From Villages to Shores

This year, as in years past with Jebsen & Jessen, two groups of colleagues set out on very different journeys, each carrying the same spirit of community engagement.

In Nam Giang Province, Vietnam, 17 colleagues joined World Vision International on a “Meet a Social Need” mission in May. A volunteer week was spent side by side with villagers, digging soil, carrying pipes and fitting together the pieces of four household latrines.

We laid 400m of water pipes to bring clean water closer to families and what began as a plan for 1,000 mushroom bags turned into 3,000 thanks to great teamwork. Afternoons with the local children reminded us why we were there, helping them rehearse songs for Children’s Day, listening to their laughter and receiving handmade cards that spoke louder than words ever could.

More recently in Batam, Indonesia, 16 colleagues joined “Meet a Green Need” with Seven Clean Seas in August. What began with a simple beach clean-up led to lessons from local communities reshaping how they lived with waste. We sorted plastics at a recovery facility, supported families trying new recycling habits and set a barrier across a river to catch rubbish before it reached the sea.

By the end of the volunteer week we had gathered more than 1,100 kg of waste, turned discarded plastic into keepsakes and handed them to schoolchildren.

Coming to 20 years, the Meet a Need programme continues to make a lasting impact to the communities we operate in.