The pupils woke me up, and I see things differently now

Our last day…. Again waking up at 5:30. But it’s totally fine; the kids do it every day.

We knew that this was our last field trip here in Vietnam. We wished there were more hours to spend with the kids.

Arriving at a secondary school in Cu Chi District, we were welcomed like famous movie stars. The people told us that it is a very important day for the pupils and the teachers. They felt extremely proud that we came to visit them. Most of them have never seen and meet a foreigner. They looked at us, touched us, asked for our signatures, took thousands of photos and asked a lot of questions.

It was nice to see that, thanks to Save the Children’s advocacy work, this school was just renovated with government funding. Part of the renovation was still ongoing.

The first activity around child protection and abuse was the Golden Ring Game. It was based on the show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. About 90 kids had to answer multiple questions on these topics until only the winner was left.

In the next activity we had to show our physical strength. The sack race game was so funny! All of us were participating—pupils, teachers and all of us.

Then we supported the pupils making cards for the Vietnamese Teachers’ Day, which is very famous in Vietnam. To our surprise, at the end of our visit, the pupils gave the cards to us as a gift.

I felt touched today. All the pupils gave us so much love and smiles. I was so impressed. The week changed me—my personality and my feelings… Unbelievable!

On Sunday when we arrived in Vietnam, I knew our Soft Toy campaign from the photos. After this week, I feel our impact on the pupils’ lives.

For me, this is the start and not the end. I will put even more effort in collecting money and inspire others to do the same. The trip woke me up, and I see things differently now.