Author: sunwahAdmin

 

Life continues in every corner. We have to keep going for a better life. The road ahead of Sunwah GYLN and little students would be bright, though it would be somewhat far with a lot of hardships BUT I firmly believe that all of us will go through it surely!

It’s hard to depict the feelings from the day I started to write the proposal till the day I got the approval of Ms. Betty for the plan. It isn’t easy at all actually. With a record number of meetings, considerations about the time, the schedule, excluding the less realistic proposals, we finally heard from my leader sister that after half a day of submitting, we officially got the approval for the plan. I virtually burst into tears, after a number of times wanting to quit, a lot of deadlines and odd things we have to care about. Finally, we made it! I immediately called my friends who worked on the proposal with me: “Oh my buddies, it’s about to come to reality, we have not wasted our effort!” I never imagined that I would have chance to become a leader of such a big project, a “happy but introvert” me, an “always want to learn new things but don’t dare to take the lead” me, without being a member of Sunwah GYLN.  How could I have had that chance otherwise? When would I exactly define myself, a young adult – part of Vietnam’s younger generation?

After having got the approval for the plan, we set out to carry it out.
Different from some previous projects, we planned to collect used clothes and books for children.  Just by some simple ways such as informing our acquaintances, sharing information on facebook, we got so much stuff
from these people. Some members of Sunwah GYLN even spent part of their own savings to buy socks and gloves for small chidlren. That’s really praiseworthy indeed! We spent about 3 days to arrange and buy stuff for the trip on the 27^th. A little bit tired but we knew that we finally made it!

 

The 27^th  of  December- bright and early on a drizzling and freezing morning, we set out on our trip at 5:30 am with a high-spirited and elated state of mind. Outside was quite dark so some of us still took a short nap before getting ready for the warming-up part at 7:30. Thanks for Chi and Thai, we did have a lot of fun for the game of guessing riddles.

Passing through a distance of about 138 kilometers with roughly 4 hours on the coach, we finally set foot in Phong Minh Primary School. We were welcomed by the teachers with a lot of smiles and handshakes. Our representative gave a picture as a present to the school, we quickly moved to the place that the students stay! We were looking forward to seeing their eyes, to hearing from them their beloved greetings.
I was dying to see their skinny but gentle and smart faces!

 

 

 

 

Standing in from of us right then were about 80 students of the age from grade 1 to grade 5. They did not stop running around the room until the teacher said: “Attention!”  (that works exactly the same in military). Our very first common impression was the students were so skinny, actually. At their age they should be much taller and fatter, but they are not! The teacher said: “They are their most beautiful clothes, they won’t dress like this except for special occasions.” That was very heart-breaking actually, but still, we were really well-respected, how grateful we felt at that moment!

 

 

 

After a moment, the teachers assigned them to sit in position and started the part of playing game. Lady Claus Chi and Santa Claus Thai appeared again with a lot of stimulating games and quizzes. The children had never ever been such delighted. We love the innocent and carefree smiles. We hope that they would permanently wear such cheerful smiles whatever happens. Asking them “What is your dream?” We did receive a lot of surprisingly simple answers: “I wish I owned a new pen”; “I deeply wish I possessed a new school bag”; “I hope that I had a bike to go to school, walking’s sometimes really tired then.”  You guess what did we say to them? “Ok then, if you want to fulfill your dream, what should you do? ” “Just try to study harder and harder, your dream definitely comes true!”

 

 

 

In the afternoon, we moved to the part of visiting 6 poorest households. We visited them one after the other. Each student has different family background. Some of them are handicapped, Some either lost their father or mother, some has their mother suffering from cancer. We talked and shared a lot about the stories. The sadness submerged deeply in our heart. We stand speechless, a sense of frustration quickly all rush in upon me. I was very aware of how privileged I’ve been through my life.

 

Another plan was successfully closed that left behind a complicated blend of every single emotion possible – joy, sadness, hope, despair, pity, envy, gratitude, connection, and alienation – except pride (Dustin Lewis- An American Volunteer’s inspiration right after the trip). Whether more or less, we hope that we had brought happiness, a change in thinking or much more great was a new lease of life for people especially small students here. “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of life” Little kids, just bear in mind these words, all right? We hope to return Bac Giang soon to do more things for you!!! We are sure we shall meet soon, on the day that you are with a laurel on your head and the flying-colour on your faces, dears!

