The aim of the program is to jointly bring care, love and happiness to the children through volunteers’ activities.
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES:
The Hope Centre is a non-profit, non-government day care organization based in Hanoi for the care of mentally impaired children. This centre was founded in 1997 by Vietnamese enthusiastic teachers, and then in 2002, it was expanded with the support from an American NGO. Number of staff - 11 teachers. All of them graduated from Hanoi National University of Education. Ms. Nga, the director, is not also a teacher but also a doctor of Pediatrics. Number of children - 50 disabled and able-bodied children devised in three classes.
The centre’s mission is to provide opportunities for children with mental impairment to receive an education, and to feel included with their local community. In particular, the centre provides assistance for those children suffering from developmental disabilities including Down's Syndrome, Autism and Cerebral Palsy. As well as early grade academic learning, the education programs include physical education and therapy, yoga, painting and poetry.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT:
Hope Center is located in Ba Dinh district, near city center. This is a very crowded place with many shops. It takes around 1 hour to get there from VPV office by bus.
VOLUNTEER’S REQUIREMENTS:
Volunteers should like to work with handicapped children and maturity and initiative spirit. Preference given to volunteers with background or experience in medical work or disability. However, volunteers without experience or background will still be able to join in different work as children are very excited with foreigners. Besides, volunteers should be creative and active in that working environment.
Age:
18 or over
Minimum stay preferred 4 weeks.
VOLUNTEER’S TASKS:
Here are some possible tasks that you can do there...
-Caring for disabled children -Assisting teachers in classrooms -Feeding children during lunch time -Calling for charity or Subscription (depends on volunteers)
Working hours:
A usual working day could be from 9 am to 4 pm with a lunch break from 12 am to 2 pm.
HOSTING SITUATION:
Volunteers will stay in a dormitory with rooms shared with other volunteers. Living conditions will be Vietnamese standard with separate bathroom, single bed with mattress. Food will be provided at accommodation. Meals will be mostly local food, which vary from the daily cooking schedule. During working days, volunteers may either have lunch outside or eat with the staff at Hope Centre. They have to inform the cook at the centre one day in advance if they want to eat there.
The aim of the program is to jointly providing organic vegetable/fruits for the disabled children staying in the center by doing gardening or organic farming.
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES:
The Quynh Hoa Center is a non-profit, non-government charitable vocational training center based in Hanoi for the care and training of physically impaired children. The center was founded in 2007 by Doan Thi Hoa, the Director of the Center. Number of staff - 7 vocational teachers. They teach sewing, embroidery and handcraft. Number of children - Approximately 50 orphans and disabled children. The number of children changes from time to time. There are 25 children studying and living at the center. The others go home after studying everyday. The center’s mission is to provide opportunities for children with physical impairment and orphans to receive an education, vocation and to feel included with their local community. Hence, they can earn by themselves after 3-6 months studying there.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT:
The centre is located in a small village to the southwest of Hanoi. It is about one hour bus ride from the city centre. There are some small shops around.
VOLUNTEER’S REQUIREMENTS:
Volunteers should like being close to nature, living in the countryside and doing gardening.
Age:
18 or over
Minimum stay preferred 1 month.
VOLUNTEER’S TASKS:
The main task of volunteers will be gardening. During lunch time, volunteers can spend some time with the children in the center. Besides, if volunteers stay in the center, they can offer English lessons for the children in the evening.
Working hours:
Usually from 9 am to 4 pm (Mon – Fri), but the schedule is quite flexible.
HOSTING SITUATION:
Volunteers will stay in a dormitory with rooms shared with other volunteers. Living conditions will be Vietnamese standard with separate bathroom, single bed with mattress. Breakfast and dinner will be provided at accommodation while lunch will be provided by the center or volunteers can eat out. Meals will be mostly local food, which vary from the daily cooking schedule. Quynh Hoa center also provides food and accommodation for volunteers if they prefer.
The aim of the program is to jointly bring care, love and happiness to the children through volunteers’ activities.
