwhile and rewarding.
Day 8-10
On the last few days of our trip in Vietnam we were lucky to go on a cruise to the beautiful Ha Long Bay, which is a place I will never forget due to its breathtaking scenery and fun activities like kayaking, swimming, and Tai Chi. On the very last day, we had time to relax and do some shopping or go on a three hour food tour, which I chose to do. It was some of the most interesting and delicious food I have ever tasted, and was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
But overall, the service work that we completed was the most rewarding for me personally, yet it was not only because of what we had accomplished as a product, but the teamwork that lead to the final accomplishment added a lot to the rewarding feeling. It did not matter if there were year 10s and year 12s in the same group or if we had never talked to each other before, we all worked so well together as a group and helped each other in any way that we could. I learned that service work like this can bring out other sides of people, including myself, in which we can all focus on one goal and by being open-minded to anything that we might have experienced.
Learning Outcomes
Be engaged with issues of global importance.
Other than physically traveling to another country to complete a service project, I also felt like our service changed many individual lives in the local community we worked in. By beautifying the local school, some could say that we enhanced the appearance of the school, making education on a whole more attractive, perhaps even increasing the local need for education and the will to go to school.
You need to consider the ethical implications of you actions.
Because we are such a multicultural group, we stood out quite a lot especially when walking through local markets and hiking through local villages in the mountains. But when saying that, we tried to immerse ourselves into the Vietnamese culture as much as possible by talking to local people, learning some words and phrases and always dressing appropriately.
You have worked collaboratively with others.
No matter what year group we were in, or whether we were close friends or not, our group worked so well together and this project could not have been completed without such aspect of teamwork. We always looked forward to the working days and nobody complained about the heat, cold showers or hard physical labour.
Other than physically traveling to another country to complete a service project, I also felt like our service changed many individual lives in the local community we worked in. By beautifying the local school, some could say that we enhanced the appearance of the school, making education on a whole more attractive, perhaps even increasing the local need for education and the will to go to school.
You need to consider the ethical implications of you actions.
Because we are such a multicultural group, we stood out quite a lot especially when walking through local markets and hiking through local villages in the mountains. But when saying that, we tried to immerse ourselves into the Vietnamese culture as much as possible by talking to local people, learning some words and phrases and always dressing appropriately.
You have worked collaboratively with others.
No matter what year group we were in, or whether we were close friends or not, our group worked so well together and this project could not have been completed without such aspect of teamwork. We always looked forward to the working days and nobody complained about the heat, cold showers or hard physical labour.