After a crazy weekend of partying and tubing and birthday
celebrations in the gorgeous Ha Long Bay we come back to Peace House for a day
at the office.
Amelie, Rachel and I, decided we wanted to not just fill the
immediate needs of the kids but, look at some long-term goals that are really
going to make a lasting impression. Too ambitious you ask? So do we. But we can
only try.
So I put my project manager hat back on, and write a project
plan. It’s a bit rough at the moment, but the content is good and I really
believe that we can implement some simple things that could make a real
difference. Like keeping a diary for the volunteers, so the next lot of
volunteers are not starting completely from scratch. There is little
information as a newcomer, so we thought; it’s a good place to start.
Our project plan consists of our objectives and how we plan
to achieve those. If those objectives are long term or short term, what issues
exist, and what risks we foresee. Our
first challenge is going to be speaking to the director and gaining her support
for our ambitious goals.
We are going to attempt to break down the communication
barrier with the teacher in a hopes we can encourage them to be more involved
with the kids.
We also put together a schedule and a list of resources
required, and again off we went to Big C to buy materials. For just over $20 we
bought, a ream of paper, pencils, crayons, another ball and other stimulating
textile objects for the autistic kids and two big boxes to store it in. It
really is amazing how far a small amount of money can make.
In the afternoon we took a walk down to Friendship Village,
the orphanage close to the Peace House, and explored a little further. We met
this young girl of 20 who came to visit her aunt, who unfortunately spends her
days in a wheel chair. She travels over two hours to come and visit. She shows
us the medical ward, and I have to say it was incredible. They have rehabilitation
rooms where two of the volunteers are working as physios. In their late teens you would expect some
resistance to the exercises they were put through. However, incredibly, they
were all smiles and committed.
It was a little reminder, that when things get tough, they
could always be much much worse. And if you think you are being too ambitious, the only thing lacking is effort.
