VPV Newsletter

Global Greener
Camp Edition
August 2014
This July, VPV hosted a Global Greener Camp, welcoming
volunteers from across the world. The camp focused on environmental
protection, with the majority of the week devoted to a trip to promote
environmental sustainability in the An Lac region. In the two days leading up
to the trip, the volunteers organized at a hotel in Hanoi, where they were
trained on the basics of cultural differences and environmental problems.
The environmental training touched upon global environmental issues,
environmental problems facing Vietnam, climate change, and ideas for
public cleaning. The topic of environmental change is quite complex, and
the training was sensitive of thisthough many different ideas, ranging
from acid rain to access to potable water, were discussed, attention was
focused on the issues most relevant to Vietnam, and to the project ahead.
Leaving the training, the volunteers were given a strong toolkit both to apply
the learned skills and information to the project in the An Lac region, and
also to then synthesize the information and teach it to the children and
students.
The volunteers ventured out
of Hanoi, to the An Lac
region. Unfortunately, the
weather did not quite
cooperate, and the journey
had many twists and turns.
In this issue
In the An Lac region, waste
management is a large
problem. Read about how
the volunteers spoke with the
locals about composting and
then dug several compost
and landfill pits to ameliorate
the problem.
3
5
2 August 2014
The Amazing Race
Ready, set go! The volunteers kicked off their first
Sunday of the camp by cycling around Hanoi, in an
Amazing Race style journey throughout the city. They
were given instructions to go to different locations around
the Old Quarter, and had specific tasks they had to do to
unlock the next location.
The first task was to go to a main street in the Old
Quarter and collect inorganic waste. There are many
restaurants, bars, and shops in the Old Quarter that are
visited by hundreds of tourists daily. As such, there is
always and abundance of trash in the area. The task
focused on inorganic waste because of the difficulty in
disposing of such wasteit cannot be composted and as
such needs to be dealt with in a specific way.
The next task was to create something meaningful
or useful out of the collected inorganic waste. Similar to
the previous task, this task focused on the difficulty in
disposing inorganic waste. As it would take a very long
time for it to be broken down in a landfill, one way of
dealing with the waste is to repurpose it. The teams were
encouraged to think as creatively as possible, and produce
whatever they could. In the end, the teams were judged
based on their creativity, and a winner was chosen
amongst the creations.
The next task was for the teams to go around the
old quarter and play charades with the locals. Charades is
a game where someone acts out a word or a phrase, and
others need to guess what the phrase is. In this case, the
volunteers acted out words and concepts related to
environmental sustainability, and the locals tried to guess
what they were. The game turned out to be a great way to
have fun and raise awareness amongst the local people
about environmental protection.
The last stop was at Thang Long Citadel, where all
the volunteers together made a large peace sign!
3 August 2014
That is the bridge
to the village
Travel to the An Lac Region
to reach our destination, and so we
chartered our own bus to get us to
the region.
While the roads were clear
most of the journey, about 5
kilometers from the village, the bus
came upon a muddy stretch of road
that was judged to be impassable.
Undeterred, the camp participants
grabbed their backpacks, and in
some cases large roller bags, and
headed off down the road. After
crossing the muddy section in
question, which lasted for 50 or 60
meters, the road ahead was largely
clear of mud or debris. As the group
walked, we passed a bridge that was
partially submerged and easily
traversable.
After a few kilometers of
walking through rice paddies and
through a small town, we came
across our first real hurdle: a river had
risen so high as to turn the bridge
that we needed to take, the only real
path into the village, into a waterfall.
While we had passed another
submerged bridge by simply walking
across, the strong current made this
option impossible.
Luckily for the group, there
were a few locals who lived along the
river, and had small boats that they
were willing to use to ferry us across
the river. The process was slow, with
only one person able to cross at a
time, but they quickly found another
boat capable of carrying two small
people across at a time, and the
process sped up. Once on the other
side, volunteers had to climb a sharp
incline, but at that point, the worst
was over. The village was a quick
walk away, and no more large
obstacles were in the way.




While the rainy season in
Vietnam can always be counted on
for being a bit unpredictable, this
years Global Greener Camp
unfortunately began during a
particularly wet event, Typhoon
Rammasun. Though Vietnam was
not as hard hit as other countries,
there was enough rainfall to put our
travel plans in jeopardy. The day of
our departure to An Lac, the public
busses were not running, as it would
not be possible for the busses to
actually reach the village. However,
the VPV team was determined for us
4 August 2014
The An Lac region has a beautiful wooded area that is already
quite popular with local tourists. A road from the village leads directly to
the forest path, and though there is some difficulty in reaching the path
due to a partially collapsed bridge, the locals make the journey quite
often, nonetheless. The number of tourists in the area is still quite low,
but the problem of waste disposal has already began to emergethere
are several garbage cans along the path, but they were not being used.
The VPV team identified two reason as to why the bins were not
being used, that the individuals passing through the area were not aware
that they existed, or that they did not appreciate the value and
importance in properly disposing of garbage. In order to combat both of
these possibilities, the team decided to create signs urging the people to
properly dispose of their waste, and signs indicating where the garbage
bins were located. The first step was to paint the signs a bright yellow, so
that they would be visible, even in low light situations. Once the yellow
paint was dry, the team wrote the Vietnamese messages in bright red
paint, to replicate other signs already hanging in the forest.
The last step for the team was to hang the signs in the forest.
Although we encountered a small problem in that the signs did not have
nail holes in them, we were able to improvise, and use three nails to create
a holder of sorts for the sign. With the new signs in place, the VPV team
hopes that individuals passing through this beautiful area will know that it
is their responsibility to dispose of their waste responsibly, and know
exactly where they can do so.
Protecting the
Environment,
One Sign at a
Time

