sonam

Today was the last day for us to build the houses. We were very proud of how hard we had work and how much effort we put into building the houses. After working with the veitnam locals for almost a week, I got attached to them and wanted to work as hard as possible on the last day to make their house look better. After working at the site, the family cooked lunch for us and talk about their impression toward us. I was glad to hear that they appreciate our work and they thanked us very emotionally for our effort. That really touched me. This experience in veitnam is very enriching. We learned so much about veitnam culture, their habits, their food and most of all the we learned the meaning of giving and receiving. We build their house, we earned their respect and hospitality in return. I would never ever forget this experience. It kinda change me. I’m saying it for real. I have never then hard work in my life. I don’t even clean my room or and do dishes. Now, I can say that I help build the house, I did shoveling, digging, work till my back was sore and stiff. I’m really proud of myself and proud of all my friends who work till their limit to make the house a success.
Sonam

Last day at building site+grape fruit farm

Today I woke up because of a loud cough from my room mate Frida who unfortunately is ill with a flu, but hopefully she will soon get better. Also today was our last day at the building site, so we didn’t really do much just finishing laying some tiles and then saying bye and thanks to the family and the people from habitat for humanity. It felt very satisfying to be done with the working even though the house is not fully finished, but I must say that we did get a fair amount of work done in the 4 days we have been working. Despite my aching body and the fact that my hands are so sore that I can barely hold on to a water bottle any more , the whole experience was still worth it and to see the smiles on the families faces when we finished off , was priceless. Im so happy I joined this trip because it has taught me a lot about myself, my fellow students, the community of Dong Nai and just about the world we live in.

After we had said bye to the family we had to go to a grape fruit farm. Everyone thought it was kind of pointless and did not really see what we were doing there. However Lydia decided to entertain us all in our boredom. She wanted to show us the good side of being short by not having to bend down in order to go under the grape fruit trees. This resulted in her walking into a big branch and falling down in a deep hole. Definitely the highlight of the day. Later we had to leave Dong Nai because our work pẻmit with the local communist partyẽpired. We had to leave despite the fact that we had build houses for them?? .... So now we are back in Ho Chi Min looking forward to a good nights sleep after a long day.



-The kids at our building site







-The amount of work we did on our last day

Group photo1
Group photo2 - the "Funny photo"


-Emilie

Wrapping things up...

I woke up to the glorious sight of Stephan in underpants. I lay there for about another ten minutes before deciding to get up for breakfast, and after a small bout of morning moaning, I settled down for Frosties. Om nom nom. We only had to do a half-day of work today, and the teachers made some of the people working on the other site help us to do some of the work. This meant that we had less work to do, and more time to ^ahem^ ‘rest’ and eat watermelon, after managing to teach the village children the first line of ‘in the jungle’. After work finished and we went through the leaving ceremony, we headed off to worksite number two, to say goodbye to them too. One of the habitat staff came up to our table and poured what looked like orange juice into a shot glass, then goes “Dong nai whiskey ah!” And he allowed us all to have a bit which was pretty nice of him while the teachers pretended to ‘look the other way’. When saying goodbye to all the families I can’t help but think about just how friendly they’ve been, and how nicely they’ve all treated us, especially the village kids, they helped with a load of work. Sure the work was difficult, and you seriously sweat like a pig, but it’s satisfying just standing back and looking at an empty space where there used to be a couple of thousand bricks or a huge pile of dirt and thinking, “We just did that”. It may sound stupid, but I am going to miss the work. And my mum is probably going to hold that statement against me for the next couple of months, “Jack, do the dishes because I know how much you like work”. But for the humungo amount of money we paid for this trip, it was all worth every penny. Especially the KFC stop on the way back to Ho Chi Minh. Hehe. (Jack)

Our Crib Was Done

Two thousand and eight hundred dollars, which here would come to around twenty eight million dong, would treat you well when booking your luxury holiday to one of the many exotic locations off our home of Singapore. This thought would probably have run through the minds of many of my fellow students, as well as my self, when asking our parents if we could burn an already increasing hole in their pockets in order to go on an intense labor filled holiday. In fact I think my mum asked me if I was feeling ok. But the difference between this trip and ones that involve the luxurious and exotic island is the cause that we are doing it for as well as the unforgettable experience. Now that the house my group and I have been working on has been roofed and provided with a functional foundation and tiled floor I have found I feeling of satisfaction and pride knowing that a family that just manages to save two thousand dong a day can sleep at night without worrying about getting wet or having there furniture blown away. The hospitality of the family and habitat for humanity could not have been any better. I have learned so much about the Vietnamese people and culture as well as enjoying the hard work that we have done, especially for some one like me who struggles to sit still for more than five minuets. So compared to the luxury holiday to one of the many exotic locations off our home of Singapore I will not be forgetting this trip any time soon and I am be extremely grateful for the experience and opportunity that I have taken home with me.

Daniel Rodgers