Since year 2022, COVID-19 pandemic has struck all across the world. All modes of
transportation to different cities or countries have halted to prevent the spread of virus. Due to the pandemic, OVE has encountered many challenges of not travelling overseas to continue our mission of good cause. However, that doesn't stop us from doing great things as we have adapted a new method to engage with the people who are in need across the world.
On 9th January 2022 we have embarked on our 10 weeks project with the students from Vietnam. Instead of travelling there like how we always do, we decided to bring this amazing cause virtually. We taught the students many soft skills even as they are having their school days, not only bring knowledges on the table for the kids, but also allowing them to enjoy the moments with the volunteers on the weekends.
Being an overseas volunteering club in NTU, we wanted to impact the overseas community amidst the pandemic and impart soft skills, such as First Aid and Language, to the children living in rural areas in Vietnam to help them expand their skill sets. We impart skills such as First aid skill as this is a critical skill that everyone regardless of age, can learn so that they are able to react if there is any emergency situation such as if a person was bleeding profusely. The second skill we taught was Powerpoint skills as technology skills are one of the most sought after skills in all types of industries and we would like to spark their interest in bringing their ideas across in an aesthetically pleasing manner! Lastly, we also taught Chinese language skill as we believe that by learning a new language, it will give rise to many different opportunities such as business opportunities!
CHALLENGES IN A NEW CHALLENGE
During the session, we faced some challenges as the children were not very tech-savvy and could not understand and catch-up with our Powerpoint skills session or Kahoot quizzes. To combat this, we adapted on the spot and used our creativity to resolve these issues. Through strong communication with our team and the volunteers from Vietnam, we were able to successfully complete the 10 week long session with all the children thoroughly enjoying themselves through this session. Another challenge that we faced would be the language barrier. As many of the children we worked with only knew limited English, it was difficult at first to connect with them. While this issue was forecasted beforehand and we did employ a number of Vietnamese volunteer translators, it was still a challenge to connect with them. Over time, we found out that by translating parts of our slides into Vietnamese, helped a lot. We would also actively look for videos with Vietnamese subtitles so that the kids would have a more engaging session.
GREATEST TAKEAWAY FOR 10 WEEKS
After 10 weeks of ECO-Vietnam Project, our greatest take away would be the joy and spirit of volunteerism that we have been able to impart in not only the kids but to all the people who worked with us in the project. While everyone may have had a busy schedule and other commitments, to see our team regularly show up for sessions and actively participate in the lessons truly showed how everyone can make an impact in another persons life. It was also an interesting and enriching experience talking to children and teenagers from Vietnam, and finding out that we share similar goals and thoughts with one another and learning about how life may be similar but also different from here in Singapore. It was heartening to see the kids enjoy the lessons and respond to our teaching through the quality and creative work they produced. Teaching-wise, we learned to adapt and listen to the kids' needs and how they learn best, so that we can adjust our lesson plans accordingly.
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