After ten months in Hanoi, and the end of my participation in the SASID-project, I find
myself back in my childhood room in Sweden. It is a strange feeling. At one point in time I worried whether I would ever make myself at home in a place so different from what I was used to. Now I find myself missing it. The busy roads packed with motorbikes, the unfamiliar scents and loud vinahouse-music at local shops, and the street vendors on bicycles, calling out “Bánh bao! Bánh bao!” early every morning. Not to mention the language-cafe Soci-hub, run by the NGO CSDS, where I spent countless hours teaching English and participating in other educational and environmental projects.
Above all, I find myself missing the people who made this time of my life so special. I miss my friends, who invited me into their lives and taught me what Vietnamese culture is all about. I also miss my students, who I have seen grow and develop so much over the past year. As we said our goodbyes, one of them suddenly proclaimed “Thank you for becoming such a special part of my youth”. At 25 years old, I am not sure I qualify as a youth for much longer.
But rest assured, that feeling is mutual. Beyond the strange, empty sensation, I feel grateful; for everything and everyone that the project has brought into my life
Year in Review
It feels like an impossible task to reduce my project experience to a short blog post. There is so much to say, and so many people I would like to mention. Nevertheless, I will do my best to summarise what kind of activities I have been involved with since my arrival.
My time with CSDS started with a focus on teaching extracurricular English classes at two local colleges. As it tends to be rather expensive to hire or keep foreign English teachers in a Vietnamese context, these projects have been developed to address existing gaps and ensure appropriate education for all – regardless of financial or social standing. The initiatives would later be complimented by CSDS’s own all-ages Community-Class, where language skills and confidence were developed through interactive, gamified lessons.
Additionally, I acted as a facilitator for the environmental awareness project Youth for Earth. There, I mentored a group of local young people as they learned to identify community needs and designed suitable solutions to address them, while developing leadership, communication and teamwork skills. In this context, my team did a commendable job addressing a perceived lack of interest in recycling amongst young people, by collaborating with local businesses and creating “upcycling workshops”, where plastic waste was turned into beautiful floral decorations.
I suspect that it was my engagement in Youth for Earth that eventually led to a conversation with CSDS’s Director Phuong. He approached me about my interest in helping him start up a brand new project, aiming to prepare Vietnamese youth for work and life in an international setting by teaching intercultural communication skills. This initial idea would eventually become the Global Readiness Programme, following my development of a project proposal, a thorough needs assessment and project feedback from a variety of professionals across CSDS’s network. My involvement in this largely research-based component concluded with the development of a targeted workshop curriculum, which should be piloted within the next few months if all goes according to plan.
However, my bread and butter at CSDS was always their 1-on-1 English classes, under the Language Labs programme. I found myself spending quite a lot of time with it, as the flexible structure allowed us to personalize and adapt the lesson material based on the wants and needs of each student. It felt meaningful to help them in the way that they themselves found to be the most urgent – be it preparing for a certain language exam, an important work presentation, or development towards more personal goals. Likewise, I enjoyed that it allowed me to come into contact with so many incredible people, build meaningful relationships with them, and track progress over weeks and months.
Lastly, the feedback that other volunteers and I provided on Language labs, resulted in the brand new initiative Language Exchange Club. As a space to meet up and chat or play games for free, it complemented the lesson-focused 1-on-1s very well. Not only did it offer a space to put newly developed English skills into use, but it was able to capture a brand new section of the community. However, I have a feeling that there is still plenty of room for refinement – should any future volunteer be up for the task…
Faces - Not Numbers
I do not believe that the success of a project focused on people should be measured in numbers. Instead, I would like to take the opportunity to share the fates of some of the people who I have come into contact with. Naturally, each of them hold a special place in my heart. Nevertheless, I will refrain from sharing their names or pictures out of privacy concerns.
Several students sought out Soci-hub to prepare for their respective English exams; a necessity to graduate in Vietnam. During my last few weeks in Vietnam, I was invited to almost one graduation every day. Several students approached me, dreaming of studying abroad. Now, I have standing invitations to the UK, Germany, Australia, Japan and more. The researcher who came in to learn to translate and present her ideas in English has now been published in an international journal. The woman who asked me to support her preparations for a certain airline’s English exam is currently living her dream as a cabin crew member halfway across the world. Others have expressed that the confidence they gained with us allowed them to take the leap and apply for jobs with multinational companies across Vietnam. Many of them would go on to get chosen for the respective positions. And yet more have expressed their gratitude for the guidance and new perspectives we have provided as trusted friends
Over the past year I have spent significant time with some of these students, and naturally I hope that it has felt meaningful to them. Certainly, I have seen a great number of them grow into stronger, more competent and confident versions of themselves. However, I do not want to overstate my own impact. It is important to me that their efforts and results are recognized as their own. I trust their abilities and judgement – and feel confident that they would find a way forward with or without us. All the same, it is my hope that we have made the path they have chosen for themselves feel more manageable. Perhaps our conversations and classes have resulted in some shape of personal reflection or growth. Maybe we have represented a shortcut towards an end goal, or even companionship when times were tough. I will leave it to my students to determine how successful SASID has truly been. But for what it is worth, I look at them, and I see people capable of speaking up for and representing their community.
I look at them, and I see the future.
Written by Edvin Pettersson, SASID-Project.