PVNF Summer Service Camp - Impressions

From Alex Nguyen - 3 years veteran camper & Team Leader

Finally home in the US! The last two weeks have been such a surreal experience in Vietnam. Traveling in the North through Hai Duong, Ha Long, and Hanoi was a vastly different experience than I had in the South. The people we interacted with, the food we tried, the heat we suffered through, all of it was a learning experience.

Thank you volunteer for these past two weeks. Although our visit was short and bittersweet, we were able to touch over 3500 lives. Thank you Christofu, Emmeline, Jacob, Kevin, Antony, Chris, and the Assistant Team leaders for returning and creating an outstanding student team this year. There was a lot of pre-camp drama and there were times when the camp was almost cut, but we made it through. Thanks to my roommate for putting up with me. Lastly, thanks Team A for being such a great team to work with. We had our fun, our moments, and now our memories. I hope to meet all of you again in the future! 

  

From Duc Tran - 2year veteran who fundraised his own camp cost through pizzas events, car washes and Church dinners.

It's now 4:30AM in Vietnam...i leave for the airport in four hours to begin the journey home. Hanoi, Hai Duong, Ha Long Bay, you've been real, but i can not wait to get home and see everyone again. To all the old friends that i rekindled with during this trip, you're all the most amazing people I've met in quite the while and i'm so glad a majority of us are local with each other! To the new members to our PVNF Family, you've all worked so hard and never and i mean NEVER take what you've done these past two weeks for granted. you've touched the lives of over 3000 people, made new life long friends, and you'll honestly never forget this mission that you've all participated in. To Team C!, Ya'll a bunch of skeezys!, just kidding, you all have no idea how much you mean to me. We may not have hung out as much as other teams as a whole, but i truly feel like we made friendships so amazing, that you'll all learn to deal with each other eventually . PVNF 2013, i'd love to write more, but at this point, i've lost all words to describe how much you mean to me at the moment.

Love you PVNF Summer 2013 Family!, and i'm coming home fellas!

WELCOME HOME TEAM, THANKS FOR SERVING 3,600 NEEDY PEOPLE IN HAI DUONG PROVINCE!

Watch pictures on Facebook

APRIL 2013 UPDATE

Events: Project Vietnam Mixer April 20, 2013 6pm in Irvine, California

              Multimedia Presentation "Medical Mission 2013, the humanitarian story" 
              April 23, 2013 at California State University of Fullerton,  at 7pm

              Titan Student Union

Please view the Report on our Medical Mission Trip February 23-March 17, 2013

              

September 1, 2012 Events

 “Vietnamese Friends of Photography: A sublime one-room show”           

The Vietnamese Friends of Photographers photo exhibition was held today in Westminster, CA featuring over 40 different Vietnamese photographers. Among them, Thanh and Kim Cuong Nguyen are veterans of Project Vietnam’s medical missions and have served on its dental team.

            I found the photographs mounted on acrylic. Each was astounding on its own right, and ranged in subjects, moods and techniques: the glowing city skyline of Saigon-by-night, a lone boat floating down a river at sunrise, a bird catching its dinner, breathtaking sceneries of national parks and lesser known gems.

            The exhibit is on Sep 1-2 at Hội Trường Văn Lang (11am-6pm) at 14861 Moran Street, Westminster, CA 92683. 

Selected photographs will be displayed at the Rose Center at our Annual Gala on September 22, 2013, courtesy of VFoP.

Tuan Nguyen, volunteer-blogger

Project Vietnam volunteers and members of Vietnamese Friends of Photography 

Summer Camp 2013 Reunion

“Summer Service Camp 2012 Holds Reunion”

            Spirits were high among this year’s Summer Service Camp alumni as they enjoyed a warm summer day in Irvine, CA at their first reunion, joined by previous years alumni. The 28 volunteers enjoyed the generous hospitality of Tiana and Kevin Keenan, and reveled in past shared experiences and how it changed their lives. “It was definitely an adventure,” said Rebecca who worked in the north highlands at the post-camp project, under the primitive local conditions of remote Quang Minh commune in Yen Bai province.

            Every year, 60 students 16-35yo are chosen to embark on a 2-week mission to rural areas in Vietnam. There they work at health clinics, undertake rehabilitation/construction projects, and visit children with special needs at orphanages & centers for handicapped children.

All summer camp volunteers are recruited to help on social networks such as Facebook, and the new http://OneVietnam.com – please write your support on the Project Vietnam Foundation page and help meet the challenge of 40 additional donations (even $1) before September 20!

For more information, visit http://www.pvnf.org/summer-programs/.

Tuan Nguyen, volunteer-blogger

Clinic 7: End of the Road

Narita: All Good Things Must End

I'm currently writing my final blog entry as I sit in Narita International Airport on the outskirts of Tokyo. Alan and Jacob have just left for their home and I'm on hour six of an eight hour layover.

