Teaching English and organizing games for orphans in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Volunteer project: Chua La Orphanage is part of Chua La Pagoda. It was built in 1996 when Head Monk Thich Truyen Tu returned to the countryside and sold his parents' land in order to purchase 2 hectares of muddy land to build a pagoda in Nha Be town. At first the pagoda was named Huyen Trang, but due to the roofs linking together with coconut leaves it got its name Chua La, meaning Leaf Pagoda. Today, in this peaceful and quiet space in the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, the Leaf pagoda is bringing up orphan children and helping old people in need. At the moment, there are about 40 children of ages from 4 to 17 years old. In addition, there are 20 old people in Leaf Pagoda, with most of them coming from the surrounding countryside in the South and having had a difficult life. Children have opportunity to learn and speak foreign languages with English being the most studied. They can also speak some Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. The standard of living here is low, almost all of their food is donated, and they only buy tofu.

The volunteers will spend time with the children and help improving their English, organizing games and other activities for them. Volunteers will also help redecorating the houses and classrooms, planting vegetable, cleaning the area. Volunteers will get closer to the children's life and try to build up wider horizons for the children and encourage them to learn better for a brighter future.

Study theme: Disadvantaged children in Vietnam

Special requirements: Interest and motivation for working with children in difficult situation

Dates of the project: January 21 - February 2, 2013 March 18 - March 30, 2013

Leisure activities: Vietnamese Day, International Day, self-organized city tour and excursions, etc.

Location: Ho Chi Minh City (or Sai Gon – southern part of Vietnam).

More info and other projects in Vietnam: www.cadip.org/volunteer-in-vietnam.htm