VISIONS Vietnam

  Vietnam

• Hanoi: 
Hanoi
• All Other Areas in Vietnam: 
Hue,  Hoi An

Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Dates: June 30 - August 3

Description: Visions offers teenagers opportunities for ambitious service work and cross-cultural immersion in the United States and abroad. We work with and for intercultural communities that lack financial and other development resources. Through service, authentic experience, and active exploration, we encourage new perspectives and dynamic learning.

The five-week Visions experience in Vietnam embraces both urban and rural Vietnam: the bustle of historic Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, and the serene green landscapes of unsurpassed beauty contrasting rice paddies, rolling hills, mountains and jungles.

The faces of older Vietnamese reflect centuries of perseverance and loyalty to tradition while the youthful majority of Vietnamese enthusiastically embrace Western ideas. The government initiated broad-based reforms two decades ago that spurred steady and rapid growth so that Vietnam now is one of the fastest growing free-market economies in the world.

Service is the centering lens through which you will view Vietnam. We live in the Ba Vi district roughly an hour southwest of Hanoi at the Thuy An Disabled Childrens Center where you will mingle daily with Vietnamese of all ages and backgrounds. Volunteers for Peace Vietnam (VPV), our primary partner, shares a mission with similar centers throughout Vietnam that were co-founded by American war veterans and Vietnamese and are supported now by a host of other countries. These small village-like enclaves aim to improve housing, education and health care for Vietnamese disadvantaged and disabled by the long-term, cross-generational effects of chemicals used in the war.

We work mostly at the Center, hand in hand with Vietnamese, and a few projects may materialize in a nearby village. We renovate Center facilities and grounds, teach English songs and games to the children, continue work on an occupational therapy garden where children will learn to cultivate, care for, and harvest the food. 2008 participants built a concrete path to the garden from the compound. Another 260 ft. of concrete road was leveled, graded, mixed and poured.

Highlights: Woven into the weeks will be many occasions to mingle with Vietnamese of all ages and backgrounds. Afternoons, weekends and evenings will mix a variety of socializing and exploring. Weekends include trips to Hanoi, its markets and craft villages, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Old Town, to Ha Long Bay to sleep on house boats, kayak, and explore island caves. By train we go north to Sa Pa near the Chinese border passing by ancient villages and rice terraces on mountainsides.

The fifth week is all travel. From Hanoi we go to the old capitol of Hue, the citadel and marketplaces and the DMZ, continuing south to Bach Ma National Park, the legendary beaches, Hoi Ans silk-producing factories and ancient ruins, and finally to Da Nang. Assigned to us throughout the program are our very own VPV volunteers and excellent companions, Hoa, Ling and Trang.

Cost in US$: 5,600

Experience Required: no

Age Range: 16-18

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel to Vietnam Independently or in Groups

Typically Participants Work in Groups

Scholarships are Available.

Application Process Involves:

• Physical Exam/Health Records
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network

Visions Service Adventures's Mission Statement: VISIONS offers teenagers opportunities for ambitious service work and cross-cultural immersion in the United States and abroad. We work with and for intercultural communities that lack financial and other development resources. Through service, authentic experience, and active exploration, we encourage new perspectives and dynamic learning.

Year Founded: 1989