I have now been at my project in Vietnam for eight weeks, which means the end of my placement year is suddenly on the horizon!
My project is a centre for mentally and physically impaired children, which encompasses a whole spectrum of disabilities. There are around 100 children enrolled at the centre, as far as I am aware between the ages of 5 and 24. There are eight teachers and the pupils are split into four classrooms. The centre's mission is to provide opportunities for the children to receive education and to feel included within their local community.
Although many people believe that Vietnam is developing at a fast pace, there is still a lot of training and support that is desperately needed in some centres like this. A lot of factors make this project very challenging, and I certainly felt like I was thrown in at the deep end! This has been the first time I've had to work alone too, so I've had to be more independent and use my initiative to formulate any new ideas. Along with the heat, humidity, long days, commute, culture differences, language barrier, environment, distractions, lack of cleanliness and resources, I have learned a lot more than I ever imagined. I admit I struggled for the first week or two, it was all quite overwhelming and I began to think what was there that I could do here to benefit the centre or develop my own skills? But marching on through the tough start allowed me to plan my time more effectively and be productive. One of my projects at the centre has been to run physical therapy sessions every morning. A previous volunteer set up the programme from her experience in occupational therapy. Ten pupils with a range of physical and intellectual disabilities were assessed and had a personal intervention programme set up for them.
The therapy room in essentially one of the store rooms, so there is very limited space and few resources. It is adjoined to the youngest class, who like to noisily creak the door constantly and wander in and out and throw things over the outside wall. Not particularly ideal! So the additional distractions don't help the already challenging behaviour and lack of concentration. You can imagine my delight when we invested in a padlock for the door!
Nevertheless trying to think of purposeful activities and engage the children, whilst speaking very minimal Vietnamese, has been the biggest challenge to overcome. With each day of running the physical therapy sessions the experience has taught me a lot and encouraged me to use my initiative and have patience.
Within the intervention programme there are therapy goals for each child, mainly concerning gross motor skills, fine motor skills, drooling prevention, attention and participation. For instance one of the boys with cerebral palsy needs to improve his left upper limb strength and coordination. After a simple massage from his shoulder to fingers his hand opens up more and during activities like a fishing game he will now try to use his left hand to hold the rod and hook the fish. It took a while for him to do this though, as he refused to acknowledge his left hand previously. Hence seeing progress like that is incredibly rewarding and motivates me to keep on persevering through the hardest days!Last week was the end of the school term too, so at the last assembly I donated a new resource box full of games and activities that can be used to improve the physical therapy sessions. During the summer term some students still attend the centre, so I will still be able to use them in my last few weeks hopefully!
Each day there is a three hour break, where the children eat lunch and have a nap in true Asian style. In the afternoons I have spent time in each of the classrooms, and now focus on the class for autism and hyperactivity disorders.
Following observations made in class and interacting with the pupils I came up with some ideas for my afternoons, primarily to bring in some structure to give the daily sessions a purpose. Initially my idea was to work one-to-one with the pupils creating a personal profile poster. However I also decided to incorporate English lessons into the plan, to teach some vocabulary for their posters. I was a bit apprehensive at first to do the English lessons, as I was by myself and have no experience teaching children with disabilities. I spent a few days lesson planning some simple topics and how I would deliver them. Feeling a bit more prepared, I tried my best and started with 'Who am I'. I was extremely impressed that all my pupils sat quietly and still! Despite any disorders or learning disabilities they managed to complete every task of reading and writing, including their name, age, country and family. I felt very proud, especially when they were asking for more lessons every day after! I have done more interactive exercises with them since to practice, which has been a great chance to work with them individually. I have really enjoyed it and definitely feel this is something I would like to continue again in the future. I'm sure gonna miss these kids!
With this class I have also been part of their scheduled activities on Mondays and Fridays. Every Monday some Vietnamese volunteers come in to hold a creative therapy session with around eight of the pupils. We've done finger painting, clay modelling, self portraits and drawing things to do with summer. It's great to see the children using their imagination and giving them something to focus on. Also on Fridays I have visited another centre in the city with some of the pupils to have cooking classes. We've made all sorts of traditional Vietnamese cakes! I have really enjoyed being part of their trips and feel really attached to my class. My teachers are lovely too, I've been invited around for dinner quite a few times!
With only a couple more weeks to go I'm starting to feel very sad that I have to leave. But I know that this experience has opened up some new ideas and opportunities for me, which I look forward to exploring after my studies.