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES:
The Morning Star Centre is a non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in December 1995 for the early detection and care of mentally impaired children. Chaired by Professor Nguyen Tai Thu, it is a subsidiary of the Vietnam Relief Association for Children with Disabilities and has nearly 70 staff members caring for approximately 200 children ranging in age from 1 to 16. The Center is to be found in Thanh Xuan district in South West Hanoi. Amongst the staff are teachers, psychologists, nurses, doctors and physiotherapists whose mission is to promote charitable activities that help to provide opportunities for children with mental impairment to receive an education, and to feel included with their local community. In particular, the center strives to provide assistance for those children suffering from developmental disabilities including Down's Syndrome, Autism and Cerebral Palsy. Furthermore, the center has begun offering some vocational and pre-vocational courses for teenagers, in addition to sending them to outside vocational schools. The courses help increase the children's independence and confidence, and their abilities to get enrolled in professional training centers outside. Having recently set up a coffee shop at the entrance of the center, some of the children help out and in the process receive valuable experience in working and interacting with the public.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT:
Morning Star is situated in Thanh Xuan District in South West Hanoi.
VOLUNTEER’S REQUIREMENTS:
Volunteers should like to work with handicapped children and maturity and initiative spirit. Preference given by volunteers with background or experience in medical work or disability. However, volunteers without experience or background will still be able to join in different work as children are very excited with foreigners. Besides, volunteers should be patient, creative and active in that working environment.
Age:
18 or over
Minimum stay preferred 2 weeks.
VOLUNTEER’S TASKS:
Here are some possible tasks that you can do there...
-Assisting local staff in terms of playing with children and entertaining/educating them with games, music and arts when required. -Helping on fund raising. -Collecting useful information and documents from different sources.
Working hours:
Usual working time will be from 8.30 am to 4 pm with a lunch break from 11:30 am to 2 pm (from Monday to Friday).
HOSTING SITUATION:
Volunteers will stay in a dormitory with rooms shared with other volunteers. Living conditions will be Vietnamese standard with separate bathroom, single bed with mattress. Food will be provided at accommodation. Meals will be mostly local food, which vary from the daily cooking schedule. During working days, volunteers may either have lunch outside or at the centre. They have to inform the cook at the centre one day in advance if they want to eat there.
The aim of the program is to jointly bring care, love and happiness to the children through volunteers’ activities.
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES:
The Vietnam Friendship Village opened in 1998 and was established to treat and care war veterans and children who are suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. Armed forces in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War. There are currently around 120 children and 40 veterans living in the 11 houses that comprise the Village. Established by George Mizo, an American Veteran of the Vietnam War, in collaboration with American, German and Vietnamese governments, the Village aims to provide rehabilitation through medical care and physiotherapy, as well as basic education and vocational training for children. In 2004, an organic gardening project was started at the Village with the aim of increasing awareness of the consequences of war, and to demonstrate strategies for healthy living among those still suffering its effects. The garden now provides around 60% of the vegetables eaten at the Village. It is hoped that in the future the garden can provide all the fruit and vegetables needs for the Village, and eventually grow enough to sell and raise further funds for this much needed community center. The aim of Friendship Village is to give every effected child the chance and opportunity to lead normal, happy and fulfilled lives. Clearly, given the circumstances this is no easy task, and although, thanks to the dedicated work of those at Peace Village, tremendous advances have already been made, there still remains much work to be done.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT:
Friendship Village is about 2km far from the VPV headquarters and 15km from Hanoi center. It takes around 10 minutes to get there by bicycles from VPV office.
VOLUNTEER’S REQUIREMENTS:
Volunteers should like to work with handicapped children and maturity and initiative spirit. Preference given to volunteers with background or experience in medical work or disability. However, volunteers without experience or background will still be able to join in different work as children are very excited with foreigners. Besides, volunteers should be patient, creative and active in that working environment.
Age:
18 or over
Minimum stay preferred 2 weeks.
