URBAN DOMAIN 2024

Vietnam Red- Day 9

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Starting the day off with a refreshing 5:30 wake up was a delight for our busy day ahead. After a short delay at the airport, we were set and ready for the amazing city of Hoi An. With the short trip of only an hour, we were ready to start our journey around Hoi An.

From the plane flight, we headed straight to jumping off a cliff (in harnesses don’t worry). The long hike up the many stairs to the top of the mountain got the heart beating for everyone, making us ready for the adrenaline rush of abseiling. With lunch provided by the abseiling company, we were set to go. With a practice to start off, some passed, while some had to take it again. However, everyone passed eventually and were ready for the big jump. There were two jumps: a 25 metre high jump and a 15 metre high jump. As the students prepared themselves to abseil the 15 meter jump some were heavily surprised by the unexpected first jump of 25 meters. Everyone did a great job and completed both jumps. Some students did so well at abseiling that when they finished they were interviewed by a local T.V show, whilst other students were filmed during their exciting jump midway through.

After abseiling and a short bus ride to our hotel, we were surprised to arrive at an amazing hotel ( 4 stars ) with an outdoor pool and luxurious rooms. Most of the students had never seen a hotel of such and were absolutely blown away. Following a short look of our rooms, we went out to the tailor (Silk Road), to get our amazing suits and dresses picked and we were sized up according to our body. We were then left in small groups to get dinner on the main road of Hoi An. The food was very delicious and included wok fried noodles with seafood and spring rolls, though it was a little bit expensive, making us manage our money a bit more. Following the short walk back to the hotel, we were all ready to hit the hay for our exciting day tomorrow.

Finn, hope you did well in your exams mate. Mum and dad, hope you guys are doing great. Much love Cole x. Vietnam is pretty good- Toby.

Cole & Toby

Final comments from the orphanage visit on Day 3: 

Emma: I feel privileged by the life I have, and even more privileged that I have the opportunity to make a difference with it. With my experience of working with disabled adults previously this year, I thought I would already know how to act and what to expect, but walking into the orphanage was one of the most confronting moments I have ever experienced. Unlike the disability within Melbourne being primarily mental issues, the children were physically deformed. The day was eye opening and whenever I was able to make a child smile, it put a smile on my face too.

Jess: Walking into the orphanage, in the beginning, I didn’t know what to do or how to react. With little experience around children with a language barrier, I didn’t know what do to as a lot of actions didn’t get a response. I eventually got over the initial shock and sat next to this adorable little boy and talked to him for a bit but then I sung “over the rainbow” and immediately felt comfortable, and I think this comfort was mutual as he grabbed my finger and smiled. Walking away from those children was so difficult as they all touched my heart and made me smile.

Danielle: The orphanage really opened up my eyes, and made me see a completely different side of Vietnam. Although at first it was hard to communicate with the children, I fell in love with them immediately and found a way to communicate to them through singing and touch. A little smile from the children really made me appreciate the things I have back at home, and it has definitely been my highlight of the trip.

Eve: On the bus to the orphanage I was concerned and worried about what to expect. I hadn’t dealt with many children let alone disabled so I knew it was going to be a challenge. When I walked into the orphanage I instantly felt nervous. I wasn’t sure how to communicate with them because of their disabilities and the language barrier. After some time I began to find a way to communicate and make them smile. When leaving the orphanage I felt amazing as I knew I had made many children smile and seeing Sister Kim speak to us about the impact we have made I instantly knew I had done something amazing.

Photos: waiting for the bus to the airport; arriving at the mountain for abseiling; a group shot before the abseiling began; learning the ropes (literally); Toby, Amelia, Jess, Zak, Cris, Lauren, Mia and Emma abseiling; and visiting the tailor shop, Silk Road. 

