📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Volunteer for Peace Vietnam - The South Program - International Cultural Youth Exchange
💼 What the programme involves
THEME/TYPE OF PROJECT: Caring for disabled children
AIMS OF THE PROJECT:
To help disabled children with treatments related to cerebral palsy, congenital motor deformity, etc. To provide these children basic rehabilitative exercises, and basic education
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES:
The centre is located at District 3, the central part of HCM city.
Volunteers need to take 2 buses from volunteer house to the school (Bus no.34 and no.65)
The project is Ho Chi Minh Centre for Disabled Children. The project began in 1976 as a joint humane project between international charity foundations and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids & Social Affairs of Vietnam, with the aim of providing rehabilitation for all paralysed children in South Vietnam.
The centre has many purposes, mainly focused on rehabilitation, with various rooms for different treatments including a daycare room for disabled children where they can receive physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. There are about 120 children who are receiving caring in the centre. There are 6 daycare rooms, with about 12 teachers looking after 120 children, but not all attend everyday. Most of the children suffer from cerebral palsy, down’s syndrome, congenital motor system deformity and other disabilities; from learning and cultural activities at the daycare, children can recover some motor function of the body and increase their awareness of the world around them.
VOLUNTEER’S TASKS:
Volunteers will spend most of their time in day-care room working with disabled children
Work as a staff member. On the other hand, volunteers are also there to be a friend of children
Volunteers are required to assist local staff in providing basic exercises for children with the guidance from them.
Volunteers help nurses and staff members feed lunch to children who cannot manage themselves
Volunteers are encouraged to share their love and enthusiasm through playing and educating with games, music and arts.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Volunteers will stay in a dormitory, sharing rooms with volunteers of other nationalities joining the same program. Normally, rooms are arranged with about 2-6 volunteers per room. During peak season, the maximum can go up to 7 or 9 volunteers per room, in 5 bunk beds (9 beds in total). Western toilets and showers are available. Air-conditioner at night time (9PM - 6AM), hot water is also available. The house has TV, PC, free WIFI, fridges, cooking facilities, and a common room & terrace.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided at the dorm. Food is typical Vietnamese meal, prepared by a local cook. The main types of food will be rice, meat, fish, and vegetables. For vegetarians, the choice is usually limited to rice, bread, vegetables, egg, and tofu.
During the working day, volunteers will stay at the project site for lunch and for taking a lunch-break.
📍 About the location
The dormitory is located in an urban area of Ho Chi Minh City. It is 5 minutes away from ATMs, two local markets, multiple convenient stores, 20-30 minutes from the nearest supermarket and Banks. Laundry services are 3 minutes away, and cost $0.50 to $1.00 per kilogram. Various choices of restaurants ranging from BBQs, Vietnamese local foods, to other foreign foods such as Korean foods, or Thailand foods. Bowling alleys and Karaoke stores available within 2 kilometers radius.
⚠️ Requirements
Volunteers must be 18 years old minimum. Volunteers should like to work with children, show maturity and an initiative spirit. Besides this, volunteers should be patient, open-minded, creative and active in that working environment. Volunteers without experience or background will still be able to join in the daycare room work, as children are very excited when meeting volunteers.
Minimum of staying is 2 weeks. The extra fee is 300 EUR for first 2 weeks, and 80 EUR per extra week.
ℹ️ Additional information
Maximum 10 volunteers can work at the Day-care center. Volunteers need to check with hosting organization in advance to see if the project is still available