Nancy Youngren, the international service chair for RCOH, had been working on this project for almost a year, and there was no previous indication that the government might get in our way. In fact, the school administrators were very supportive of our project. Before we left for Vietnam, Nancy stressed to our participants that the theme for this adventure would be “nalu”, a term that means wave or more appropriately “go with the flow”. So, we did.
After a couple of extra days in Hue, we traveled to Dong Ha and met with our Rotarian partners. They took us to visit 2 different projects that were funded by RI global grants through 2 different California Rotary clubs. One was a vanilla farm which was being used as an economic development engine for local farmers wanting to increase their revenues. The other was a project that provided much needed bathroom facilities to 2 different schools. Along the way our resourceful partners were able to find 4 different remote elementary schools in a more “friendly” commune that were more than happy to have our playground equipment and our other goodies. We were able to do what we came all that way to do, and we were excited. Nalu.
When we arrived at the schools, most of the playground equipment was already in place. So, we gave it a little adjustment, and some paint. We also helped to provide some landscaping. The thrill for most of us was witnessing the joy that the students exhibited while playing on the newly installed equipment and the look on their faces when they received one of our 500 lunch boxes that we distributed. These were children who may have never seen people who looked like us. It was another Rotary moment for most of us.
The magic of international service projects is seeing first hand the impact we can make for others less fortunate and connection we make that transcends borders. We are the Rotary ambassadors who promote peace in the world.
