Grace Alexander, from Universiti Sains Malaysia, made her choice to go for an exchange in Vietnam right after her exam finals. Knowing Vietnam is one of the countries in South-East Asia that has the most population living with HIV/AIDS, she decided to go there to educate the people on HIV/AIDS. Besides, she is also curious about the way of living of people in the third world country.
She was pumped up before stepping out of the country for an exchange. However, she was mentally ready for what she is going to face there - the environment, the people, the language, the weather,the food... everything that'll apparently give her a culture shock when she get there. Grace was extremely excited of getting herself ready to travel abroad ALONE for the first time and also nervous about the project that she is going to handle in Vietnam. "Two months is very long indeed" she said to herself, but she confidently continues, "the longer it is, the more experience I'll gain, the more chances and opportunities I'll get and the more people I'll be able to educate."
For the first two weeks in Vietnam, Grace felt so lost. Her 'mentally prepared' brain wasn't mentally prepared at all. It was so different than what she had imagined. But, thanks to her hosts, friends and herself for not giving up so easily, she quickly learnt and picked up whatever she could and need. To be honest, she was doing much better than she expected, and she felt blessed!
Grace was involved in a project called LIVING WITH HIV awareness campaign. They went to primary and secondary schools, universities and international schools to educate the students there on HIV/AIDS, using different types of syllabus prepared. Grace having fun time educating students in primary schools, as the workshops were conducted in story telling and a more interesting and simple way of explanation. For two months in Vietnam, the project team had educated around 28 schools and 3000 over students.
Apparently, the main attraction for the workshop is the condom demonstration, where students get superbly excited about them. Sometimes before workshops, they travel to respective schools to do some promotion about the workshop and that really involves hard work because they have to travel to and fro the school every time, but it never stops them from doing so. It turns out they saw and met lots of interesting things all the time. Other than workshops, they also went to the HIV/AIDS shelter homes for visitation. It was really heart breaking to see all of them there. Having to see so many people getting educated every week about HIV/AIDS made Grace even more glad and happier than ever!
Being in Vietnam for two months, Grace first ever challenge was the language barrier, as none of them speaks English except private university students, taxi drivers, certain street sellers and tourist attraction places. So, when Grace first got there, she have to communicate with the locals with sign language. Only after a few days she got to learnt a few important words of their language in order to 'survive'. After two weeks, she was able to order food and ask for directions!
The second challenging part was getting lost every time she needs to go somewhere other than the central of Vietnam. Travelling alone on the public bus with a hysterical map that make her eyes squint and head spin every time she look at it is hard! Adding to that, Saigon is overcrowded and full of motorbikes, so even by walking by the streets and crossing he roads was a challenge to her! The first time Grace crossed the roads in Saigon took her 15 minutes!!! Also, sitting on the local's motorbikes gives her a heart attack because it seems that in any second they will collide with the motorcyclist next to them. But all these gave her the touch of the real local daily living in Vietnam.
Challenges surrounded Grace in these two months eventually made her realised and learnt a lot of things, and she went through all of them step by step. She already knew the streets in Saigon pretty well, and she can even order food and ask for directions by herself. Now, she only need few seconds to cross the streets, and she even love riding on bikes!! More important, her knowledge on HIV/AIDS improved tremendously!
"I've gained trust, when students actually confront us individually and shared their private stories about HIV/AIDS, believing in us that we're the answer to their questions all these years."
Through this exchange, Grace had learnt to grow and love. Understanding each kids and watching them fighting against the diseases had inspired her. She come to understand that most of the child born with HIV/AIDS only lives up to the age of 13 or 14. The only thing they wish and hope for is love and a chance in their life. Grace also learnt how to cherish every opportunities that she have.
Grace knew that she will be educating students when she applied for this exchange, but she actually did not imagine or expect that she actually learnt more than what she had expected. "It's the stay there that had inspired me to go forth for everything while I still can. It's the experience there that had lead me into a whole new dream." Grace wasn't really concern about HIV/AIDS in the beginning.
Time flies. Two months passed real fast and she felt reborn coming back to Malaysia. Grace had found her passion from this exchange. So she hope she could encourage more people to grab this opportunity to experience this priceless experience like she did.
"Thanks to AIESEC, I've believe I have achieved what I wanted and more.
I now have, as what I like to put it, a new vision towards the end of my path.
What I've learnt is to eye for every opportunity that is given to you.
When you come across any opportunity, just take it and worry about it later.
Let your heart lead the way.
Time does not resist us. It is us that resist time."
Always give your heart a chance to learn more. It's never wrong to be wrong. - Grace Alexander
To know more about AIESEC exchange opportunities, do log on to
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
0 comments:
Post a Comment