IH Vietnam volunteers are changing lives

Staff from IH Vietnam-Apollo volunteer on a weekly basis at several HIV orphanages, providing lesson plans and teaching material boxes to untrained volunteer teachers, visiting local shelters for movie mornings using their projector, and holding music nights for the shelter children at the IH school.

IH Vietnam-Apollo has also provided a scholarship for life to one 8 year old girl from a local shelter – she works very hard and hopes to get a job in the future using her English skills, in order to support her mother who is mentally ill and has polio. They have also provided sponsorship for 5 children which enables them to attend the local school, rather than work to support their parents, often earning less than $1 per day.
Several of the teachers have taken ‘little sisters’ as long term mentoring projects. They meet on a weekly basis and provide light relief and someone to talk to, while building a strong bond with the girls. This is one of the most popular projects for both the students and teachers.

They have had several successful fundraising events, including an auction for an hour of people’s time which included, teachers, teaching assistants and administration staff – and raised over $650 in one night.

Part of the money has been used to improve living conditions for families affected by AIDS and HIV such as Minh, a single mother of 2 boys and 2 girls of 15 and 13. Her husband died 4 years ago of AIDS, she is also infected and is on ARV therapy. One of the 4 children, Tran, 9, is HIV+ and on the second line of ARV treatment. The family is extremely poor and lives in a very small room in District 8 - about 12 m2 - with no sanitation facilities, no windows, and no kitchen. The room she rents was too small for 6 people (the grandmother lives with them) but Minh can barely afford the rent that she is already paying. So IH Vietnam built a mezzanine for her small home to create a private space for the 2 girls, and teachers and teaching assistants went out on their days off to help clean and decorate the space.

IH Vietnam-Apollo began its charity work in September 2010 and works with several local charity organisations including Saigon Children’s Charity and Helping Hands Saigon.

During June they will be exhibiting photographs of Vietnam submitted by teachers, local Vietnamese students, and students from a school for the disadvantaged. They hope to raise further funds during the exhibitions and showcase the different perspectives of this beautiful country.