China- Day 7

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Day 7
The 6am wake up call was made bearable by the fact that we had finally had access to coffee after 2 days on the boat. We then left Guiyang and travelled for around 3 hours to the Miao Village. To reach the village we drove up an incredibly steep mountain and we’re all extremely excited to hike up it tomorrow. We were welcomed to the village with firecrackers, traditional songs and dancing as well as traditional music. As we walked into the village the ladies poured us cups of tea which is a minor-friendly version of the traditional rice wine. We were then shown to the Chief’s House where we ate a delicious welcome lunch. 
After lunch we went down to the school to see the kids. They were all very happy to see us. They sang us a song and gave us drawings. We sang an extremely passionate rendition of the school hymn – in many different keys to showcase our musical talent. We also gave them gifts, which they were very excited to receive. Mr Toohey then presented the principal with the computer that we bought for the school with our fundraised money. We split off into three groups – painting a mural on the school wall, erecting new basketball hoops (which we donated with the money we raised!) and corn husking.
We were both on ‘Corn Duty’. In this activity we sat in a room and picked the dried kernels off the corn cob. The corn is a staple food and it is ground to make flour and also for pig feed. The corn is essential for the villagers. Corn Duty is very physically demanding: first we had to break the corn in half (this is harder than it sounds), then we experimented with different methods of removing the kernels. First we banged the corn together, then we peeling it off with our thumbs and finally we settled on twisting the corn in a corkscrew motion as the most efficient method. When we finished this we had only shelled one bag of corn – after 3 hours. Last month the local women shelled 200kg of corn in half a day. This really humbled us and provided us with an understanding of how hard and physically challenging it is to make a living in the village. Now this might sound ‘corny’ but we did have lots of fun and enjoyed talking to the villagers in our very limited Miao dialect. 
After visiting the village, we went to our accomodation, which were guest houses in Xi Jiang. We then went to dinner where we were greeted with another traditional Miao welcome. The ladies sang us a traditional song while pouring tea, we returned the favour with an even more incredible performance of the school hymn – this time not only were we in different keys, we were in different time signatures. After dinner we had an hour and a half to shop where we practiced our bartering skills once again.
Today has been an incredibly humbling and interesting day, proving to be a highlight of the trip so far. This day was made even better when we found out we get an hours sleep in tomorrow morning with a wake up call at a positively late 7:30!
Nicola and Izzy 🙂

TLC Pagodas – day 5

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The fifth day of the TLC Pagodas trip began with the screeching roosters as the sun rose above the Chang Dao village. After a breakfast consisting of not so traditional Thai food such as toast, marmalade and milo, we continued building the existing structure of the house. As the day went on, the 30 of us became exhausted and slowly we shifted our focus on playing with the local children. 
Despite language barriers, the Pagodas and the village kids were able to play together through universal games and sports such as soccer, thumb wars and tag. It has been observed that the kids of the village are given a lot of freedom due to the safety of the surrounding communities. To our advantage this has allowed us to explore and understand the culture and environment of the Chang Dao region. Seeing how happy the children are despite how little they have has made us realise how lucky we are and made us truly grateful. Simple items such as a ball can bring smiles to the underprivileged kids of the village and fulfil them with excitement for hours on end. Luckily a few of us Pagodas play soccer on the odd occasion and were able to give the locals a challenge. 

We began building at 8:30am to get the most out of the day. With a slow start, we gained momentum and powered through the construction. The Pagodas split into 3 “teams” to maximise efficiency – cement mixers, brick layers and go-fers. As the walls gained height, scaffolding was put up so that we could continue to lay bricks to the roof. Although at first it felt like a “Worksafe” ad, the unorthodox work environment proved to be effective and trustworthy. Noticing the progress of the house, and remembering the reason why we were building, gave us the motivation to continue on. Knowing that our efforts would give a family a solid home was truly inspirational. Our two guides, Hung and Mr. Chan, provided valuable experience and advice as we worked together. Certain unexpected individuals went above and beyond on what was expected of them. By the time all the tools had been dropped, it was obvious our efforts had paid off and the sense of achievement was felt heavily amongst the group. 

After a filling dinner, we got to witness and immerse ourselves in more of the traditional Thai culture. Whilst wearing their cultural clothing, the local kids and families treated us to performances including music and dancing around the campfire. After their performance, we played a game between the local people and us which resulted in someone of either culture singing a short song. We heard the children sing beautiful Thai songs, and we sang Aussie nursery rhymes, including baa baa black sheep in return. 

Now that we have experienced a proper understanding of rural Thai culture, the group has come to appreciate the importance of building a home for the people of the village. We will continue tomorrow to finish our building of the house, and must sleep early, as we heard to chickens can wake us up at a very early time.

