From 17th May to 26th May, a group of 11 students from Lui Che Woo College (LCWC) led by resident fellow Dr. Caixia CHU went to rural area in Vietnam for volunteer service. The purpose of this trip is to build an ecological toilet for the local villagers and teach English for children in school. This project is part of the global citizenship series organized by Lui Che Woo College.
The local community showed great hospitality by holding a grand welcome ceremony for us. During our stay, students of LCWC actively engaged in teaching and toilet building. Students creatively incorporated English- teaching into interesting in-class activities including domino model design, dreamcatcher making, origami lessons, gymnastic, music and drama lessons, which aroused the interests of children significantly. Meanwhile, students’ creativity and team work skills also get trained.
In the toilet building, we started from basics such as transferring bricks and sand, mixing cement, stacking bricks, and also walls painting. Through these seemingly easy tasks, we learned that it is not as easy as it looks like. It requires not only strength but also skills. We learn to respect the workers in the construction industry. In the efforts of our students and the local villagers, the ecological toilet building was finally accomplished. Since the conditions of local community are poor, villagers had to rely on the open-air toilets which are unsanitary. The construction of this eco-toilet will undoubtedly be convenience and assistance to the locals.
Meanwhile, LCWC students visited local households and tried the farming activity on fishing. At the end of the volunteer activities in village, the local government and villagers, as well as our community partner ECO Vietnam Group, Nanyang Technology University and LCWC volunteers held the culture night together. Students of LCWC performed dancing and singing in Cantonese, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Portuguese and English, while local villagers had the traditional Vietnamese dancing performance, giving us an unprecedented experience. After that, the Fire Camp is held and everyone sang and danced to have the carnival, celebrating with joy and happiness.
The next two days, we travelled around Ho Chi Minh City and visited several historical sites such as the War Remnants Museum and Reunification Palace. Students therefore had a further understanding of the culture and historical background of Vietnam, which is beneficial.
This volunteer service trip contributes to the local living conditions and the cause of education. Moreover, students learned a lot from this trip. Lived in a condition without air-conditioner, beds and shower system with temperature around 37’C, LCWC students showed great adaptability and resilience. We also experienced what real poverty is for the first. Through service, our own team work skills, leadership skills and delivery skills get trained. The physical and mental challenge inspire our potentials and make us stranger. We are looking forward to holding more and more volunteer activities in order to help more people worldwide.
Written by: Lui Che Woo College Year One Student, Cheong Weng Lam
For more photos and the chinese version of the news, please refer to the following link:
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2015-06-15 04:07:27