by Fiona Haze and Jemma Jones
On the end of the school year, Sofia D. and Aleksandra N. are hoping that they will have raised 7,000 PLN for a trip to Sapa O’Chau, an organization they are fundraising for. They would like to travel to Sapa in the summer as well as visiting Hanoi. If everything goes as planned, they will be taking eight students with them to Vietnam during this summer break.
According to Aleksandra N., an 11th grader, Sapa O’Chau is an organisation located in Sapa, Vietnam, which provides tours and trekking in the mountains. There are many minority ethnic groups which live off of tourism as well as selling homemade goods in Sapa. The profit of the organization goes to these groups. Recently, they have opened a boarding facility for students who live far from schools. The organization helps the students with their education as well as learning Vietnamese.
Since the two of them wanted to plan a service trip to Vietnam, they started off with looking for organizations they could help, says Aleksandra N. She continues by saying that they had to keep in mind that they could only do short-term volunteering. After creating a list of organizations, they chose Sapa O’Chau, and decided that the money they collect will go to helping the ethnic communities as well as the students in Sapa.
To raise money, Sofia and Aleksandra are organizing multiple of fundraisers throughout this school year.
Marcelina C., a 10th grade student, is one of the eight students who signed up for the trip. She says that she chose to participate because the trip has a very good cause which will help youth and ethnic groups in Vietnam. She continues by saying that ASW is very privileged and that we should help others out.
Marcelina C. also lets us know how a bit more about the fundraisers: they are having events such as movie nights, cooking workshops and easter egg hunting.
She ends with stating that she is looking forward to the trip a lot, and that she feels as if it is an eye-opening experience and teach us how to give back to other communities. She also says that she feels that helping others makes you feel wonderful so helping out this time will warm everybody’s hearts.
