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PC's and no Power? No Problem!
by Melissa Williams
Chào, tên tôi là M? L? Hoa và tôi thích ch?y b?! Or in English- Hello, my name is "Melissa" and I love to run! I am working on my Vietnamese here.
Team Vietnam made up of Lori Bradford (a Manufacturing Engineer), Minh Pham (a Product Development Engineer), Matthias Giessler (a Training Performance Support Manager), Hoang Nguyen (a Software Engineer), and I Melissa Williams (Finance Sr. Analyst), have been here in Vietnam for almost a week working with the NGO Orphans Overseas. We have taught in three different centers thus far teaching students ranging in age from 6 to 20 years old. The students come from all over Ho Chi Minh City and have varying degrees of experience in working with computers and their applications, from the first time ever being in front of a PC to using the net and chatting with friends once in a while. Most of the students are somewhere in the middle and we have structured the classes to meet the needs of the particular group we are working with. We have introduced the kids to typing as well as creating presentations and searching the web. The students that were able to pick up the material faster automatically started helping their peers with the work without being prompted to do so as you can see in the picture below from the Bin An Center.
The students here are very eager to learn and are picking up on the computer very quickly. After a big storm on Sunday lasting through the night the power was out at the Binh Trieu Center when we arrived for our 3 hour session. We had a plan B to operate off of batter power only and hope that every unit was charged and working, but power returned about 30 minutes into our session, although the rain still continued. This classroom is completely open in the back to noise from other students, motor bikes, and the elements, but that did not faze the kids one bit and they were completely focused on the task at hand. It was amazing to see how excited they were over successfully completing the assignments. Some of these kids would never have had the opportunity to use a computer at any other time so this exposure was critical and the ongoing computer training that Orphans Overseas will provide is essential to delivering the opportunity of a brighter future working with technology.
We have been so lucky to be accompanied by two older students that have worked with the program in Vietnam. Linh and Di?m pictured below with Melissa and Lori have helped out in the classroom working with the students as well as guiding the team get around the city. They have very good English skills and are able to translate between the 2 languages with ease which really comes in handy for taxi rides and understanding where and what to eat. These girls received training through Orphans Overseas and continue to develop their computer skills as well as English and their futures are bright with possibilities that this education offers them.
Next week we are off to the Vung Tau Providence to work with a new set of students there. Please check back to see how the rest of our adventure goes here in Vietnam.
