When Kate Thirolf went to Can Tho, Vietnam, in July, she brought little knowledge of the language but a strong desire to learn from another culture and add joy to kids’ lives.
The doctoral student in the School of Education traveled to Can Tho last summer as a Wallenberg International Travel Fellow. Through the Can Tho Youth Empowerment Project, she spent July and August in two orphanages, tutoring kids ages 5-8 in English and computer literacy.
Thirolf is among eight students in the program funded by the Wallenberg Endowment who traveled around the world, ranging in locations from China to Madagascar to South Africa.
While in Vietnam, Thirolf also teamed up with VietHope, a program that helps first-generation Vietnamese college students. “(The students) came with open hearts to help kids. I loved watching (them) grow and growing with them,” she says. Relying on the college students as translators, Thirolf was able to interact with the orphans and educate them in a summer camp setting.
“On weekends we would teach the younger kids English, make arts and crafts, and play games like duck, duck, goose and soccer,” Thirolf says. “I learned to have a lot of flexibility.”
Thirolf heard of CTYEP through her brother, Jack, who currently lives in Vietnam. She had previously taught English in Malaysia as a Princeton in Asia Fellow. “I wanted to get involved and be a part of the program because education has always been really important to me.”
With a camp motto of “Learning, Leading and Having Fun,” Thirolf says she named the program the Raoul Wallenberg Summer Youth Empowerment Camp because Wallenberg’s values and passion for humanity permeated throughout the program.
“I will never forget (the kids),” she says. “It was awesome to see them smile and have fun.”