 

On the occasion of Mid- Atumn Festival, the members of Sunwah GYLN Hanoi organized a charitable activity with the main objective was to visit the poor manual workers and the people who are living in difficult life condition around Hanoi City.

“Look around”

Sometimes we go so far to find people who are in need of help but forget the ones who really need sharing around us. Originating from this idea, a “look around” campaign within the GYLNers had started and come up with many good results.

The meaningful trips

In Vietnam, full-moon festival is the day when family members get together, enjoy moon cakes and wait for the moon to rise up. But for the poor manual workers that we met in Long Bien, Hanoi, there was no Mid- Autumn festival at all. They were immigrants from Bac Ninh province to Hanoi for earning their living. Both males and females were approximately 60 years old. Without stable jobs, they did not mind doing anything including hard works. We were all touched because at these ages, they should have rested and had a happy life together with  their family. We went and visited them at their rented rooms, all of them were in bad condition which had only enough space for a bed and it was really hot in summer. Being together in a room, we felt the familiar and close atmosphere when enjoying moon cakes and listening to them sharing their daily stories. “Rarely could we have a chance to welcome you, students, so we greatly appreciate your visit ”- a man’s saying had touched our hearts. Seeing the brighten smiles on their faces, we experienced the famous saying “Happiness lies in making others happy, in forsaking self-interest to bring joy to others.”

 

After saying goodbye to the friendly workers, we visited  Nguyen Khanh  Linh, a cerebral palsy patient. Born with the illness, Linh was not able to do almost anything. To cure her from illness, her parents  had to borrow money from relatives for her treatment. Unfortunately, there was not any sign of recovery. However, thanks to the relatives’ help, the parents could open a small grocery store. When we arrived at Linh’s house, the 12-years-old girl was lying on the floor. Her twinkle eyes and innocent smile broke our hearts. She should have been a lovely and intelligent girl as many friends at her ages if she wasn’t born under a unlucky star.

 

At the end of the trip was a vegetable seller’s family, we first met her- Mrs. Duong with her 14-years-old son who had dropped out of school and were selling vegetable in an open air market. The harsh life did not just stop there. After four years working in Hanoi, her husband felt into temptation and soon became a drug addict. Consequently, the family’s possessions were gradually sold out to satisfy his craving for drugs. He finally was taken into a drug treatment centre, from then on, it was her responsibility to carry out the family burden. Listening to her story, we not only felt sympathy for her but also admired the woman with  full tolerance and austerity.

And what we have achieved from the activity

To many GYLN members, this activity brought us more meaningful experiences than what we had given. Understanding the life of the people in difficult circumstances, we certainly found motivation for to continue devoting our effort to social development. This reminds us of a Vietnamese famous song “to cast into the wind”…“To live one’s life, one needs a heart … to what end, do you know? To cast into the wind, to cast into the wind….”

 

 

 

It was a scorching hot day in the middle of June. The sun shined extremely intense without any sign of stopping. At this time, Vietnamese high school students have just finished their extremely important exam- Graduation Examination. But shortly afterwards, they immediately had to take a much more important exam- National University Entrance Exam.  Everyone, not only the student but also their parents seem to be burned in an intensely hot and extremely huge pressure. In the childish mind of both city and rural high school students in Vietnam, university is the only way to lead them to success. We deeply understand the value of these sleepless nights, these countless sweats and tears that the students and their parents have spent on. And all of a sudden, the idea flashed through our mind. Why don’t we collaborate with Hanoi National University Communist Youth Union and design a free meal project for all students especially for poor students who were taking the university entrance exam at that time to help them relieve the pressure in such severe weather? And immediately after that week, All the young and energetic members of GYLN  quickly started to outline the specific plan and carefully carried out it step by step.

We have 3 boards in GYLN which are Organizing board, Communication board and Foreign board. The tasks were divided equally among the boards.

The Foreign board would write emails to Sunwah Foundation to apply for financial support, contact with leader of Hanoi National University Communist Youth Union for a place; propagandising and hanging the advertising poster banner place; requesting a fixed time we can move around the school during the time of examination.

