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Intel Education Services Corps: Vietnam week one

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In my last blog I mentioned our team was leaving the Hanoi Computer Training Centre [HCTC] on St. Patrick's Day to visit Quang Ninh orphanage to deploy five Intel-powered classmate PCs and teach computer skills to the students. However the orphanage director rang just hours before we planned to leave to reschedule our visit due to unforeseen circumstances. We had been warned to expect last minute changes and the warning was certainly true! Our team had no choice but to adjust our schedule to suit the orphanage. We used the extra time to prepare to visit our second orphanage, Vinh Phuc. Vinh Phuc is a Province north of Hanoi and the orphanage is home to 76 children. 55 children were identified as being able to benefit from our programme. So on Friday we boarded a bus at the HCTC to travel to Vinh Phuc to teach students over the following three days with every member of the team excited about the work ahead. As we travelled we could see how hard the Vietnamese people work. The roads are full of scooters laden down with all types of farm produce on the way to markets and shops. In the towns you can see businesses being run from every area of the streets and lanes. We arrived at Vinh Phuc and were welcomed by the Orphanage director. He said we would have 3 groups of children to teach with ages ranging from 12 to 19 years. We would also train two teachers at the orphanage so they could continue the training when the Intel team moved on.

Vinh Phuc teaching1.JPG

After our meeting we went down to the classroom to meet the first group. They were shy and nervous initially, but this quickly turned to excitement when Uyen started the class by showing the students the classmate PC and describing all  it'sparts.When Thao, Uyen, Thuy and Tram showed them how to use Word, Google and Skype we were all amazed at how quickly the students took in all the information. The students were soon able to edit Word documents with information they found on the Internet. Meanwhile Tam and Uyen were able to focus on the training of the two orphanage teachers and in particular on virus protection which was highlighted as being a major problem in Vietnam. As expected it was Skype that really caught the student's attention. They were amazed that they could see and talk to someone who was not even in the room.

Vinh Phuc Students with Classmate1.JPG

On our last day the two teachers from the orphanage were able to teach the lessons while we assisted the students. This was a major milestone as it ensures the education programme will continue after we have gone.Before we left Vinh Phuc we held a party for the students to celebrate all they had achieved. We provided fruit and milk, which they consider a luxury as the orphanage budget is $1 per day per resident. The party had a St. Patrick 's Day theme to match the gifts that some of the team had brought over. You could sense their excitement as the children played during the party.

We all felt when we left the orphanage that the students had become very confident on the computers and could not wait for their next lesson from their teachers. Next week we host 60 students at HCTC and hope to also visit the Quang Ninh orphanage to complete our training sessions with the students there. More details in my next blog.

St. Pats party.JPG

We all felt when we left the orphanage that the students had become very confident on the computers and could not wait for their next lesson from their teachers. Next week we host 60 students at HCTC and hope to also visit the Quang Ninh orphanage to complete our training sessions with the students there. More details in my next blog.

Brian Daly & Vietnam IESC 'Team Halong'