Camp Feedback

From: Peter Nguyen
To: "AN HUYNH"
Subject: Re: Good morning

Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 11:25:44 -0500

The Len Duong Camp has been a wonderful experience for me. I met many new people from different states across the U.S. that have shown great leadership and communication skills in Vietnamese and English. I was born in the U.S. and have never been back to Vietnam. I met many people just like me that can speak Vietnamese and write fluently. Although I can speak Vietnamese and barely write well, these people have shown me that it is possible for me to learn more about the language. They not only influence me but gave me the will to learn something that I should keep in my blood and pass it on down the line as I get older and have children.

As a leader of my church at St. Francis of Assissi along with 50 other members across the Catholic Diocese in Memphis, I have been to numerous accounts of youth gatherings and a few youth leadership camps. I would have to say that Len Duong Camp is one of the most organized leadership camps that I have been to. Not only it is organized but with the hard working staff members, they make it a wonderful experience to interact with people of our race. I think that everyone has a sense of leadership skill in them, but they just don't know it yet. What Len Duong Camp did was that it uses different types of team games that would make us use teamwork. Without the use of it, it would be almost impossible to succeed. This is what sets Len Duong Camp from all the other camps that I have been to.

Overall, Len Duong Camp has taught me what no other camps have. It teaches us how to utilize our knowledge and use teamwork. Not only have I learn these, I have also learned many great things about our Vietnamese Culture and that is one of the most important things that I need to know about. I went to this camp mainly because I wanted to meet new friends, learn more about the culture, and build my leadership skills. Len Duong Camp, amazingly, has exceeded all of my expectations and many more. Next year, if I have the chance to take this to another new level, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Peter Nguyen
Memphis, Tennessee

A few things that I would like to share from the point of view of a first-time camper.  There are both good and bad.   I am only doing this to make it better for next year and many years to come.  I felt a little bit out of place because I am a bit older than a typical camper.  But it did not take long to blend in however.

a.  Your staff is very organized and helpful.  Thank you.   The operations appeared to be flawless, but maybe because I was having too much fun with all the activities.

b.  It would be nice if the staffs were wearing a different shirt color (i.e. bright red or yellow or purple (if you are Minnesota Vikings fans)) so most of us can identify your staff easier.  Looking at the badge was a little bit difficult.

c.  I think that you should charge more for the camp entrance fees.  I would rather have more food than paying less.  $100 is still a bargain; it should be around $150 instead.  Some students may not be able to afford it, then he/she should raise his/her own fund just to learn about the fundraising process.  It is not easy.

d.  At the end of Saturday ceremony, I think that you should have a live music concert performed by any local Vietnamese band.  Everyone would agree that after the camp fire like that, we all had to split and find some other things to do.  Ending the night with a concert would bring everyone to one unity group.  We have been competing all day,  this would a good time to be together as one group in harmony and enjoy the rest of the night.  Nothing would bring us together better than live music, especially good one.

e.  In my opinion, giving an award plaque to each presenter was tacky. We all should concentrate on the campers, the youth and what they have done in their local community.  I just thought that it would be more meaningful if the receiver is one of the outstanding campers.

f.  I like the idea having each team named after one of our past leaders.  It would be great if each team can present to everyone a little history about what Bà Lê Chân or Nguyễn Traĩ  really did for Vietnam.

g.  I would like to suggest if we could have some kinds of competitions involving water sports.  Here we were at a beautiful lake and no water, no swimming... :(.  I was and still am bumming out.

Thanks again for every thing.  I will be back next year with a bunch of Minnesotans, I hope.

Nghia Truong
Minnesota

A big thank you to the organizing committee.  It was a great camp!  The followings are my feedback:

1)  The ice-breaking games on Friday night need improvement.    There were too many people to be effective.  My suggestion is to play games with smaller groups and rotate the groups several times during the evening.  We spent so little time in our cabin that we didn't get to know everyone we sleep with.  Maybe include bunkmates as an ice-breaker group. 

2)  The workshops were terrific, but an hour was too short.  Maybe adding another hour for practice and reflection on the ideas. 

