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This kind of images is very familiar to the people living near Xuan Thuy National Park.
Who are they? They are boys and girls from different places.
Why do they come here? “Volunteers who are willing to contribute to the development of Vietnam” is the general name for these youths here.
I plan maybe to be a vet or especially to work with the animals. I don’t know.
Maybe in this field, but yeah I’m very interested in animals.
We also see that there is a big capacity here and also like, sustainable ideas,
and we try to find, like, solutions to improve the livelihood of the community, if it’s possible for us.
Adrian - German Volunteer: So, yeah, when we came here we started working with the staff members and also supporting the local community,
the projects of the National Park, and building capacities for the people here.
I think that they (my parents) think that it’s a good thing to be here.
At the moment, when establishing and running an NGO by yourself, it takes you a lot of effort and time.
Furthermore, it is also about finance. Success is something you can only see in the future.
It is like an investment that cannot make profit immediately but afterwards.
Perhaps the “Vietnam and Friends” NGO of Mr. Dang The Lam was found just on such simple ideas.
The profit that Lam and his friends gain is just to do what they are devoted to in the hope of contributing to the development of the society.
Many young foreigners have come to “Vietnam and Friends” to take part in lots of voluntary projects of VAF.
I have started VAF since February 2011. Each year, we welcome about 15 international volunteers working for one-year period
from September and around 30 local volunteers working continuously.
At the moment VAF is focusing on two main fields: firstly, education for visually impaired children in particular and for disabled people in general,
and secondly, environment project which is now being carried out at Xuan Thuy National Park.
When international volunteers come, VAF organizes a training session to present the work and essential skills in each project,
and then the volunteers will accumulate their own experience to fulfill their missions.
After nearly three years in operation, the number of international volunteers coming to VAF has gradually risen.
They are students from different countries. Their journey as volunteers in Vietnam often lasts for a year.
Although volunteering work doesn’t bring any profit, volunteers can learn a lot of skills to adapt to new living environment and work.
They also learn to live as real Vietnamese citizens when taking part in normal tasks.
On the first days international volunteers come, they have a training session to learn Braille.
They have to learn it in order to give mark and correct the texts for visually impaired students.
We are also making the Braille calendar for them to use in this New Year since they don’t have any special edition for this.
It is very simple. We took the dates from the normal calendar which we sighted people use, and then typed them on a paper like this,
but arranged the numbers in reverse. After Braille writing is done, we turn the paper around and have a page like this.
There are two lines: solar dates above, and lunar ones below.
Even though the number of volunteers is not so large, VAF has effective activities of supporting the community.
Teaching English for visually impaired students is one of those.
All the teachers here are the youths that love to challenge themselves, and they love Vietnam.
Matteo - German Volunteer: There’re so many beautiful things about Vietnam. I am blessed to come and to see it myself.
I’m very happy because sometimes I have so many difficulties in explaining the words to them, but luckily, we understand each other pretty well.
Understanding and bringing new excitement, smiles, and sharing without languages are the achievements of the volunteers.
I have started Vietnam and Friends from scratch. Lots of patience and fortitude are needed because if you don’t have the passion, you will abandon it.
The fortitude of the organization and the energy of volunteers have met in social development activities of VAF.
This is not the first organization and for sure, not the last one because there are so many enthusiastic people out there who want to take part in activities for the community.