Six hours is a long time to think and write. Alex already figured the exact number of minutes we all spent together so I won't do that again. But I will try to recollect as much as I can of the tail end of this surreal blur of events that has been my life for the past 20 days.

1. Looking at, picking out, and then eating two deliciously crispy fried snakes. The next day, taking shots of another snake's blood and then endlessly nibbling on its rubbery flesh while drinking more of its blood with the waiter.
2. Haggling tank tops down to $2 dong each, changing colors and sizes repeatedly, and being cursed by the merchant. Feeling guilty yet triumphant after every success at Ben Thanh market.
3. Getting a thoroughly intimate massage at Quynh Nhu Hand & Foot Massage parlor. From a very flexible man.
4. Trying to find the legendary Highlands Coffee club sandwich and failing.
5. Considering but never actually using the toilet-showers at the Kien Giang hotel the way they were obviously built to be used.
6. Teaching hundreds of kids how to brush their teeth at one of the clinics. Actually spending most of that time running around and scaring kids with the teeth models.
7. Appreciating the view from the roof of the hotels in Kien Giang.
8. British accents. All the bloody time.
9. Getting excited to observe a pelvic exam, hearing the words "lube those fingers up", and backing out of said pelvic exam.
10. Singing the "Star Spangled Banner" at the end of a hilarious night of karaoke, feeling paranoid about communists, and then singing "Sai Gon Dep Lam."
11. Dancing with locals and security guards, trying on Japanese slippers, and generally integrating Zara into the PVNF after hours itinerary.
12. Somehow adjusting our bodies to wake up at 5, eat, sleep for 3 hours, work for 7 hours, sleep for 3 hours, eat, relax/rage, and repeat.
13. Ingesting jitters-inducing amounts of caffeine, ice, condensed milk, and sugar.
14. Helping hundreds of people a day and changing thousands of lives (patient, volunteer, and professionals alike) over the course of our two week adventure.

I'm positive I've forgotten so much cool stuff that happened but then again, most of my memory is tied to my camera and what it remembers. I am also beyond sad that I missed the last night with everyone with PVNF. I'm sure this list would have been quite longer if I'd been there to see the festivities last night. However, I think everyone deserves a little break for all of the amazing work that we did together these past two weeks. I've said this before but this 2011 PVNF Summer Service Camp has been one of the most fun and rewarding experiences I've ever had, an ideal blend of work and play. I am glad that I can call many of you friends and I hope that we all can see each other again, whether that be in the States, Canada, or France.

To hard work done, new friendships made, and life in Vietnam!

-Sean Nguyen

Kien Giang: Take 5

Today we took a 3 hour bus ride to a beach in the Kien Giang province. The bus ride there was long, sleepy, bumpy, and completely worth it. We first toured a cave with a Buddhist temple inside of it; the views from one of the natural openings of the surrounding rice paddies and mountains was awe inspiring. Many of us bought little flavored ice bags for about 20 US cents. When we got to the beach we were treated to a delicious meal of canh chua (for the 5th or 6th day running? Not complaining though), seafood and steamed vegetables, fried pork, and rice. Then there was the beach. The water was perfect for relaxing and enjoying the natural beauty of the surrounding water and sand; not too warm to be uncomfortable but cool enough to be refreshing. We played frisbee (poorly on my part) and chicken (much better). Some of us wrestled and others looked on with concern. Although we only got to stay for about an hour, the break from the constant work of PVNF really balanced the trip out. Appreciating the natural beauty of Vietnam and its people gives us a more personal connection to the work we do with PVNF. Floating in the salty water looking at clear blue skies or laying in a reclining chair and taking in the panoramic beach at the edge of tropical rainforest covered hills is completely surreal, something you only see on Corona commercials.

But I see it almost as a generous payment for our volunteerism. I would gladly do crowd control and clean dental equipment to be able to go to beaches like the one here in Kien Giang, paddle down a river in Ben Tre, or have a blast at any of the tours that we have been lucky enough to experience through PVNF. To another day starting bright and early at 5AM tomorrow!

Clinic #4: Vinh Thuan Commune

Yesterday morning after leaving the hotel at 5 a.m. and a 3/12 hour bumpy bus ride, the members of PVNF Summer Camp finally reached their destination for the fourth Clinic at the Vinh Thuan Commune Clinic in Rach Gia. Thang Dong, member of Team S, laughs as she runs through the early morning rain before arriving at the Clinic.

Quoc Bui plays with a baby waiting to get a medical exam.

PVNF Student Volunteers look on as Tuanh Hathi-Nguyen performs a tooth extraction on a young patient.

A week's worth of Clinics and humidity that seems to pull the moisture straight out of your body, finally took its toll on members of the PVNF Summer Camp. Despite the wide spread physical and mental exhaustion, over 500 patients were seen in what was the most productive and efficient Clinic yet.

After a full day of service, PVNF members hold on tight to a little wooden water taxi that transported them to and from the remote Clinic at the Vinh Thuan Commune.