VOLUNTEER’S TASKS
Here are some possible tasks that you can do there...
-Caring for and playing with disabled children -Assisting teachers in special education classes -Feeding the children during lunch time -Gardening -Calling for charity or Subscription (depends on volunteers)
Working hours:
There is no fixed timetable for the volunteers, their working times depend on the tasks they choose for themselves. A usual working day could be from 9 am to 4 pm with a lunch break from 11 am to 2 pm.
HOSTING SITUATION:
Volunteers will stay in a dormitory with rooms shared with other volunteers. Living conditions will be Vietnamese standard with separate bathroom, single bed with mattress. Food will be provided at accommodation. Meals will be mostly local food, which vary from the daily cooking schedule.
The aim of the program is to jointly bring care, love and happiness to the children through volunteers’ activities.
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES:
Established by a German non-profit organization, the Thanh Xuan Peace Village provides supervision and care for over 110 second and third generation children who are victims of Agent Orange, an herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. The center has about 50 staff members amongst which are caretakers, physiotherapists, massage therapists, teachers, cooks and doctors. Facilities at the Peace Village include dormitory residence, two physiotherapy treatment rooms, an aqua-therapy pool, a playground, a communal dining hall, classrooms, technical training workshops, computer lab, and health clinic. The aim of Peace Village is to give every effected child the chance and opportunity to lead normal, happy and fulfilled lives. Clearly, given the circumstances this is no easy task, and although, thanks to the dedicated work of those at Peace Village, tremendous work has been made, there still remains much work to be done.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT:
Peace Village is situated in Thanh Xuan District in South West Hanoi, close to Ha Dong. It is a 30 minute bus ride from the city centre. There is easy access to the internet and other services that the volunteer may need in the area.
VOLUNTEER’S REQUIREMENTS:
Volunteers should like to work with handicapped children and maturity and initiative spirit.
Preference:
Volunteers with background or experience in medical work or disability. However, volunteers without experience or background will still be able to join in different work as children are very excited with foreigners. Besides, volunteers should be patient, creative and active in that working environment.
Age:
18 or over
Minimum stay preferred:
2 weeks.
VOLUNTEER’S TASKS:
Here are some tasks that you can do there...
-Caring for and playing with disabled children -Feeding the children during lunch time -Calling for charity or Subscription (depends on volunteers) -Charity campaign for books, old clothes, old shoes for the children (depends on volunteers)
Working hours:
You will work from 8.30 am to 4 pm (Mon – Fri) with a lunch break from 11 am to 2 pm. You can't have lunch in the center but there are a lot of street restaurants around. For those living at Thanh Xuan Dorm, you can come back to the dorm for lunch.
HOSTING SITUATION:
Volunteers will stay in a dormitory with rooms shared with other volunteers. Living conditions will be Vietnamese standard with separate bathroom, single bed with mattress. Food will be provided at accommodation. Meals will be mostly local food, which vary from the daily cooking schedule.
The aim of the program is to jointly bring care, love and happiness to the children through volunteers’ activities.
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES:
The Phuc Tue Caring Center is a non-profit, non-government day care organization based in Hanoi for the care of mentally and physically impaired children. The Center was established in June 2001. There are now 2 centers around Hanoi that provide care and education for approx 50 children and young people (aged 2 to 22yrs old) who are suffering from the effects of agent orange, autism, down syndrome and Japanese encephalitis. The Centre`s aim is to look after these children and help to integrate them into normal society. Number of staff - 12 teachers. All of them graduated from Hanoi National University of Education. Ms. Huong, the director, is also the enthusiastic teacher that founded this center. Number of children - Approximately 74 disabled children divided into 4 classes. The number of children changes from time to time. The center’s mission is to provide opportunities for children with mental and physical impairment to receive an education and to feel included with their local community. In particular, the center provides assistance for those children suffering from developmental disabilities including Down's Syndrome, Autism and Cerebral Palsy. As well as early grade academic learning, the education programs include physical education and therapy, yoga, painting and poetry.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT:
Phuc Tue center is situated in Tay Ho District in North West Hanoi, close to West Lake – the largest lake in Hanoi. There is easy access to the internet and other services that the volunteer may need in the area.
