OUR PLACE

Hanoi, Vietnam | Volunteer

March 2016

Concept Design - 1 Week

I spent two months in Hanoi, Vietnam volunteering at Coins for Change, a social enterprise focused on promoting equal rights and social justice for disadvantaged women and children in Vietnam.

The majority of my time was spent volunteering with the Languages.vn school where I taught four English classes with students varying in age, from six years old to adults. Coins for Change is a multi-faceted organization with varying businesses supporting the main mission.

My days were filled with teaching at the school and evenings living with the founder’s family, submersed in the local culture.

Nearing the end of my time, it was brought to my attention that Coins for Change wanted to open a new community space focusing on sharing knowledge and vocational skills.

I spent my last week in Vietnam developing a concept design for Our Place, a community space that would help foster interaction between a wide arrange of social class and people with varying interests to raise awareness of the roles of women in Vietnam’s society.

The idea behind Our Place is to create a space where women could share vocational skills while giving some disadvantaged single mothers opportunity to work, bridging the social gap.

The space is to have an open gallery and gathering space, equipped with a stage and technology for performances, reception and waiting with refreshments, a cooking school for local and international visitors to learn different cuisines, a sewing workshop for the development of fashion brand Elsa & Rose, a kid’s educational workshop, a garden as well as space for building utilities.