Spirit of Initiative -- 越南短期醫療團 志工 廖冠州 心得分享
Spirit of Initiative
As our Vietnam trip came to an end， I felt more confident that I wasn't afraid anymore of dancing funny moves to anime theme songs. The hard part was trying for the first step， after that everything comes together nicely and smoothly.
越南短期醫療服務團 志工
Cradle，廖冠州
“So I have to dance these stupid moves?” I heard the question in my head as I stare dumbfounded at Pauline， my supervisor and co-worker. That’s right， in case you were wondering， yes， the dramatic opening of Beethoven’s 5th symphony did blasted fatefully in my head. I knew the job wasn't that easy after all. Not only had I designed posters for rainbow diet， soybean nutrition， and Bass method teeth brushing， but also I had to act like a host of children TV and teach the dances for washing hands and brushing teeth. That was the first night at Vietnam. I volunteered at Changhua Christian Hospital’s Overseas Medical Mission Centre early December 2013 and travelled with them to rural Vietnam for a project to improve nutrition and water quality for kindergarten children.
“So this is how the brushing teeth dance goes， got it?” Pauline drew back my attention as the theme song of Chibi Maruko-chan faded in the background. “Hmm…yeah”， I responded weakly， I totally blanked out and didn't remember any of the moves she just taught. “Oh and there’s another dance for washing hands!” Facepalm. “You said there are videos of these dances， can I have them so I could practice privately?” I asked. How brilliant， disasters never come alone， two dances! It is not dancing that I was afraid of， no， I have hip-hopped in front of hundreds of people before， but dancing to children anime theme songs with ridiculous moves was just a perfect recipe for humiliation.
Back in my room， still wondering how the next few days would play out， my translator partner Ho knocked. He came to practice with me. We had a run through teachings of brushing teeth and washing hands， with me instructing in Chinese and Ho translating in Vietnamese， then we came to the dances. I could tell he was pretty surprised too. Nevertheless， we still danced a few times until we both knew the moves inside out.
Alas， judgment day. The events on the first day at the first kindergarten included free services for the children: body measurements (height and weight)， vermicide distributions， medical checks， and fluorine application on teeth. While the children waited for either their turn or other children， so they could return to their campus， Ho and I started teaching brushing teeth and washing hands. However， we had no time to move on to the dances as the children had to leave. What I felt then was a mixed sensation of jubilation and sadness， of course it was wonderful to not dance the embarrassing dance， but what’s more is that the time Ho and I spent days before practicing was wasted as we failed to reach the desired effects: children learning from moving and dancing. I felt terrible that night for not finishing what I was supposed to finish， because I have always kept a habit: no matter how pointless， abashed， and uninteresting a task is， I would always complete it， even though sometimes not as well as I would like it to be. I felt like I was breaking the habit by completely not attempting the task of dancing， although it was partly caused by time constrains. That evening I set a mind note to be more active and actually teach the dances next time.
Fortunately， there was more time the following day as the agenda was only to teach the teachers about nutrition， food safety， brushing teeth， washing hands， and to demonstrate soybean cuisines. After Ho and I taught teachers methods of brushing teeth and washing hands， we introduced the dances. As expected， the teachers giggled as they saw two young fellows dancing childishly to anime theme songs. I would not deny that I was embarrassed， as I believe it was quite conspicuous to anyone who watched us dance. I reminded myself that these dances looked retarded for a purpose – to hammer the concepts of brushing teeth and washing hands into the minds of children. We repeated the dances several times， and even forced the teachers to join as well just so that they could teach the children after we left. To my surprise， the teachers cooperated very willingly and by the end I think everyone was just having some fun dancing to the anime themed songs.
Dancing really got easier by the third day when we visited the second kindergarten to teach the teachers there. I guess practice makes perfect. Ho and I got better and better at going through our materials， including the dances. We taught the teachers the dances and they were quite responsive as they all followed and danced with us. The final day came. We could really see the fruits of our endeavors when teachers danced with us to teach the children. By that point I really don't feel so awkward dancing anymore， it was just my mission there， what I could do to help out.
Then I noticed something – it seemed that a group of children did not join in dancing with us. The teachers explained that they were just three years old and were mostly from minority groups that spoke a different dialect. No wonder they were unresponsive to Ho’s Vietnamese! They had no clue what we were doing and teaching. I tried by kneeing down and grabbed their arms to follow the moves of the dance， this worked transiently as they resumed staring at us shortly after I let go of their arms. I guess it couldn't be helped， they couldn't understand anything at such small ages. I just hoped that the teachers would teach them what we taught sometime later when the children are old enough.
As our Vietnam trip came to an end， I felt more confident that I wasn't afraid anymore of dancing funny moves to anime theme songs. The hard part was trying for the first step， after that everything comes together nicely and smoothly.
I am very thankful to be able to spend a month at the Overseas Medical Mission Centre as a volunteer， and I have learnt a lot by working with Dr. Kao and her team. I enhanced my designing and organization skills in the first two weeks as I designed numerous posters and cards. During the week spent in Vietnam， I have learnt to try everything， even things that I dislike， and eventually learn to like them. In my final week， I improved in text-editing skills as I helped translate various documents and make them look intriguing. Not only had I improved on all those mentioned above， but also I had a brief taste of how it feels like to be working in Taiwan; it was tiring， but fulfilling at the same time.
Looking back at the most memorable moment of Ho and myself starting to dance to the teachers for the first time， I am glad that we took the initiative and did it. The spirit of taking initiatives has been embedded to my soul， and I will keep this spirit on when tackling every future challenge.