Sarah and Heff     

  


TLC Pagodas – day 4

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This morning we checked out of our hotel at around nine o’clock, to board the bus for the village. We stopped midway at a local market and got a taste of an authentic Thai market place. Instantly we were confronted by the expansive range of the local goods, some of which were the fried maggots as well as the live eels and water beetles, this was something we would have never experienced back in Australia, let alone from aisle eight of Coles. This would really have did indulge us to an insight of what the locals see daily.
After the three hour bus ride to the village, we were greeted by the local villagers which made us feel even more passionate about building the house, and once we settled down and unpacked, we began the house build. While the first twenty minutes were chaotic and challenging, then next two and a half hours ran smoothly as we fell into a rhythm. Although the frame was set up for the walls, there was not much else – it was almost a blank canvas for us to get started on. We were motivated even more by the villagers watching through the windows of the neighbouring houses. We were fascinated by how frustrating it could be trying to get the bricks straight and aligned, even after many attempts. However the sweat and loss of energy did not make us lose sight of the end goal, which was making a house for the villagers. We were surprised by how different the village was compared to our expectations.Although the house build was a lot less complicated than what we prepared ourselves for it was still challenging. The girls were not amused by the steep walk up the hill to get to our temporary homes, while the boys’ lodge was at the bottom of the hill only a few metres away from where were dropped off. But it would be an understatement to say that the view from the top is something that cannot be beaten. The children of the village were a definite highlight, and despite the language barrier, we found communication quite easy and were still able to have loads of fun with them such as through something so simple as playing football as well as the card game Uno.

Having completed three hours of straight house building, we began to relax as we sat down for diner on tables overlooking the neighbouring mountains where the scenic view was breathtaking, especially when the sun began to set and the moon began to rise. We will continue the house build tomorrow and focus on finishing the outer walls.

Issy M and Dylan Y

Vietnam Grey – Day 7

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An emotional farewell to the village family

“BEEP BEEP BEEP” went our alarm clock at 6:00 am. Our t-shirts were still wet from yesterday but on they were shoved along with some sticky insect repellent and sunscreen. We were then greeted at the dining area by the lovely staff and ate a similar breakfast to yesterday’s. Shortly after finishing the meal we made our journey along the morning Mekong river to the building site to conclude our tiring work.

As it was our last day in the village we all knew we had to give it our all and leave a lasting impact on this underprivileged family. We started mixing the cement, passing the bricks and ever so carefully laying the bricks a metre off the ground using our refined skills that the patient builders had taught us. Although waterfalls of sweat were streaming down our face and the sun was shining bright on our backs, we continued to soldier through to make a family’s dream home come true.


We were excited to have finally completed the challenging build but were upset to leave our connections with the family behind. Getting the whole Vietnam Grey group to smile in sync was an easy task as we were all thrilled to have made this much progress in just two and a half days. The family seemed so thankful for all the efforts we had put in for them. They also were extremely appreciative for the bags of rice, six weeks worth, which we had bought for them.

This amazing opportunity touched all members of the group and gave us an insight of other lives around the world. The mother’s smile and tears were contagious and quickly spread throughout Vietnam Grey. As the mother held us in her arms many tears were shed and emotions were in full force.


Our journey through the rocky path was comforted by the flock of children excited to see new faces. We handed out toys and stationary to the kids to give them a sense of positivity. By giving these gifts to the kids it created the warm fuzzy feeling inside all of us which is related to “Karma”, from the dominate Buddhist religion within Vietnam. Buddhists and Vietnam Grey believe that when good deeds are done they are returned in the near future. We hopped back on our our bikes and continued our cycling adventure to the homestay. Along the way we came to another homestay which was home to a massive 6okg pet python. The snake slithered and hissed along our necks and gave some us a real scare although it was as tame as anything. It was so heavy that we needed six people to hold the weight on their backs.


At the end of the day when we had showered and reflected on the big day that occurred, some local Vietnamese musicians came and performed many pieces to us. It was interesting to observe the different instruments and styles of singing. As a sign of appreciation we returned the favour and performed a few tunes from our musical culture. This village build helped us to break from the “Brighton bubble” and challenged our knowledge gained from the CUE program that ran throughout the school year. The experience was very beneficial and no second was regretted.

We hope everybody back in Australia is doing well and enjoying school! – Pip and Garrett 🙂