Reflections

Finally, we are on our way back to Singapore after spending a week in Vietnam even though it felt like a month to me. This trip has been life changing for me as I experienced so many unorthodox things.

The house building was very exciting as I had never done a community service activity before that is similar to this. I faced so many challenges and I learned to overcome all of them in such a short time. First of all, the house building in general was completely new to me so a lot of the skills that we needed I did not know but I was able to learn them quickly. The supervisors and the locals were all very patient especially with the brick laying as it was important to use the correct amount of mortar and the bricks had to line up exactly against the plumb line, which was very difficult to achieve but the staff were very patient and they explained it very well.

In addition, I experience Asian (Vietnamese) culture in a completely different way. We went into a small closely knit community, which I have never done before. The locals were very friendly, however they were a bit shy but they soon got comfortable with our presence. All the kids were also very kind. They reminded me of the kids in Norway; they were a bit cheeky at times.

The food was also very new to me as I usually eat 5 star foods when I am on holiday but this time I got to try something new. The food was very tasty but a lot of the meals we had I wouldn’t think of eating again.

Revisiting Saigon was very exciting as it was different from the previous times I’ve been to Vietnam on holiday. I got to try a lot of new things that I would usually not do such as getting a massage on the 8^th floor in a town house or taking a relaxing river cruise.

My greatest challenge was physical and mental strain as it was very hot where we worked. We wore long pants in the hot and humid weather and T–shirts with long sleeves for protection and the labour was exhausting. We also had to wake up quite early (around 6 am) which I hated as I need my beauty sleep.

My favourite part was the final ceremony where everybody got recognised for our work and I realised how grateful the homeowners who kept mentioning that we were able to change someone’s lives.

Trym Ellegard Been

It has been a great experience to spend some time in Vietnam. I was honoured to be chosen as a volunteer of the Habitat for Humanity. We had five days of hard work and two other days of sightseeing. We went to Cu Chi Tunnels and few museums and temples. On the building site, we had been shovelling the sand, mixing the cement, laying the bricks and scrubbing the roof.  The works that we have done was quite tough and tiring, but at the same time satisfying for us. I don’t have enough strength to carry the wheel barrows or to mix the cement, so I did more work on laying bricks and scrubbing the roof.  Basically, our team members cooperated very well on the building site.  We took care of each other and had lots of fun.  We also played with the kids from the host families during our break and lunchtime.  For the sightseeing, we had also experienced a lot of Vietnamese culture, especially the dependence of Vietnam and the war between Vietnam and the United States.

We did a lot of work and we sweated I have to say that I really enjoyed working with our school mates and doing such a meaningful activities that we never had a chance to do before.  I feel myself satisfied since our hard work was appreciated by the local community and I believe that what we have done during the past few days will make a huge positive impact on the life of the whole family.  I am really glad that the money we donated can be used to pay for the tuition fee of a little girl from our worksite’s family. I used to donate money to charities but it is the first time that I have actually been involved in community work and had been able to touch the local culture and the life of the host family.

Moreover, I think this valuable experience has also made a change to my own life.  I live in the city where there are delicious food items and comfortable rooms. But as soon as I arrived in Vietnam, I was shocked by the living conditions, especially in Long An. I screamed a lot on the first day when I saw insects around me. However, after a few days when I got used to it, I thought about the comparison between the living standards of the Vietnamese and mine in Singapore. Being the only child in my family, living in a big home and being treated like the princess of the house, there is no reason for me to always complain that the food served for dinner that day was not satisfying, that my pocket money is not enough for buying clothes and cosmetics and that school is a horrible place to go. I feel I am really lucky and learned that all the things I own should be appreciated.

Although I am tired after coming back home with lots of mosquito bites and bruises and muscle pulls, I can never forget the trip I have just come back from. Together with my friends, teachers, staff from Habitat for Humanity and the local people, it is something that I will always remember and cherish for the rest of my life.

Yunli Huang

Looking back on this trip to Vietnam, I have learnt that many of the luxuries I have back home and take for granted (that I personally would consider a necessity are not available for everyone, such as the families that we built the houses for. This has showed me how to appreciate what I have; I think this was showed to me by the little kids in the village who had pretty much nothing yet they were still happy with what they did have. This, to me, shows the difference between how I used to be, just expecting things to come to me and getting angry if I didn’t get what I wanted, whereas I saw that there are also kids living in another circumstance, who didn’t complain about anything! The whole time that we were there, they could only afford to change their clothes once, yet they sat there watching and playing with a smile on their faces. This has been a real eye opener for me and I am grateful for what I have, because even though it seemed to me that everything I have, should have always been there, where as now I hold the perspective that I am truly very lucky to have what I do.