A volunteer installs a sign
urging individuals to
dispose of their trash
responsibly.
5 August 2014
The Composting
Project: Education
and Sustainability

One of the largest problems facing the
residents of the An Lac region is an appropriate
way to dispose of waste. In an area this
inaccessible and with such limited infrastructure,
central garbage collection is simply not feasible.
A simple way for families to dispose of their
organic waste is to build a compost pit. While
eliminating the waste problem, composting
simultaneously creates compost, a natural
fertilizer that can be used to support the
agricultural activity of the area. Our plan was to
build a few composting pits in the village, and
hope that once they were shown to be
6 August 2014
successful, more would be built by the villagers.
The first step to introducing composting to the
area was to survey the locals. We wanted to first explain
to them what composting was, how it worked, and why
we wanted to introduce it to the area. Next, we noted
how many members were in each family, whether they
had a garden or if they grew food, how many animals
they had, as well as other questions that would help us
determine whether a compost pit would make sense for
the family. In all, the volunteers surveyed around 20
families, and found around 10 that were willing to allow
us to build a pit for them. The next step was to narrow
down these candidates into a few houses for whom it
would make the most sense, and in the end three families
were selected.
The next morning, the volunteers trekked into
the forest to harvest bamboo for the cover of the pit. In
order for composting to occur, the pit has to be
completely air tight, and so a strong cover must be built.
The team cut down two-dozen or so bamboo trees,
stripped them of their branches and leaves, and took
them back into the village. The volunteers split into three
groups, one per house, and set off to build each compost
pit. The family compost pit dimensions were 70cm x
70cm x 70cm, which presented some difficulties for
diggers under the hot sun. However, the sites chosen for
all the pits were close to gardens or other previously
worked land, and so the digging itself was not too
arduous.
To make the covers, the bamboo pieces were
split down the middle, then quartered, then split a third
time, resulting in long strips. These strips were flattened
out, and then woven together to create a tight, square
frame. The bamboo frame was then covered with a
burlap sack, to ensure that it was airtight.
In addition to three compost pits at local houses,
the group also built a larger landfill for the entire village,
located by the community cultural center, as well as two
pits in the forest, by the rangers station.
7 August 2014
The
International
Cultural
Exchange
pork dish, and a British volunteer
prepared chips. The international
food went over very well with the
Vietnamese locals, especially the
spicy pork!
As the guests enjoyed the
food, the VPV team screened a
slideshow of the work that the group
had done in the area during the
week. Following the slideshow were
a few video clips from the week, and
a video pertaining to the use of
plastic bags. The next performance
was a Welsh fable, told by a British
volunteer, and that was followed by a
short Bhangra dance and lesson, a
traditional Indian form of dance, led
by myself, an American of Indian
origin. The night closed with a
Vietnamese song by two local
volunteers, and a few rounds of a fun
Vietnamese game.
On the last night of our stay
in An Lac, we invited the locals to an
international cultural exchangethe
volunteers had spent the last week
getting to know the locals way of life
and customs, and so it was only
fitting for the volunteers to share
some of their own background and
culture. The program began with
several songs, including several by
the local women, a K-Pop song by a
volunteer from Korea, and a
traditional Icelandic song from a
volunteer from Iceland.
A highlight of the beginning
of the show was the third act, where
three local women and a very young
girl played the Tinh, a local string
instrument, while singing a song.
Following the songs was a
presentation of various foods from
around the world. The three French
volunteers prepared crepes with
honey, the Korean volunteers
prepared bulgogi, a spicy barbecued
8 August 2014

Saturday morning, the final
day of the camp, the volunteers
had the opportunity to apply all
that they had learned during the
camp, while simultaneously sharing
the information with young
children and older students. The
volunteers began putting together
their lessons as early as the second
day of the camp, but the plans did
not fully come together until after
the trip to An Lac.
We drew a lot of our ideas
from some of the issues that we
were discussing and the work that
we did while in the An Lac
Province, said Caroline Park, a
volunteer from the United States.
While many of the ideas and
themes were inspired by the trip to
An Lac, other games were taken
from the earlier parts of the camp.
The Polar Bear game,
where everybody starts on their
own piece of paper and then have
to start cooperating as the papers
are removed, was a really engaging
game, that encouraged
communication and facilitated
discussion. It was a game that was
easy to play with the little kids, and
got the conversations started,
commented Edda varsdttir.
While the focus was on engaging
games and easily digestible
information for the younger group,
the strategy for the older groups
was quite different.
The older groups focused
more on critical thinking, and in
one activity, the class was divided
into teams and were given
scenarios. Examples of the
scenarios include, Imagine that
you are the mayor of Hanoi and
need to reduce plastic bottle
consumption in the city by 50%.
What would you do? and How
would you reduce the pollution
caused by motor bikes and cars?
The more complex questions also
elicited more creative answers from
the students, revealing their own
knowledge on environmental
sustainability.
The students answers
varied significantly. For example,
when it comes to reducing
pollution, several students were
strongly in favor of public
transportation while others
thought that the best solution
would be to introduce more bio
fuels, said Edda.
Waste
Management
Workshops
In this particular work camp, I really liked the idea
of getting to live with and interact with the local
people in An Lac, and eat with them and drink with
them. So, that was something that really interested
me about this work camp.
Owain Astles