Orphan Impact: Office Space and New Teacher Training Academy

(This is the 2nd of a 20-post series that will be posted by Orphan Impact from March 1 to December 31 as we provide feedback to the East Villagers community about how we utilize the $20,000 in funding support we received from Chao Foundations/Transparent Fish Fund). 

We "broke ground" this week on the new site that will soon become the headquarters of the Orphan Impact operations in Vietnam. Following a month of bid collecting and price shopping, we selected the architectural design firm of Saigon Eco Construction to represent us in renovating and designing our offices. The firm was incredibly gracious to offer their services to Orphan Impact free-of-charge because of "how impressed they were with our unique way of helping Vietnamese orphan children to prepare for their futures."  We are thrilled to have such an amazing company helping us ensure that our space is purpose-built and designed to meet our needs and our goals. 

Just over 8 months ago, we cancelled the lease on our previous offices so that we could put the $350/month of savings to better use in the orphanages with who we are partnering. We moved our offices into my apartment - cramming desks, computers, projectors, whiteboards, and far too many miscellanous computer parts, cords, and wires into a small spare bedroom. While our staff has been gracious, I know they were growing weary of continually feeling like they were intruding into my personal space. But in about two weeks time, this will no longer be a concern. 

Our new offices are located in one of the best locations in Ho Chi Minh City, smack dab in the heart of District 1, down the street from the Provincial People's Committee and the famed Rex Hotel. Saigon Eco Construction is helping us to design a space that will be modern, yet modest....professional, yet simple. The space will be set-up to showcase our work in orphanages throughout Vietnam to our visitors, while also providing a comfortable space for our staff to collaborate together while they plan lessons for the children that are aimed towards inspiring them towards an interest in becoming lifelong learners.

But the most exciting part of our new office space will be that it will allow us to jumpstart our expansion plan of getting computers and internet training into more orphanages in the Mekong Delta region of the Southern Vietnam. The offices will feature the space we need to begin training new teachers who will begin leading the classes in the new orphanages later this year.

As soon as we were awarded the grant from the Chao Foundation/Transparent Fish Fund we knew that we wanted to utilize the funds to help start the expansion of our program into new orphanages to reach new children. Setting up the space for training our new team of teachers is the first step!

Original Article was written by Tad Kincaid.