My experience in vietnam has been absolutely fantastic! During this week, I have seen, heard and tasted so many new things, and therefore I am so grateful that I joined this trip. However, as well as the trip was a great learning experience I have also gotten to know new people, great team-work and the process of putting something together, for a great cause!

For me, the building itself was the best part of the trip to Vietnam. I felt great honour and took pride in being able to help the family, whose house we were assigned to build. As mentioned, I have never taken part in building a house like that before, so personally that was a huge part of my learning experience.  Throughout the week, my team and I worked at one house for one family. The family consisted of two young girls, their mother and their father. Knowing that all the hard work we put in, the blood and sweat that went in, was for such a great family, fills me up with a sense of pride and dignity- simply put it just makes me happy!

During the trip the greatest experience for me was the new types of culture, language and food which we learned, heard and savoured. In fact the lunch at the building site prepared by the family itself had the great impact on me; there were so many types of Vietnamese food, especially prepared for us! And what’s better, the family let us take a nap in their house after we ate! Thriugh the families at the building sites did not speak any English, thanks to the supervisors, we were able to translate their thoughts and communicate with them.

Even though I had some expectations about this trip to Vietnam, the experience has been absolutely honourable. We have struggled, laughed, complained, helped, layered bricks, pounded, wheel barrowed, scrubbed, and so much more. However, the best part was that we did it all together! Therefore, together with my team-mates, supervisors and Habitat for Humanity staff, this trip has proved to be an exceptional experience and I would recommend it to everyone who is interested in involving themselves in such a trip. Not only will you feel good about what you accomplish, but you will also get to hear what the families have to say about their appreciation of your work, and that will make it an experience you remember for the rest of your life.

Marie Croucher


Wow. Just wow. Going to Vietnam has been like nothing I have ever been through before. No, not in the, it was luxurious, living in a 5 star hotel kind of way! What we honestly do, and how we use our belongings is so disappointing to look back on after such an experience. The people in Vietnam are actually content - happy, without iPhones or designer clothing, cherishing their families and making the best out of what they have instead of complaining about what they don't. Unlike us, in comparison to them, we really do not recognise and often forget about how fortunate we are to have such a comfortable lifestyle - clean water, a roof above our healthy heads, and a family who loves us. Not to mention the exceeding amounts of luxury we completely take for granted...

This has been a bitter-sweet experience in the sense that, if I may speak for all of us who went on the trip, we have gained a different form of satisfaction than one given from the enjoyment of your favourite meal or buying those shoes you have always wanted. The impact our work has had on the families we met and helped out has been far greater than anything I have ever felt before and has had a more powerful long-term effect on my perception of things; the way I will value things will have a much deeper meaning and for sure, I will be more appreciative of the things I own like never before!

In a way, no one but the people who have gone and experienced this trip with me will only have the ability to understand and relate to these newfound experiences we take along with us. It is bitter in how it makes you feel like you haven't given enough as there are so many more houses to be built, which is why I feel somewhat disappointed in myself knowing that I could have done so much more for this family, the neighbourhood and the village. Nevertheless, this trip has given me the opportunity to reflect on this feeling of wanting to do more, and for that, I will remain ever grateful.

Nada Taki

Looking back on the trip, I have really realised what a great experience this was! Trying something completely new like this has been a great deal of fun; it was exciting and fantastic all at once! I would have never expected to gain so much knowledge and also pleasure out of this short but sweet trip. I think that the highlights of this trip were of course the days of house-building, interacting with the families and children in the village, but also the sight-seeing trip to the War Remnants’ Museum in Ho Chi Minh that gave me a completely different perspective on the Vietnam War. I also learnt a lot throughout the trip, of course, building the house was the main skill I learnt, but I also learnt a lot about the history of Vietnam as well, which I found to be unusually exciting and interesting...

The main component of this trip was working with the families to build the houses – this was a new experience and it was heart warming to watch them almost brimming with tears of gratitude for all that we had done for them. Some of the money that was left over was given to the family whose house I worked on; this money is being used to fund the 6 year old daughter’s special needs tuition fees for an entire year, guaranteeing her a place in a free elementary school! It was definitely an amazing feeling to know that the money was given to her and hopefully, it would make a difference to her life.

