Nhặt trên Facebook - bài hay về Service Learning

"CÔ GÁI BỎ HỌC TIẾN SĨ Ở MỸ ĐỂ ĐI THEO ANH CỘNG ĐỒNG NGHÈO TẠI VIỆT NAM"
Status dành cho em: người học trò- người đồng nghiệp- người dường như đi trên đúng con đường mà mình đã đi. Xin chia sẻ status của em và vài bức hình cùng em từ lúc em mới gặp tôi 2013 đên nay vì tôi cảm thấy rất vui và tràn trề năng lượng
Mình bỏ việc làm ở Singapore - Cô ấy bỏ cả tiến sĩ ở Mỹ.... Cô gái bỏ học tiến sĩ theo anh cộng đồng nghèo có câu like được không?
She is following same path that I did before. She shares same story with me that crazy human being give up what their great future ahead to serve community. I gave up my future in Singapore and she gave up hers in US. smile emoticon
Should I start to think my retire plan since at this moment, I can say that I have found someone to be my successor.
To Yen: You are brave to choose this path. It is not easy at all but the result you get in future is worthed. During this journey, there are few times that you will stop and beat yourself with this question " Is it worth for me to give up all things?".... Definitely have because this journey is actually sick... damn hard... People laugh at your stupidity, parent are not happy, people misjudge you ...
But believe in me, my 6 years experiences, you will not regret about your decision. And unlike me in the past, you are not alone. We and other people will go with you.

--- On her facebook, she wrote--------------
What I have been doing since May
So I decided to drop my PhD program..After quite a hard goodbye and tearful flight lol, I came back home to start an old but new journey with E Vờ Gờ
And the journey begins with the first project of this season-1501 in An Hiep Commune. Actually, before going back home and looking at 8 projects, this was the one I hesitated taking on the most as I knew all activity contents and the whole area pretty well. However, to my surprise, I had a chance to meet many students with the same viewpoints about science and technology like me and implement some unexpected STEM-SL kinda activities such as assembling filter of hope and fixing the plasma filtering system. People always tell me it's gonna be really hard to do science the way I want to do, esp in Vietnam. But seeing students in this project work so hard and passionately like that gave me tons of hope and strength to continue follow my passion-my dream of "science with the cause" program.

Then, right after that project, I got on board to Taiwan to attend an Service Learning conference. Though exhausted, I think I presented E Vờ Gờ proudly and confidently.

Following that was a whole month spent at Long Vinh Commune to finish the construction of kindergarten with two groups of students from NTU, Singapore. Maybe never in my life will I forget this period of time, esp the last week staying there. With too much pressure, I seriously worked more than 100% every single day...There was time I cried so hard at night but when a new day came, I left everything behind, smiled and continued to work. The kindergarten was finished beautifully; everybody was so happy. I stood alone under the rain after the opening ceremony; again, to my surprise, I did not shred a tear...just looking at the kindergarten, thinking about all the tough times and realizing how much I changed and grew through this construction. However, up till now, I cannot really overcome what happened...it still hurts whenever I think of it but that's Service Learning as "SL takes students out of four walls of the classroom into the community...seeking to understand the world as it is- messy, complicated and real." My boss is right I need to experience this, overcome this to continue...Realizing your passion is hard but following your passion is much harder...

From a chemistry grad student to a social worker and sometimes a construction builder, life really takes me on an adventure full of bitter sweet memories...Despite hardships and heartbreaking experiences, I truly love my life and I love E Vờ Gờ