Dinh Nguyen Anh Thu - The journey to maturity comes from the heart

On the journey to self-improvement, the most beautiful period is probably the time of youth with a spirit of desire to learn, dedication, and a warm heart of love. Despite the difficulties, but also thanks to that, young people from the projects of the UEF Center of Service-Learning (CSL) have gained invaluable lessons and skills for themselves. And so is Dinh Nguyen Anh Thu - the Coordinator of the Children's Smile - too. She has shared very interesting perspectives on "doing community work" and her experiences while accompanying CSL.
 
The fate with CSL and the first steps of companionship
During the stressful time of the COVID-19 epidemic, Anh Thu, fresher, knew about the Center's Children's Smile (NCET) project. She felt very interested in teaching children. Although this is a completely new job for Anh Thu, "luckily, I was trusted by the people in the Center, became a member of CSL and have accompanied me until now" - she shared. "At first, because the epidemic situation was quite stressful, we could only organize online classes for the students. Up to now, also the 7th phase of the project, fortunately NCET can teach directly".
Overcoming challenges from a "teacher" in the Teaching department to becoming a talented Coordination leader
At first, Anh Thu acted as a real "teacher". Here, she can unleash her creativity in working with a team to create many topics and lesson plans about life skills for children. Therefore, "every time I run out of ideas, the most effective solution is to sit down and discuss with the team. Teamwork makes the dreamwork" - Anh Thu shared. After a period of operation, Thu was trusted by everyone and became the Leader of the Teaching Department. Faced with this new task, she gradually learned how to manage human resources. "It took me a while to grasp each member's strengths and weaknesses. However CSL is a place where I can freely work and be creative because here I am allowed to try and make mistakes without penalty. salary so everything gradually falls into place. I understand that working with people is also an art”.

She has continued to demonstrate excellent management abilities as she continues to developed in a new role. Here, with greater responsibility and a broader scope of management, as she has to run other departments, Anh Thu increasingly learns many skills, especially flexibility. "Initially, I was considered a rigid and principled person, but I understand that there needs to be flexibility when solving problems, especially when working with partners. I cherish CSL's reflection time, this is an opportunity for everyone to sit down, share experiences about the past journey, and learn from it”.
For Anh Thu, the support and love of everyone in CSL along with her love for the children is a great source of motivation for her to contribute and overcome challenges. "Simply because seeing everyone's smiles is also my happiness”, Anh Thu replied, just like the name of the project is NCET.

The real destination of "doing community work"
There are many opinions that "doing community work" is unpaid and nosy work. As a GenZ with a multi-dimensional perspective, her perspective is completely different. Thu does not deny that this is an unpaid job because what she gets in return is more valuable than money. Those are experiences, relationships and emotions that cannot be measured with money. She confided: "Dedicating youth energy to the community is my joy. I am very happy to find like-minded teammates and I want to spread this to everyone".
In addition, the NCET project also often has unique forms of rewards and gratitude such as certificates, lapel pins, and letters of thanks... These rewards have great spiritual encouragement to all members of the project, and also a thank you to the partners who directly work with NCET. After all, "doing community" comes from the heart and the final destination is still the heart.
Hopefully, in the future, Dinh Nguyen Anh Thu will always keep the fire of enthusiasm to shine on her journey of "doing community"!