Currently, Sara and I are volunteering at the SOS Children's Village in Viet-Tri, Vietnam. When we first signed up for this gig, I wasn't sure what to expect. To be honest, I was picturing Dickens'-style orphanages complete with gruel and some sort of punishment device with an ominous nickname like The Weasel or something. In actual fact, this place appears to be... well, Malibu Barbie's Dream Orphanage, for lack of a more politically correct term. As far as orphanages go, this place is pimpin'. The children live in groups of ten (plus one "mother") in modest but modern, clean houses on an immaculate property that boasts neatly trimmed trees of both the fruit and bonsai variety. It looks more like a Californian retirement complex than a charity.
As for the kids themselves, I was likewise imagining plucky ragamuffins with wild eyes but good hearts, who got in scraps and were impossible to control but would eventually melt my heart with their (inexplicable) Cockney accents. What we got were the most well-behaved (if not slightly robotic) children on the planet. Seriously. Since it's summer vacay, these children are left to their own devices for most of the day, running unsupervised between houses (the mothers are often shopping or cooking or washing or laundering or whatever). Now, if this was Canada and you had over one hundred kids running around a complex without any sort of control... you'd have kids falling out of trees, setting couches on fire, launching small animals into the air, etc. It'd be utter pandemonium. But these kids all just play quietly and politely, and never ever ever make a mess. It's a little bit eerie, if I have to be frank about it. But it certainly makes our lives easier.
During the morning, we hang out with them at their houses or help them garden--oh yes, that immaculate lawn they have? They're out their trimming the grass every day themselves WITH PRUNING SCISSORS. I kid you not. And I have yet to see even one of them utter a word of complain, let alone attempt to scale the wrought-iron fence surrounding the complex (which is what I would be doing... I almost did, in fact, when someone made the suggestion that perhaps I "help"). They were fairly shy at first but Sara and I taught them Stella Ella Ola, and now it appears to be taking the orphanage--hell, possibly the entire country--by storm. Take THAT, Vietnam! You won't let me on Facebook? I'll teach all your children an obnoxious slapping game!! Mwahaha... Anyway, during the afternoon we are supposed to teach them English. I say supposed to because this is summer school for them, and we are filling in for their regular teachers. As we've been given no syllabus or any other sort of preporatory material, it's a bit difficult since we have No idea what level they're at. So there's a lot of "Head and Shoulders" being sang. But in any case, it's lots of fun and the kids are very cute, even if most of them don't know any sentance other than "What your name how old how many people your family what country you from?"
To be completely honest, I can't say that I feel that we're making a massive difference here. We're having fun, and the kids are having fun, and we're giving the regular teachers a break for a few weeks, but it would be naive of me to think we're making that huge of an impact on the situation. But really, how could we, only being there two weeks? There is only so much a short-term volunteer can accomplish. We paid to volunteer here, and I definitely think our money is going to a great place. SOS Children's Village is brilliant, and these kids seem just as happy and well-adjusted as any kid I've met growing up in a normal household in Toronto. And perhaps the SOS's thinking is that they're more likely to get money from people if they offer something in return--in this case, an experience, good karma, etc. Which is absolutely fine by me. Though we definitely contributed a lot more to the situation at Mother Teresa's. I suppose any volunteer position that you don't need to pay for actually really does need the physical help, whereas anything you pay to do is more concerned with the money than your time. But like I said, I'm still glad we're here.
Though, the temperature is in the low forties, and with the humidity I can't shake the feeling that I'm actually chewing the air. The heat was so intense that for our weekend off we escaped to the hills--a tiny tourist hamlet with pretty views and lots of cafes to wile away the afternoon at, and an average temperature of at least five degrees cooler than below. We went for a hike through a bamboo forest and ate strange Vietnamese desert stuff that appeared to be different types of sweet goop in a puddle. Good times.
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