Some 40 students and faculty members from Incheon National University joined an eight-day volunteer program in Vietnam to promote Korean culture and help local communities earlier this month.

Incheon National University, which aims to place itself within the country’s top five national universities by 2020, has run the annual volunteer program since last year to enhance its students’ spirit of giving and to enhance their sense of community, the university said.

The participants flew to Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam’s center of commerce, and Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta, from July 6-13. Can Tho is also home to most of the Vietnamese women residing in Korea.

Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, the team traveled for about 4 hours and 30 minutes to reach Can Tho. For the next five days, the students gave musical performances and organized recreational activities in partnership with local university students for 250 orphans in the region.

The volunteers also visited facilities housing the physically challenged due to their exposure to defoliants to help clean the place and cook Korean traditional food. They also visited homes of two marginalized families to rebuild their houses.

The university prepared for the program a month in advance, by traveling to the destinations and meeting with the local government officials and representatives of the University of Can Tho.

It conducted an open audition to select local students who participated in the program and collected donations such as used clothes which were given to orphans in the region.

“Volunteering in Vietnam gave a crucial opportunity to the volunteering students and university faculty members to rethink our role as a major national university,” an official from the university said. “We will strive to nurture students’ ability and attitude as a global citizen through various volunteer projects.”

Incheon National University, located in the port city of Incheon and established in 1979, has 64 academic departments and programs from 12 colleges. It was nationalized in 2013.

By Ock Hyun-ju and Lee Hong-seok (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com) (gilbert@heraldcorp.com)