Idea Inception

From my first visit to Vietnam and subsequent visit, I am reminded of the vastly different world that I live in when I tour the streets. An example is when a couple of months ago, I came to a busy intersection of Saigon. The sea of motor bikes slowed down to a crawl and I was able to see the children on the sidewalks. There was a child who seemed less than four years old without any parental supervision crying on the street corner. There were no parents or even siblings that seem to help this child who did not have proper hygiene and clothes. Before I was able to process my feelings, the chaotic mass of traffic pushed on. The image of the crying child haunted me repeatedly as other incidences of seeing homeless children.

I wanted to do something but did not know what. I had the idea of brining used corporate desktop computers from my clients in the US to the schools of Vietnam. I think education can change. There are many computers that get updated and many times thrown away so it would be good to put it to use. However, the customs at the Saigon airport would not really allow me to bring anything into Saigon without paying taxes and doing a lot of paper work. I then thought about brining the educational computer software to Vietnam since this is light and easy to carry without custom issues. I can therefore use English teaching software and then teach the children myself. It seemed like a far fetched idea at the time but I went with it anyways. I brought my LCD projector and laptop to demonstrate the software and then have the children practice their English on PCs. When it actually happened and I was helping those children use the software and practice speaking English, it was a great feeling.

There was a spirit of the children that was wonderful to be a part of. I was planning to purchase some DVDs this weekend and use my projector to show a movie to the children for fun. I am also planning to do a children book drive to bring books back to Vietnam on my next trip to give to these children. I realize that my small effort can not affect the larger systemic inequality of my world and the world of these children but if I can affect just to one child, I feel that it will be worth it.