PAM IN SAIGON

THE PANELS & ME PROJECT

PAM IN SAIGON

ORGANIZATION PARTNER: The Youth Sustainable Development (YSD) is a non-government organization founded in 2016, with the mission to inspire youth’s participation in sustainable development through social projects in the community. Learn more about the organization here.

MEET THE SAIGON TEAM

Left to Right: Trang Luong (Project Lead), Thomas Nguyen (Subleader), Nghi Nhan, Kimmy Thai, Kim Ngan Nguyen, Thu Ha Pham

Thank you to our sponsors:

PROJECT REPORT

Click here to view the official PAM in Saigon Facebook page

The Students & Schools

In the summer of 2018, we served more than 70 students across four diverse locations in Saigon: Public school students in the Bình Thạnh district (Hồng Hà Primary School), an international school in district 2 (Pathway), the rural outskirts of the city in Bình Chánh (Cầu Xáng), and an English-language learning center in district 5 (AMA). The photos below were taken by our 20+ team members and volunteers (aka big brothers & sisters).

Hồng Hà Primary School – Bình Thạnh

Hồng Hà is a public school with well-quipped classrooms, which brought a comfortable environment for students to learn about comics and create their own stories. The school housed some of the project’s most talented and creative students, who had impressive drawings to accompany their story ideas. They were also hardworking and tried their best to speak as much English as they can with Ms. Dawn.

Pathway International School – District 2

The international school offered an interesting take on the PAM in Saigon project, because not all the students were Vietnamese. There were also students from Japan and Australia who joined the class. In fact, one student even produced an entire story in Japanese. The students may be from different countries, but the class was small enough for everyone to be tight-knit and learn together.

Cầu Xáng -Bình Chánh

This is a very special class of the Panels & Me project. From the beginning, PAM in Saigon hoped to bring the lessons to kids from different backgrounds. For that reason, and with the support of cô Mai, who is in charge of the school at Cầu Xáng in the Bình Chánh district, PAM had the opportunity to meet kids in the rural outskirts of the city, about an hour away from the Saigon metro area. Many of the kids here face different hardships, but those circumstances did not prevent creativity in their drawings.

AMA Center – District 5

With nearly 30 students per session, the AMA Center in district 5 was the biggest PAM class and also the one with the widest age range. The ages ranged from as young as 5 to as old as 14. Certainly, there were some challenges! The PAM team tailored the lessons to accommodate the different ages and levels. PAM’s big brothers and sisters were vital to the success of the class, because they offered the most intensive individual support to each student. Despite the challenges, everyone enjoyed working with such an active and outgoing group of kids.

The Showcase & Exhibit

We hosted the showcase event at the beautiful Saigon Kitchen in district 2. Everyone came together – sponsors, the kids, their parents, family, friends, and supporters. Students presented a short speech about their stories’ messages and shared their comics creations with the public during the exhibit portion.