Secondary students and staff travelled to Vietnam in April. Here’s what they thought:

Emma O’Donnell, IB1

“In Vinh Long we spent five days working on building a house for a family. We worked with local architects and builders as well as the future owners.

“It was fantastic to see how happy the family was about having a new house, and it was certainly sobering to see that despite their living conditions, they still seemed very positive.

“It was a truly moving experience to know that we were working to help to change someone’s life. It is one thing to raise money and send it away, but to work on the ground and see the progress we were making was a memorable opportunity.”

Marcus Bassett, IB1

“We were taken to a ceramics factory and got to make pottery. The workers there worked all day, from early morning to late afternoon, which must have been difficult because of the intense heat due to the lack of windows and proper ventilation.

“It was enlightening because we found out that the biggest pots, which would have cost us at least $120 in Bermuda, were only worth four cents in Vietnam. We also learnt that the workers only earn about $3 a day for their hard work, which showed us just how lucky we are.”

Aglae Perrin, IB1

“We visited our sister Round Square school in Saigon, where we attended P3 assembly, made videos regarding technology with renaissance students and played a Vietnamese-style game with their P6 students.

“It was very interesting to see how another school approaches Round Square.

“This was my second service project and it was such a rewarding experience as you can see the change you are making in other people’s lives.”

Isabella Wright, Y10

“Working on this service project has helped me to understand that doing something we might consider small, like building the foundation for a house, can make such a big impact in someone else’s life.

“This has really made me feel more conscious of the world and how not everybody enjoys the luxuries we take for granted.”