Photo: Candy in a fund raising event last December   Candy & Min Jung spearheaded the establishment of the Habitat for Humanity Club at ISHCMC. They worked relentlessly to recruit as many students as possible. They invited HFHV staff to present to the students about housing issues in Vietnam. They also designed, planned and carried out the first “Under No Roof” event in HCMC, “Survival at ISHCMC”. They are currently raising money to fund a Mekong Delta field trip to volunteer to build a home with HFHV for a family in need.   Tristan from class 5K, one of the winners of “Survival at ISHCMC”, is not a newcomer to HFHV. Last year he successfully raised 6,000,000VND for Habitat for Humanity during a fundraising raffle he co-hosted with his friend and class-mate Robert Andrew Martin from class 5M.

Photo: Students building their shelter for the night using simple construction materials.   In December 2009, student leaders Candy Mitrchaiyanant and Lee Min Jung planned and hosted a successful event to raise awareness of housing issues in Vietnam at the International School of Ho Chi Minh City (ISHCMC). Students had to build their own shelter and sleep in it for one night in order to partially experience what a homeless person may experience. Moreover, a panel of judges voted on what they considered to be “the best shelter”. Almost 50 students, from grades 6 to 12, attended the event. Teachers Fabien Moussay, Marie Favret, Andrew Brinkman and Blythe Siddall were on site to supervise the event, provide assistance and judge the contest. Attendance exceeded expectations and some students had to be turned away at the door. The students had 2 hours to improvise a shelter for the night using basic construction materials. They were also encouraged to be creative in using the surrounding nature and infrastructure to further support their shelter.   At 7:15pm several teams made up of 3  to 4 students set off to build their shelters, blue tarps were flying in the air, cardboard was falling, tape and string were traded among teams and bamboo sticks defied laws of gravity. The excitement was contagious! The teams were energized by the competition but also had a mutual camaraderie. We asked the students what they were thinking as they built. One student said, “Man, it must be hard to have to do this every night- to sleep on the street” and another said, “This is fun, but it must be hard to have to build your own shelter”.   Around 9:00 pm a Habitat Vietnam representative who attended the event received the honour of sitting on the judging panel together with four dedicated teachers from ISHCMC. Upon observing carefully each construction, testing their stability and durability, the judges realized it wasn’t going to be easy to choose a winner, though eventually a consensus was reached. One of the structures had all of the elements required: durability, creativity, originality, strategic positioning and a few additional touches such as a built in shelf and a “front yard sign” which read, “Stay off”. The winning builders were: Oscar Solderbom, Tristan Nolan Grigg and Thana Witchawut.   Proceeds from the event are going towards a fund for ISHCMC students to participate in a Habitat Vietnam house build. Click here if you want to view more photos of the event.

Schools Program HFHV will soon be launching a partnership across international schools in the city that is aimed at raising awareness, fostering involvement and volunteer opportunities for youth.  The program will create Habitat communities within schools to develop and introduce creative and innovative solutions on how young people can contribute to improve standards of living for people living in poverty housing.  Ongoing access to Habitat’s Volunteer Programs team will provide students with support to access information and to develop creative and sustainable solutions and provide the students with opportunities to develop new skills through awareness raising, promotion and fundraising.  Each school group will also have a chance to participate in practical building activities facilitated by Habitat.  By partnering with schools, Habitat hopes to develop real and practical opportunities for young people to be exposed to the realities of inadequate housing and poverty in Vietnam, and engage in the communities they live in.