From 17- 31
May 2018, I was involved in a short-term study abroad program, which entailed traveling to
Vietnam. The objective of this project involved strengthening the awareness of
human and sex trafficking occurring within the country of Vietnam. A number of students
from
Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa worked to empower the
image of the
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation (Hanoi, Vietnam) with help from
our international team members from
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)
of Melbourne, Australia, and students from their second campus in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam.
Everyone working on this project was a member of one of ten teams, which prepared a communications and marketing document in addition to a presentation to submit to the client. Our task at hand included broadening the topic of human and sex
trafficking to the following global regions: the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Teams also evaluated additional strategies to generate monies for the daily operations
of Blue Dragon, such as for: conducting rescue missions, court fees and paperwork, food, housing, clothing, utilities, education material, and so forth. Students who
participated in this program were
neither involved with
nor responsible for conducting or engaging in the operations involved with the trafficking rescue missions. Due to heavy restraints on privacy, we were not able to interact with the rescued children during our visit to the
Blue Dragon headquarters in Hanoi.
Over the duration of time spent within Vietnam, a series of photos were taken. Each photo is published accordingly to the date and time it was captured. The majority of the photos will have a tagged phrase at the bottom of the post to further categorize where in Vietnam they are relevant to. Photos without a tag were either taken in the countryside and/or do not have a significant location attached to them. See the bottom of the page for the complete list of designated phrases. Additional literature collected during the trip has been digitally scanned to provide further insight about the adventure inside Vietnam.
To view the communications and marketing document my team created, please click this
DropBox link.
