VACEP 3
DATE
Jul - Aug 2023
TYPE
Academic
Volunteering
Team Project
RoLE
Volunteer
Interviewer
Translator
Writer
DELIVERABLEs
Exhibitions & Stories to raise awareness
on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Skills
Interviewing
Story-telling
Creativity
Multi-cultural Collaboration
VACEP 3 (Vietnam Adverse Childhood Experience Program 3) was a project led by SCDI Vietnam, with the participation of Professors and Students from VinUniversity and Cornell University. This project was about raising awareness on ACEs through stories of the "story-teller".
#Click here to check out our work
I was responsible for interviewing the story-teller and write the Vietnamese version of the story. I also brought out the idea of telling the story through scents base on the story-teller name, and our team created four scent bottles for the exhibition to help the audience to listen to our story on a deeper level.
THE PROCESS
I. preparation:
As someone who always questions humanity, this was a great opportunity for me to learn more about people and their development journey. The program was split into 2 phases. The first phase was to prepare the participants with necessary knowledge to conduct interviews with the story-tellers and was conducted via Zoom. During this phase, I learned about ACEs, examining previous works and learn basic interviewing skills.
Based on the previous works, this program was the third and final phase of the VACEP series by SCDI. The goal of this program was to spread awareness of Adverse Childhood Experience through the untold stories from people around Hanoi (whom we call as story-tellers).
Based on the previous works, this program was the third and final phase of the VACEP series by SCDI. The goal of this program was to spread awareness of Adverse Childhood Experience through the untold stories from people around Hanoi (whom we call as story-tellers).
II. interview:
The second phase was to conduct the interview and write a story for the story-teller. In this offline phase, I had a chance to team up with 2 lovely Cornell students and another VinUni student. Together, we interviewed and wrote a story of our story-teller development.
Because the story-teller's story is very sensitive, being sensitive & ethical was important and always have to be prioritize. After four interviews, we were able to understand about her childhood and current life: from her childhood, family, education, social situations, to her current life and dream.
With that resource in hand, our team helped her write a biography about her character development, and created an exhibition booth for VinUni students and faculties. I was responsible for creating the Vietnamese version, and also helped with the English version by translating or explaining Vietnamese history & culture so that the foreign students have a clearer idea of the story-teller journey.
With that resource in hand, our team helped her write a biography about her character development, and created an exhibition booth for VinUni students and faculties. I was responsible for creating the Vietnamese version, and also helped with the English version by translating or explaining Vietnamese history & culture so that the foreign students have a clearer idea of the story-teller journey.
III. Exhibition & Scents:
Our story-teller's name means "scents" in Vietnamese. Based on her name and her story, I thought of a white flow of scent that absorbed every odors from the environment surrounding it. This scent can travel everywhere, and it contain the characteristics of the environment it's in. This thought led me to came up with the idea of using scent bottles to help with story-telling.
These bottles were used to "capture" the scents representing different stages in our story-teller difficult journey, from the fishy scent of the market in which she grew up in, to the smell of smoke and cigarettes representing her addiction, the gunpowder scent representing the battles, to the fresh rainy grassy scents of a hopeful future.
These bottles were used to "capture" the scents representing different stages in our story-teller difficult journey, from the fishy scent of the market in which she grew up in, to the smell of smoke and cigarettes representing her addiction, the gunpowder scent representing the battles, to the fresh rainy grassy scents of a hopeful future.
Takeaways
More or less, I believe that our work has raised awareness for people about the consequences childhood experiences on a person's life. For a short period of time, our team created a safe and comfortable environment for her to share about her life and talk about all the emotions and struggles she has. The details of our work can be found on SCDI website.
#Click here to check out our workKey Learnings
Adverse Childhood Experience
Understand how environment, family, education affects one's thinking & behavior.
Multi-cultural experience
Experience in working with foreigners, translating and exchanging culture with people from different countries.
Interview Skills
Understand the interviewing process: Making the questions list, creating a safe & comfortable environment for interviewees, ethics toward marginalized individuals, observing the interviewees reactions & emotions to properly adjust the tempo and the sensitiveness of the topic.
Story-telling skills
Creating a biography that captures the essences of the interviews. Think about using scents bottle to help with story-telling.