VOLUNTEER’S REQUIREMENTS:
Volunteers should like to work with handicapped children and maturity and initiative spirit. Preference given to volunteers with background or experience in medical work or disability. However, volunteers without experience or background will still be able to join in different work as children are very excited with foreigners. Besides, volunteers should be patient, creative and active in that working environment.
Age:
18 or over
Minimum stay preferred:
2 weeks.
VOLUNTEER’S TASKS:
Here are some tasks that you can do there...
-Caring for and playing with disabled children. -Feeding the children during lunch time. -Calling for charity or Subscription (depends on volunteers). -Charity campaign for books, old clothes, old shoes for the children (depends on volunteers).
Besides, the volunteers can also help the center do gardening to provide food for the children (In the second branch).
Working hours:
You will work from 8.30 am to 4 pm (Mon – Fri) with a lunch break from 11 am to 2 pm. You can have lunch at the center with the staff or eat out; there are a lot of street restaurants around.
HOSTING SITUATION:
Volunteers will stay in a dormitory with rooms shared with other volunteers. Living conditions will be Vietnamese standard with separate bathroom, single bed with mattress. Food will be provided at the center or volunteers can eat out. Meals will be mostly local food, which vary from the daily cooking schedule.
The aim of the program is to jointly bring care, love and happiness to the children through volunteers’ activities.
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES:
Founded in 1976, the centre is located approximately 50 km west of Hanoi. The centre originally opened its doors to disabled children of Vietnam War veterans. However, now the centre has opened its services to all disabled children. The centre is housing up to 150 children and 50 staff members. The children are aged from new born babies to 18 year old young adults. Their abilities are either mental and/or physical and the centre supports them with rehabilitation, education and vocational training and simply taking care of them. The children often take part in cultural programs and sports and are sometimes helped by other Vietnamese and foreign volunteers with these activities. The final goal of the Thuy An centre is to help reintegrating the children into society so far this is possible. The means to achieve this is by providing the vocational training which will allow financial independence in the future. Further, by giving them confidence in themselves and if possible teaching them English.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT:
The centre is located approximately 50 km west of Hanoi. It is a one and a half bus ride from the city centre and a one hour bus ride from the VPV headquarters. There are some small shops around. There is also an internet shop which you can get just by 10 minutes walking.
VOLUNTEER’S REQUIREMENTS:
Volunteers should like to work with handicapped children and maturity and initiative spirit.
Preference:
Volunteers with background or experience in medical work or disability. However, volunteers without experience or background will still be able to join in different work as children are very excited with foreigners. Besides, volunteers should be patient, creative and active in that working environment.
Age:
18 or over
Minimum stay preferred:
1 month.
VOLUNTEER’S TASKS:
Volunteers would be able to assist the staff in their work with the children by helping with rehabilitation, organizing sports and/or extra curricular activities, or by teaching English to staff members and, if possible, to the children. There are also plans to begin an organic farming program, to grow fruit and vegetables for those volunteers happy to get their hands dirty!
Working hours:
Usually from 8.30 am to 4 pm (Mon – Fri), but the schedule is quite flexible.
HOSTING SITUATION:
Volunteers will stay in the centre with shared rooms (with other volunteers from different countries). Western toilets and showers available. Food will be local types. Lunch and dinner will be provided at the centre. Volunteers will have to buy stuff for breakfast by themselves and get a monthly refund from VPV. Vegetarians should not expect many choices besides vegetables, eggs or tofu.
« I would recommend participating in a workcamp, especially with VAP, who ensured that I found a project to suit me and provided essential training for me in preparation for my trip. Being part of a workcamp really is a life-changing experience, oh, and it looks great on your CV! »
