Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Day Four: The Meeting: Beginning of Our Service Project by Andrew Yuan

 

After a long day prior, the group had a much less busy day on that 14th of December. We started off with the usual routine - breakfast. Following this we went to the Green Bamboo Children’s Center to learn about their programming, and how our fundraising would be used to transform an unused room in the administrative building into a space for children’s programming.  At the Center, we met with Center staff and the Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh Child Welfare Association (one of Green Bamboo’s partners).

 


They explained that they offered services to any child who may need them. The age restrictions had recently loosened and services are offered to any child in need, including children from neighboring countries.  The need for their services has decreased, but it is different than before - perhaps because some of the criteria for who fit the parameters of their services has changed or perhaps because the rate of street children had gone down, but there are children who still need services. The services included education, parent courses, daycare, and other activities.

 

After hearing about their programs, we discussed our group’s community service project. They told us that we would be helping them restore one of their rooms in an administrative building. It would entail working with an administrator and a skilled worker to clear, clean, paint, and install a toilet (thankfully there is a skilled worker for that last one).

 

I think this briefing was an important one for us. Prior to, we had only a vague idea of what was going to transpire with the community service project. It also was important for us to understand their progress and how they promoted the welfare of children.

After this we visited a local Vietnamese McDonald’s which had a number of foods that would not be found in an American McDonald’s.

From here the group went to visit a local Capybara café which had dogs, cats, and Capybaras.  Those of us who went seemed to enjoy feeding the Capybaras!

 


We then visited the local Benh Thanh market where we haggled with some of the vendors for clothes and fake designer bags. I myself got some nice linen clothes for a good price.  We met up for dinner around 6:30 to close out the night, while we did try to eat at one of our friend Jeremy’s favorite spots, we ultimately ended up at a different restaurant for dinner which had nice seating that overlooked the street, and a variety of different foods that we enjoyed! It was a simple and relaxing day, which was needed before our visit to the Mekong River the next day and the community service project the day after that.

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