The road to future in a Vietnam educational travel
Service project: Construct a paved pathway
When: In March, 2013
Location of service project: In a small community in the Mekong Delta near Ben Tre City. This community is named Thanh Thuy, belonging to Ben Tre province.
Description of the project:
We did construct a paved pathway for seven of the families in the community to access. This project will be organized and supervised by Mr. Ba Phuong, a retired soldier and experienced in this area.
Why this project was important?
At this point, it is impossible for the seven the families that live at this edge of the village to afford a paved pathway. They commute via motor bikes, bicycles and by foot so it is very difficult to do so, especially during the rainy season when the dirt path turns to mud. This project will greatly assist the community, facilitating an easier way to travel. The villagers will find it easier to transport rice back home by bikes. More services will be able to approach these families such as home appliance repairing. The rain season witnesses a lot of people fall down from bike and even walking. This paved road is far safer, especially for children and school pupils. The road is also a shortcut for villagers to go to the rice farmer faster, then this saves their time for rice field job. Additionally this project will be a wonderful chance to connect with our service community as we will get a real taste of the family ambiance and have the chance to work side by side with locals.
Why was this project chosen over other potential projects? Exactly the villagers have several things that needs our help. We chose the paved road because this brings the local not only convenience, the safety, the business development, but also the belief of a new road to go in life. The convenience is the ease and fastness of transporting things home; the safety is for all not to fall down to mud, making clothes dirty and even making themselves injured; business development is to boost up more traffic.
Where there is a new road, there is a new way
What was entailed?
The path wasl be 574 feet/175 meters long and 23.6 inches /60 centimeters wide.
We did
- Clear and flatten the dirt path way by carrying soil from a canal near there.
- Cut steel rod and make frame for the road
- Bring sand, rock, and cement from our vehicle
- Create wooden forms to contain
- the cement as it is drying,
- Mix the cement with sand, rock, and
- Pour the wet cement within the wooden forms to create the pathway.
- Create barriers to prevent any people or animal towalk on cement
Who were working on the project with us?
- Mr. Ba Phuong family ( himselves, his brother and children)
- The member from 7 families
- The master of builder who knows well the job