Try Dive with the Green Bamboo shelter boys

The Green Bamboo shelter helps children who have been living on the streets to learn the skills they need to become independent.  It provides access to education and short-term shelter.  The shelter always tries to place the children back with their families; however if this is not an option, long-term accommodation is available.  Younger children receive food and beds in exchange for attending school, and older children can stay for up to two years while they undergo vocational training. There were around 20 children from a variety of backgrounds living in the shelter.  The shelter also helps over 25 children in the wider community annually, assisting them in any way they can.

As an ILA community network volunteer I helped take the boys on various activities on a fortnightly basis, usually to play football, go skating or swimming.  After a few months of spending my Saturday afternoons with the boys I thought it would be great to take the boys on a try dive at the Rainbow Divers training pool in district 2.  Jeremy, owner of Rainbow Divers Vietnam, was keen on the idea and offered free use of the school's equipment.  Chris Rolls, ILACN coordinator, was also keen on the idea and gave the idea the green light.

The above water pictures were taken by David Dredge, a colleague from ILA and freelance photographer, who kindly agreed to come along to take some snaps of the boys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saigon Refresher with Olivier

Saigon Pool Training with Phuong

Rainbow Divers Saigon confined water diver training takes place here in district 2 of Ho Chi Minh City.  The pool is located just round the corner from the dive centre's Saigon office.

As can be seen, the pool is ideal for confined water diver training; quiet, clean, ample and well maintained.

Vietnam - Rainbow Divers

With a new chapter starting in Vietnam I quickly got in contact with the longest established dive centre in the country, Rainbow Divers.  They have centres all Vietnam; from the capital Saigon to Phu Quoc, Con Dao, Nha Trang, Whale Island, Hoi An, Hue and even in Hanoi in the north.

Jeremy Stein is a great guy and wasted no time in creating this poster so that I could promote the courses offered at the centres.