I believe that all the sweat and extremely hard work was all worth it in the end -  even though there is still a substantial amount of work that needs to be done on the house, the 

feeling of knowing that the hours put into this work helps to make us feel like we’ve initiated change. A house - something that I take for granted in my daily life routine-has now been built in this small community and I hope that it has, and will continue to please and meet the expectations and needs of adequately sheltering the family!

Overall, this experience has been wonderful and I will encourage, everyone to try it, as there is no better feeling in the world, that knowing you had such a positive impact on someone’s life, however, insignificant it may be.

Lasse Jensen

My trip to Vietnam has been amazing. As mentioned in my expectations, it is my first time out of Singapore without the accompaniment of my parents and this experience was awesome, fabulous and scary all at the same time.

I have learnt many different skills such as brick laying, wheel barrowing and mixing cement; at the same time I have met many people who I wouldn’t have usually spoken to or approached on my own at school. Better yet, I have gotten closer to the people I knew before coming on this trip!

In addition to that, I have witnessed Vietnam with a whole new perspective. I saw the village, ate the local food, and slept in the comforts of their makeshift home – this I believe, has made me exposed to the local culture of Thu Thua Town in Vietnam than it would have been if I were just a mere tourist. Although, the food was different, and sometimes a real challenge to stomach their delicacies with the same expression of satisfaction, we toughened up and pleased the villagers anyway.

At the building site, the locals were extremely nice to us and they were very open-minded about our ideologies. They tries their best to accommodate us adequately and interact with us to the best of their abilities. Not only did they help us build, but they gave us the greatest gift of all – the permission and liberty to play with the children who were an absolute delight, especially the boys!

In conclusion, I had a wonderful time in Vietnam, experiencing the culture, food and their language was different to what I expected, yet interesting nevertheless. All in all, I am extremely content and satisfied with my decision to have gone to Vietnam!

Sneha Barman

Self-discovery, discipline, humanity, forging new friendships and loads of fun. These few phrases capture the essence of this one week trip that we embarked on with enthusiasm and determination.  The trip, I should say was off to a rocky start in the beginning as many of us did not know each other and I was afraid that we might not be able to bond and help each other out throughout the trip. However, as the trip progressed, we started warming up to each other and I could finally see us working together as a team.  As the group dynamics grew stronger the trip started blooming into an interesting journey which would soon leave us with fond memories to remember high school by.

Work on the build site was without a doubt, gruelling. We scrubbed panels, carried bricks, wheel barrowed sand, layered bricks, shovelled sand and even pounded the ground from 8:30 in the morning through 16:30 in the afternoon. However the more work we did, the more energy and willpower we had to keep going till the work was done. In fact I would say that the work we did was like drugs. The more we did it, the more we felt a strong urge to keep going at it.  I was surprised at my determination to have been able to do as much work as I did and I definitely pushed my limits and stepped out of my comfort zone.

The trip wasn’t all about work and no play either, though. In fact, we played as much as we worked! Every evening we went to different restaurants and this was the time during which we bonded and had fun as a group. After dinner we would just talk, joke and also play simple games that helped all of us learn more about each other.  Besides this, we also did some sightseeing in Ho Chi Minh City which included visits to the presidential palace, the war museum and a Buddhist temple.      

Looking back at the trip I can confidently say that I’ve changed for the better.  Before moving on to the actual learning I must say that my roommate helped me overcome (not completely but to a certain extent) one of my greatest phobias, my phobia of lizards which were in the hotel rooms. This might seem silly but it is one of my biggest accomplishments from the trip and I definitely have to thank her for understanding my phobia and handling me very tactfully without hurting me. I am amazed that I almost overcame a 10 year phobia in just a few days. Besides this, building houses was also a great learning experience. Building a part of the house might not seem like too much of a difference but the truth is that what we did in the past week will come a long way in making a difference in the lives of those families and the futures of their children. We overcame our differences and worked together as one to make an impact on the lives of others. I am very proud of what we did. If this trip has taught me anything it is that we have the power to do anything and to change the world if we put our minds to it. This trip has inspired me in countless ways and I will do whatever it takes to make our world a better place. This is the start of a journey of reaching out for me that will continue for a long time to come.  

Mangala Dharshini

Overall, the trip to Vietnam was very successful for me. This is because it was both educational and enjoyable. I learnt how to build a house (which was very tough for me physically on a personal level) and found out about Vietnam’s history and culture. By visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels, American/Vietnam war museum, and the President’s Old House where the war was declared to be over, I witnessed the brutal treatment that the Vietnamese people faced in the past and how through the Viet Cong (Vietnamese communist army) they overcame their troubles and eventually made USA leave the Vietnamese’s country. This entire experience was very informative but also made me feel slightly depressed as the people today are still affected by the war due to the chemical warfare launched by the United States codenamed agent orange, which is now the cause people to have birth defects throughout Vietnam.

