20 July 2010

Hanoi, Viet Nam: My name is Luu Thi Ngoc Anh, or Anh is fine. I live in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.  I have been working for Caritas International Belgium Asia Desk’s newsletter and annual report as a graphic designer since January 2009.  Some of these publications can be found at www.caritas-int.be/fr/aide-a-letranger/projets-par-pays-region/asie/caritas-asia-desk.html. 

Before joining with Caritas, I had little experience with disaster and humanitarian relief, and often wondered how this could be carried out in the field, and what the results are.  Gradually, just by helping Caritas International Belgium Asia Desk with designing their publications and reading the stories and articles inside, I came to understand more, and could feel how much the vulnerable or affected communities suffer when these disasters happen. I am very impressed with the relief work that the organization is doing, assisting some of the most vulnerable populations in Asia, particularly South Asia.

A few thousand Euros can really help and make a big difference to vulnerable people.  I still remember how I did enjoy the story of a woman (in one newsletter last year) and how her life had been improved since she got funds to buy a milk buffalo. Such stories made me feel appreciated for what I have now and how lucky I am compared to others. I think this is one of the valuable rewards I got when joining this online assignment.

Before becoming an online volunteer, I had been involved in lots of onsite volunteer modalities. In early 2008, I was recruited to be a national UNV volunteer Communications Specialist for UNV Vietnam Country Office. My time there was more than a pleasure as being in this assignment opened up my eyes and widened my knowledge and real understanding of development work and volunteerism.

Being with UNV was a more interesting journey than I had expected. I used to coordinate a group of online volunteers who supported our country office work.  Besides communications work (online, on the web, doing event promotion, media liaison, advocacy and working on publications), I had the chance to meet and talk with lots of inspiring volunteers and community members (both young and old, migrant children, people living with HIV and people with disabilities) and write about them.  Coordination for International Volunteer Day celebrations still recalls fond memories.

Some of these stories can be found at the UNV Vietnam website at: www.un.org.vn/unv/index.php).

To some, volunteers are non-experienced, non-employed people or people who have lots of free time. But actually, volunteers, particularly the online volunteers who I have been privileged to work with, are none of those things. They made me deeply admire their attitude, their willingness and their strong commitment to the online volunteer task, though no financial benefit comes in return.

In 2007, I graduated from the University of Natural Sciences of Vietnam National University in Ha Noi with a Bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences. That year, I joined a local non-governmental organization (NGO) working on environmental education and wildlife protection as a communications officer.
Currently I am the Vice-president of the Talking Green Club (TGC), a self-funded volunteer club which carries out regular meetings for young people to discuss environmental issues and other environmental protection activities. But I had not been an online volunteer until recently, though in my work with UNV I used to coordinate a group of online volunteers who supported our country office work.

After my UNV volunteer assignment ended, I joined Winrock International in their Asia Regional Biodiversity Conservation Program (ARBCP), again, as a Communications Officer.

Although my professional background is not in graphic design, it has always been my hobby and passion. As I am working full time with my past and current organizations, the only time I can work on my online volunteer assignment with Caritas is during the evening or weekends.  At the same time, I am also doing something creative, which is how I enjoy spending my free time. I feel that taking this online volunteer assignment has given me a great opportunity to put my skills to good use in helping others.