• Vietnam Discovery - Community Service Project Vietnam - Student Tours

BUILDING BRIDGE TO ISOLATED VILLAGE

DID YOU KNOW ?

12%

of Mekong Delta in Vietnam is by rivers and canals. This needs tens of thousand bridges to connect the lands. Most of the bridges made by bamboo named  monkey bridge, small, hard to cross, dangerous and with limited access for children, heavy load and vehicles.

I ‘d like to see myself as a bridge buider, that is me building bridges between people, between races, between cultures, between politics, trying to find common ground.

T.D. Jakes

BRIEF INITIAL INFORMATION

The student trip is to build a bridge around 30 m long and 1 m wide across a canal about 20m wide to help 20 families living in an island (made by canals) to access the main land easier (at the moment the local people get connected to the main land by a bamboo bridge which is very dangerous). The project is in an community named Nhon Thach in Ben Tre province. The bridge is made by concrete with low handrail. We will work on the project in the mornings (8-11am), have break for lunch, and restart  on the project again in the afternoon(1:30-5pm). The bridge in fact needs a longer time to make it and need seriously heavy tasks with high level of danger. So this project should have started before we arrive. What we do in reality is to assemble the concrete plates, complete the surfaces with cement and paint the bridge before handing it over to the local usage.

Vietnam school tours

Make the life easier

Having the bridge will help 20 families to access the main land easier. They can transport the product planted over there easily. They can save cost in transportation. For example, after bringing up Please be as detailed as possible.  This answer should give the overall understanding of why a group should travel halfway across the globe to do this work!  a cow, they sell it out and for whom staying at the island, the cost is also at bringing the cow over the bridge. Having a bridge also a help for people in main land go passby the island and more chance for business there

Make life safer

The bridge keep children and woman safe in the night and in the rain. Raining is time for mud road and slippery bridges. Such bamboo bridge is a challenge for walking across and many children and women has been witnessed to fall down to the canal. Night time is also a dangerous time as there is no light at all at the bridge.

Make the equality in social status

The people living is the island is considered poorer than in the main land, as only poor people choose to stay there. (if someone has more money, they choose to stay at mainland with higher price of property). A bridge will make island connected and the feeling higher-lower will be minimized. The bridge is also help business at main land go fast to bring a high income for people even at the island.

Full operation to finish the project

  • Make concrete beam.
  • Make concrete plates for bridge floor.
  • Put the beam to the canal.
  • Put the concrete plates to the beam.
  • Build more handlers.
  • Finishing by painting.

What are the tasks that the students will do during the course of the project?

  • Cut iron wires.
  • Mix cement, sand, and rock in a recipes instructed.
  • Carry cement mix to the builder.
  • Paint the bridge.
  • Carry soil from other place to make good access to the bridge.
  • 2 master with 2 builders: they even start the project earlier than the time we arrive, so all the heavy job has been done. These people get paid as they are not at the island and we need them for their building ability at these student trips.
  • 8 helpers (from families in the island). These people will join in turns as they are also engaged in their business somewhere for their daily life earning.

Living the daily life of Mekong Delta in a homestay place means you enjoy the fresh air of rural area, the working atmosphere  among students who love to have friendly conversation with you, feeling the hospitality of Mekong host, and feeling the warmth of any people around the village. Furthermore, the student trips can help you to enjoy some of the following activities we often include in the program:

  • Enjoy folk music in Mekong Delta (which has been acknowledged as immaterial world heritage by UNESCO)
  • Boat trip in Mekong Delta
  • Biking along the villages
  • Visit a floating market.
  • Catching fire-flight at night.
  • Cooking class at the local house.
  • Visit many houses of the neighbors.
  • And others with surprise.

For further detail of itinerary, logistics solution, activites, and the like, please contact us.

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