3)  Your concept of using Vietnamese culture in teaching leadership

skills was very good.  I felt like I've learned a lot from the Big Game, not only about my team strengths and weaknesses, but a little about the Vietnamese history too.  Let's stick with that concept.

4)  I think the learning process can be more effective if there were immediate feedbacks.  After every activity, a staff member will assess the team interactions and each person's role in doing that task.  

5)  The fact is that it is very difficult to form a performing team

with 20 people,  I think the ideal group size is between 5 and 9.  The more people in the group the more you have free-riders.  Since there was only 2 days to become a performing team, I think the first lesson should have been what is it to be a team and the stages of team development:

            Forming - formalities are preserved and members are treated as strangers.

            Storming - members start to communicate their feelings but probably still view themselves as part of their parent department rather than  part of the team. They attack others insular attitudes while guarding their own.

            Norming - people feel part of the team and realize that they can achieve work if they accept other viewpoints.

            Performing - the team works in an open and trusting atmosphere where flexibility is the key and hierarchy is of little importance.  If the team knows what it would take to go from one stage to another, it might help the team to become a performing team faster

Linh Tran
Houston, Texas

From: "Nhat Nguyen"
To:
Subject: Camp
Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 22:40:03 -0500

Hi An,

I could not ask more about Len Duong '02 because it was so wonderful. Everything was well organizing. And I think this is a best Camp I’ve ever had. I had opportunity to meet many smart and nice peoplẹ And the most important thing that I had a great time during 3 days of the camp!!! Beside of that, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you and appreciate everything you did for us.

Nhat Nguyen
Memphis, Tennessee

Mùa hè năm 2001 là lần đầu tiên tôi được làm quen với hơn 100 người Việt cùng trang lứa với tôi tại Camp Lên Đường.  Tại nơi này, tôi đã được ca hát, được cười và được khóc chung với gần 20 người bạn, trẻ có, già có trong ba ngày sinh hoạt chung với nhaụ  Tôi đã học hỏi được rất nhiều điều quý giá như là có rất nhiều tuổi trẻ Việt nam tha hương như tôi, những điều họ phải trải qua, những cảm nghĩ của họ, v.v.  Nhiều cái rất khác tôi, nhưng lại nhiều cái rất giống tôị  Trong ba ngày tại Camp Lên Đường, tôi đã tự nhận ra rằng tôi còn rất ... khờ! 

Không mạnh dạn như tôi nghĩ.  Tôi tự kiểm mình và đã có được cơ hội để thử nhiều điều khác nhau, như làm quen với mọi người để biết được rằng giữa tôi và họ không có gì khác nhau cả.  Trước khi tham dự Camp Lên Đường, tôi không nghĩ rằng tôi sẽ nhận được những kinh nghiệm quý giá như vậỵ  Nên trước khi chia tay với những người bạn mới, tôi đã tự hứa với mình là tôi sẽ trở lại Camp Lên Đường và hoàn tất những gì tôi chưa có cơ hội thực hành cho bản thân mình.

Khi tôi trở về nhà với ba mẹ tôi, tôi cảm thấy tôi trở nên một con người hiểu biết hơn và có ích hơn cho gia đình và cho cả cộng đồng người Việt ít ỏi ở Mt. Pleasant.  Lớn lên giữa hai nền văn hoá, Việt ở nhà và Mỹ khi ra ngoài, cách suy nghĩ của tôi có lý luận riêng của nó khi suy luận về một đề tài gì đó nằm giữa hai nền văn hóạ  Tôi biết điều này có nhiều lúc đã làm cho ba mẹ tôi buồn, nhưng vì cứng đầu nên tôi bác bỏ điều phật lòng ấy và xem như là không có gì vì mình là như vậỵ  Sự thật thì không phải là vậy và tôi đã học được bài học ấy tại Camp Lên Đường.  Qua những thuyết trình tự do của các bạn trẻ, tôi hiểu rõ ràng ba mẹ tôi cũng như ba mẹ của các bạn ấy đã phải trải qua và hy sinh rất nhiều để cho lớp trẻ chúng tôi được ngày hôm naỵ  Camp Lên Đường đã cho tôi biết được rằng lòng hiếu thảo giữa con cái và cha mẹ không thể nào được chứng minh hoặc biểu lộ từ sự tính toán, bất cần, và cứng đầu của trẻ mới lớn như tôi được. 