Communication board was in charge of designing poster banner, advertising the news on media and around the school, taking pictures of the whole event. During the meal preparation time, communication board’s members went around campus to deliver the tickets for students’ parents. Surprisingly we delivered all of the ticket just in 20 minutes. The parents seemed very happy when receiving our ticket. They all thanked us and ask What Corporation SUNWAH was?  And we’re all very glad to answer them! We also asked the parents where they were from, where they were staying now? They all come from rural areas of Vietnam. To them, their children are their everything.  Parents’ love is universal!!!! 🙂

The organizing team outlined a specific plan, run the project from the beginning to the end of it.  On the day their specific tasks were contacting with the restaurant where will help us to prepare 500 servings, helping the restaurateurs here to cook and box these servings, carryin
g the completed servings to the fixed place before the exam finished,… As you know, GYLN just has about 25 members in general. But on this event, with the huge amount of work, we have to recruit 20 more volunteers.

After finishing preparation stage, we carried all the boxes to the designated place of Hanoi National University campus to prepare for delivering.

We all gathered in the Stadium to deliver servings for these students and their parents who had the ticket.  Actually at that time there had been many people who hadn’t got any ticket but we still gave them the servings  in an cordial and extremely merry atmosphere.

Although the task was very hard , we had to come and go all the time with smiling and happy faces. We worked together in solidarity and it helped to bring about our sucsess.

 

In June 2014, Sunwah Global Young Leaders Network Hanoi Chapter organized members to attend 2 days Summer Camp in Soc Son, Hanoi under the Theme: Teamwork and Leadership Training. The purpose of this Camp was to improve and train the teamwork and leadership skills for all the members of GYLN through various exercises which required them to fully focus to find the quickest resolutions to imitative US Navy challenges within limited time.

This Summer Camp was hosted by IOGT company which is one of the most leading educational company in Hanoi. They have more than 15 years of experiences in organizing plentiful different Camps which provide students with chances to learn soft skills through experiencing exercises. IOGT bases in Soc Son with more than 10ha of land, most of them are covered with trees. This vast verdand lanscape with fresh air brings a total new feeling to whoever needs a space far from crowded Hanoi to look back at himself and start to learn new things.

During 2 days, members had to experienced total 16 different excercises, all of them requires attendee to use their inteligence, bravery, teamwork skills and leadership…to overcome challeges and reach victory.

 

During the first morning, after just 20 minutes of brief introduction, members were divided in teams guided through four initial challenges that were supposed to be extremely difficult for all of them. To be honest, some were a bit shocked with the first exercise even when it had ended. At first, there was no leader, no time – keeper and everybody just discussed the ideas hesitantly so that they lost the game so quickly. Having drawn some experience and lessons from the first challenge, they completed the next  ones with a better view and more strategic solutions.

 

One member shared “I was about to give up once when all members were stuck in a hard – solving situation but it was the encouragement like “it’s not that hard, everybody can do it” or “we’re better than we think, aren’t we??” from teammates that lifted my spirit up to carry on the game.”

“The last challenge in the 1st day could be regarded as almost done except for an unfortunate accident. A member jumped but slipped her feet and fell off, which led to a  injury to her leg. The morale of the whole team was brought down substantially because everyone was so scared. Nevertheless, the fact that the little girl put aside her pain and continued to overcome the following exercises gave me the confidence and courage so as to take risks when necessary. I also learn that, you cannot work on your own part in a team, taking care of your teammate make your team even stronger.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the experience and lessons such as overcoming fears, breaking limits, time managing as well as leading in team were proven clearly through the other challenges later. After every challege, the couch of each team started to ask members about their feelings, how they thought, what they performed, and the lessons they learn afterward. Members had to face their true feeling, assess fairly themselves and learn from other teammates willingly.

Some precious conclusions were drawn afterward: you have to aim high (DREAM), have the guts to chase it (DARE), and then you actually take actions (DO).

 

At night, members were involved in the enthusiasm and dynamism of the youth through the unforgettable campfire. “We competed in games, we danced freely, we sang out loud. All of those will be memorized and cherished for years when we get older and run into difficulties in our life. Just remember we were once at that age and we were highly energetic”.

After 2 days of training, Sunwah GYLN members reported they had learned so many things about working in a team, and felt  the connection among them strengthened.