Field Visit 2016: Teddy's Trip to Vietnam for Orphan Impact

​Learning from the Model in Vietnam

In March 2016, Teddy (a TFish volunteer) and Corinne (from Stepping Stones) traveled to Vietnam to learn how Orphan Impact conducts their computer training classes. This will help them bring the program to China. Follow along as Teddy shares updates and insights from the trip.

Days 1-3: Entrepreneur "Super Powers"

Tiên and Bang taught the class in the photos above. Although Teddy could not understand the language in the class, he could still tell the kids really enjoyed it. Teddy observed how the teachers engaged the kids.

The teachers also try to use design thinking concepts to help the kids build more confidence in their "super power" to help others. They had entrepreneurship training, with the concept "I am a maker." Danielle and Mag led taught the kids how to make a fruit piano and lighted cards with younger students.

The kids are very interested in smartphones. They tried a lot of apps, and also how to change music or look at photos on a phone. They were hungry to know the world. The kids were also brave to hug these foreign strangers. They are very positive. Everyone hopes what they did during these two days could bring positive impact for these children.

Days 5-7: Entrepreneurship with Adobe and Facebook

During days 5 and 7 of Teddy's trip, he observed classes about entrepreneurship training. Day 6 was a one-day break for the team, and they took a short trip to Ben Tre.

"The most important thing I learned is not about knowledge, but about mindset and self confidence," said Teddy. Here are his takeaways from those days.

Day 5
Tom from Adobe showed us some interesting skills with Adobe post and Adobe voice. Adobe post can help create very cool digital posters for marketing. Adobe voice is a very powerful tool. It can help us make a professional video in a simple way. It can really help NGOs that cannot afford 3 minutes of film making to create it by themselves. I was very impressed how simple it is to use these tools to achieve a lot of digital PR.

Natailla from Facebook gave us a quick intro to entrepreneurship. Most Chinese people thought an entrepreneurship mindset is about how to be a successful businessman, like Bill Gates. Actually entrepreneurship is for everyone. It is about problem solving, and it can be easy to achieve. For example , Tad is also an entrepreneur who founded Orphan Impact to help the cities. Then Nataila used design and entrepreneurship concepts to teach us 5 steps to solve problems.

Day 7
We were digging deep into the entrepreneurship mindset. Manav from India gave us a very serious lesson about entrepreneurship. The teaching really brought  a lot of self-confidence to my life.

The main points I learned today:
Entrepreneurship is to be silly! 
If being reasonable is not working, then stop trying to look good!

This experience helped me build self-confidence that I can use in my life to do something more meaningful for God. I am so thankful that I can come to Vietnam to meet these people and learn from them.

Snapshots from Vietnam

Last 3 Days in the Orphanage

Teddy passionately shared how his time with the orphans impacted him.

"The orphans in SOS are full of energy and very talented. I love them all! The last three days in VN were my peak moment because I finally got the chance to meet a lot of kids in the orphanage. I had time to get to know them more."

Here are some highlights from children he met and the time he spent with them.

1) Helpful Kid in Blue

The first kid in my mind is always the helpful kid in blue. I miss him a lot.

During the last 2 days we were in Bre Tre, the Orphan Impact team was trying to teach a new method, which they learned from Team4Tech. I arrived to the classroom earlier to help the female teachers set up the classroom and equipment.

This boy in blue just came to help me and moved the big chairs and tables by himself. I am so touched by his sweet heart to help. Just look at the photos. He was very skilled to move the heavy table even by himself.

2) Acting Girl

Acting Girl is the only girl whose character I had a chance to learn about. She is positive and sweet. She is good at acting in skits, and she enjoys it.

3) Kicking Boy

Kicking Boy was the best athlete in the orphanage. He is so good at kicking shuttlecocks. And he is good at acting, too. He talked to me in Vietnamese all the time, but I couldn't understand what he said. He has a very likable personality.

4) Soccer Kid

Soccer Kid is another boy in the orphanage who is good at sports. He has the biggest smile in the world. And he always wanted to hold my hands.

5) Creative Games

The children do not have many toys in the orphanage, so they created a lot of games using items like their shoes, cans, and other things. Here is a popular game the kids play a lot. They throw the shoe to a can. The shoe must always be on the ground. It's quite fun!

6) Little Trouble Maker with Great Leadership

Little Trouble Maker is the youngest kid in the orphanage. Actually, he is not even one of the students in our program. But he just snuck in and used his cute face to access everyone. 

He is passionate about iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. He also leads other young kids to explore on the iPad as best he can. He is really a good leader. 

The leader of Team4Tech Marie could not even work on her MacBook because of him. He is a legend.

7) Older Kids

We had 2 older kids who were really quiet and sweet. The one in yellow was brave enough to talk in public, but he was still very shy. The other one didn't talk at all, just like Chinese orphans. I hope they will get a good job when they leave the orphanage.

8) Speech Kid

Speech Kid really liked to be on the stage. He would like to be a speaker and a trainer. And he was always getting hurt. The first day his eye was red. The second day his face got hit. I hope he is ok with his friends.

9) Soccer Skills

The kids I met in Bre Tren are really good at soccer. I hope we can donate some soccer shoes in the future. I don't know why they don't wear shoes when they play soccer. It looks painful to me. By the way, I believe VN can win the World Cup sooner or later. I am so impressed by their skills.

10) Talkative Kid

Talkative Kid was talking to himself all the time. He is also one of the cutest kids I met on this trip.

11) Skits

I can tell these kids are creative and happy when they make their own skits. They're very smart kids.

12) Sad Kid

Sad Kid was not very happy all the time. I tried to make him smile,  but I failed. The good news is that he enjoys acting, and I think I finally caught his little smile. I hope he will be happy every day.

13) Group Photos

14) Tad

The sweetest moment was when Tad was with this kid.

15) Teddy

On the last day the Team4Tech leader decided to take some photos of me.  They needed my profile photo for their final report, too. It was very thoughtful of them. I am also very happy that Long from Orphan Impact used my profile photo to be a Chinese Mr. Bean. Good memories.