Apart from learning about Vietnam and its history, I learnt how privileged I am to be going to an International School in a place such as Singapore. There were times when I thought that my life in Singapore wasn’t great, but after seeing how happily people in Vietnam live despite being less fortunate than us, my views regarding my own life have changed drastically. Seeing the homeowner help us build the house was quite incredible. Despite recently having heart surgery, Mr. Tong (the homeowner) worked non – stop without taking any breaks. Even his 2 daughters (who were very young in age) tried to help build the house by carrying bricks for us. This provided me with the motivation I needed to get me going whenever I felt tired during building, I would remember what I was doing and the positive impact it would have on the family I was building for.    

In conclusion, I am absolutely delighted as apart from learning new things and having a great time on the trip, I completed my service hours in CAS. This trip was much better than I expected and I hope to partake in a trip similar to this next year.

Utkarsh Chaturvedi 

This trip was a great success, it gave me an opportunity to do both learning about construction work, the history of Vietnam, and also contributing to the lives of the less fortunate by building them houses. It was interesting to drive around and see how the country changed and became more rural when we drove further away from Ho Chi Minh, and more into Thu Thua Town in Long An.

On the building site, the family was very inviting and kind. The man/father/owner of the house showed and taught me much about how to build more efficiently. As time went by, my construction skills greatly improved, as did the skills of the rest of the group. We worked very well together on the build site, with almost no arguments. The group members always tried to help each other to make the building most efficient. We learned a lot from each other as well as from our supervisors on the build site.

All of the people on the trip learned something new about themselves on this trip. We learned how to push our own limits and we discovered that we just might be able to push ourselves much harder than what we might have previously imagined.

As well as learning about construction work, we also learned about Vietnam, and especially it´s war history. We went to the Cu Chi Tunnels and to the war remnants’ museum. This was interesting to learn more about, but it was quite horrid at times when you got to see all of the consequences of the war and just how much the war has affected the country, to make Vietnam the nation it has now has become.

Oskar Aakre Haaland

What interesting trip we just had last week! The past few days have represented a very significant and meaningful time for us -  The construction of two houses from its very foundation was extremely tough and tiring in Long An. Most of us come from a highly technological society; every day we sit comfortably on chair in an air conditioned study, so such an experience was quite the challenge for us.

Every day during the past week, we worked in building site, we cooperated, communicated and helped each other which lead to an efficient working system of OFS students as construction workers. We had done much more work than have those who visited Vietnam in the previous years. When I had my first meal in Vietnam, I saw beef noodles with a lot of onions, leaves and garlic which was quite a unique and strange flavor for me, but I still coaxed myself to eat it so that I can conserve enough energy for constructive work.

The house-building process started on the second day of our trip. We were separated into two teams responsible for the work to be done in the two build sites. As soon as I arrived there, I saw a vast field with various crops and wild trees. There were rivers and various kinds of fruit trees around the local hamlet. This rid my mind of all the previous troubles, pressure and unhappiness that I had brought upon myself by being close to nature. We had experienced the simplest lives, living as one with the nature, during the previous week with nothing but trees, grass, insects, fruits and friendly villagers.

However, there were some challenges and difficulties that we had faced. For example, we had to eat the local food in build site for lunch; It contained a lot more oil than I was used to taking in my dishes. There were also large amount of insects such as red ants, white ants, frogs, snakes, mosquitoes and other unfamiliar insects that roamed the grounds freely. I used to be extremely afraid of insects, even a mere fly. For that reason, I had to overcome this fear of mine. I forced myself to do anything the local villagers asked me to and eat anything that was offered. Moreover, we had to work extremely hard under terribly hot working conditions with no air conditioning, electricity and lack of excessive clean water. The weather was almost 40°C which heated up our bodies on top of the work that we had to do in the build sites.

However, the local villagers tried to take a good care of us - they provided us with fresh fruits, drinks, food and a good resting place along with the opportunity to take a nap in the afternoon. I am very appreciative about everything they have done for us. It was touched my heart deeply, since they had so much affection to shower us with.

This trip was a great experience for me, overall. I had an opportunity to learn the local culture, their background and some new skills such as shoveling and the respectful way to treat other cultures with sensibility and sensitivity.

Yanli Wang