Notes from the Distribution Team

posted by Mimi, one of our fabulous teens on the team....

So we’re officially done with distribution of food today (3/29). The basic layout of the days we had were playing with the kids in the morning, with arts and crafts, soccer and some other games like duck duck goose, red-light green-light etc., and in the afternoon distribution of the food and bikes. At the beginning we had trouble explaining the games to the Vietnamese students, especially since many of our Vietnamese-English translators didn’t know the games either. But as the week went on, things became much easier. With the arts and crafts, both the American and Vietnamese kids loved drawing with crayons and stickers, and when they were finished, we collected the Vietnamese drawings to give back to students in the U.S., who’s drawings were put in the goody bags. The soccer games went great, and everyone understood, especially since most of the children from both groups already knew how to play. All together, during "animation" (i.e. recreation time), we played with 1900 different students, but didn’t give food and bikes to all of those kids. Bikes and foods were given to all the students in our scholarship program which was almost 275.

After a daily snack of Girl Scout cookies and a box lunch of chicken, spinach and rice, all of the American kids were assembled in different stations for the five different kinds of beans, peanuts, rice and noodles. The Vietnamese kids receiving the food would take a plastic bag, and the American kids would put the different bags of beans, rice and peanuts into their bag. Then, the Vietnamese children would put their bags onto their bikes, along with 10 kg’s of rice and a box of noodles, candy, a goody bag, and in some locations a hat. This was a great experience for everyone; for the American kids, to see how much enjoyment the Vietnamese kids get out of the food and candy. With the Vietnamese kids, they were very excited to get all the food, and especially the bikes. The most kids we gave food and bikes to in one location was 100 in Saigon, but in most places, the average was around 40.

Once the distribution was over, the whole group of 23 kids and 10 adults (including the 2 teenagers), and the tourist agency staff and translators would go back to the hotel and rest. If there was extra time after that, we would go to a park, where the kids would play soccer, blow up balloons, play Frisbee etc.

Overall, it was a good experience for everyone, and although it was a lot of work, everyone had a great time, and an experience that they would remember for a long time.