Tôi muốn được biết thêm về những gì tuổi trẻ Việt nam tha hương đang phải trải qua và những gì tôi có thể làm để thay đổi dù ít hay nhiêu những hành động cua tuổi trẻ Việt trên xứ người, nơi mà rồi một ngày gần đây chúng tôi sẽ gọi đây là đất Mẹ, hay sẽ không bao giờ có chuyện ấy??  Là con người mang trí óc tìm tòi, tôi muốn biết được thế hệ trẻ của chúng tôi có đủ khả năng để làm được chuyện vĩ đại hay không?  Tôi muốn biết cách suy nghĩ và tầm hiểu biết cua thế hệ của tôi vì mười năm, hai mươi năm sau này, chính thế hệ trẻ hôm nay sẽ phải quyết định nhiều việc có thể ngoài sức tưởng tượng.  Tôi muốn biết được khả năng của chính tôị  Vì thế, tôi trở lại Camp Lên Đường 2002 với hy vọng tìm ra được nguồn sống cho chính mình.  Tôi không yêu cầu gì từ Camp Lên Đường, nhưng tôi chỉ yêu mến cái môi trường sinh hoạt Camp Lên Đường đã cho tôị  Dù có tìm được câu trả lời cho thắc mắc cá nhân của tôi hay không, tôi tin chắc rằng Camp Lên Đường 2002 sẽ là một kỷ niệm quý giá đối với tôi nếu như tôi được cớ hội tham gia.

Võ Lý (Iowa City, IA)

I left Camp Len Duong with new goals in life and a better understanding of myself and what I wanted to do with my life. Until then, I was very confused with where my path was heading and why I pushed myself to do so much and sometimes, settling with no self-gratification. Camp Len Duong helped me realize my full potential as a well-educated, outspoken, Vietnamese American woman, capable of making a difference in her community and beyond. After the camp, I pledged to gain a better understanding of my Vietnamese culture which include learning more Vietnamese and being able to communicate better with the older Vietnamese community. I was able to take the leadership experiences I gained from Len Duong and apply those skills within my organizations on campus and within the OKC community. I only hope to grow and learn more about being a positive role model by serving my community with the skills I have gained and will gain this coming year at Camp Len Duong.

Elizabeth Tran (Oklahoma City, OK)

Everyone who I have met at the camp left with a desire to help others in any way that they could, which is a really great thing. There is a short but profound saying, which goes like this, "Real living is living for others." This statement is true because when one has an open heart that has compassion for others, life starts to become more optimistic and loving, which is the door that leads to a life which is meaningful and happy. I know that camp Len Duong has helped many campers, including myself, to find out just a little bit more about how to achieve happiness. When one is selfish and self-centered, life is cold and confusing, this is why the most selfish and inconsiderate people are also the most unhappy. This is also the reason why happy people never seem to have a problem with helping others. I am not saying that people that leave Len Duong automatically become Martin Luther Kings that are full of happiness, that is a ridiculous notion. But the campers that I have hung out with seem to appreciate making their own small contribution to society, which really helped them and everyone around them in the long run. The nicest thing about Len Duong is that no one pressures anyone else to be a better person, rather, it just seems to come along with the natural flow of the camp since everyone shows everyone else so much love. After all, pressuring others is one the worst factors that can be present in an attempt to achieve a certain goal (in my opinion), it only pushes people away from what you want them to do. None of that negativity has ever been present in any of my Len Duong trips.

To make a long story really short, Len Duong is a fun and meaningful camp. Maybe it will sway your life in a slightly more positive and happy direction, but maybe it won’t. It did for me. So my advice is this, if you are young and Vietnamese, come check out camp Len Duong. What else do you have to do Memorial Day weekend? :)

Minh-Bao Pham (Brooklyn, NY)