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By Ava Wang, Secretary, Project Uom Mam II
After eight months of preparation, the Project Uom Mam II team from Red Cross Humanitarian Network (RCHN), Singapore Management University (SMU) chapter embarked on a 19-day community service project on the 8th of May to Da Nang, Vietnam. The twenty-one team members who hailed from diverse backgrounds, had one common goal in mind – to share our knowledge in English and Information Technology (IT) with the students from Nguyen Ba Phat School (NBP).
This project was a continuation of Project Uom Mam I; a 5 year program with the objective of realizing the Nguyen Ba Phat students’ potential and dreams through comprehensive IT and English syllabus.
The Project Uom Mam II team garnered donations through organizing Mythbuster Tours, sponsored by Asia Paranormal Investigators, and providing photo-taking services on Valentine’s Day with sponsorships from Canon and Expresssprint. Hewlett Packard’s valuable contribution of 5 computers installed at the IT lab, aided the team in reaching out to a larger target audience.
In addition to creating a broad education syllabus in English and IT, this Project Uom Man II team strived to increase the Nguyen Ba Phat School students’ awareness of the world through an excursion trip to the Da Nang University of Technology. An ‘Awareness Day’ was held as the finale of the 19-day project. The ‘Awareness Day’ and the excursion trip achieved their objectives of being eye-opening experiences to the students. This would spur them to work harder in attaining their dreams.
Daily English and IT classes were conducted in Nguyen Ba Phat School. New programs: Blogging and Microsoft Publisher, and additional features in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Powerpoint were introduced to broaden and develop the IT syllabus. Our team also devised a self-sustaining educational system containing voice-interactive Vietnamese instructions which these students could utilize for their independent study.
The team also refurnished the classroom into a learning room, ‘Soar’, with computers, new cupboards filled with educational, interactive board games; enriching, and informative storybooks. Black boards were provided to enhance group discussions.
English syllabus was developed based on three central themes, namely: Marketplace, Family, and Occupation which will serve as a stepping stone for advanced learning in the next Project Uom Mam in 2009. ‘Lets Go’ series with interactive CD Rom would aid independent study by the students was introduced upon request by their teachers.
Drawing on Project Uom Mam I’s experience, the team expanded the base of our direct beneficiary by the setting up of an overflow room to give opportunities to students other than the pre- selected IT and English classes students to join the class.
We are immensely grateful to Da Nang University of Technology’s student volunteers, who despite their hectic schedule went an extra mile in putting their hearts and soul in support of Project Uom Mam. Besides being translators, they offered invaluable feedback and advice.
We had the opportunities to immerse ourselves in the Vietnamese culture through our daily interaction with our hospitable hosts and the warmth and comradeship shown by the Da Nang University of Technology’s student volunteers. In return, our team shared our famous Singapore Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak and Bak Ku Teh with them.
The Nguyen Ba Phat students’ motivation for learning was inspiring. Our team has learnt to treasure and cherish the opportunities in education that a local educational institution, such as Singapore Management University, provides. We were glad that our efforts and curriculum were well-received by these students.
The smiles and kindness of Hoa Lien Ward also had a deep impact on the team. In the early morning of our last day of expedition, several Nguyen Ba Phat students came to bid us farewell and brought gifts and drawings as tokens of appreciation. It was a tearful farewell as the team has forged strong bonds with both the community and the students.
Project Uom Mam has reached a new milestone – Da Nang University of Technology student volunteers had gracefully agreed to continue conducting English and IT lessons at Nguyen Ba Phat School once every fortnight.
The 19-day expedition was an enriching and meaningful experience to all the 21 team members. The valuable lessons learnt would definitely put us in good stead for the rest of our lives.
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