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 By Trannie Pham
Stepping out of the Washington Dulles airport, the first thing that blashed into my face was the hot and humid wind of the typical summer in Washington DC. It sucked out all my energy and left behind only one thought - i wanted to go back. The first day was nothing but an opportunity for my growing selfishness. I was totally worn out with the weather. I didn't remember anything about the purpose of coming to the conference.
However, at the first day of the conference, 7:45 in the morning, more than 50 people had showed up, They all came from different states all over the nation. And... I was waken up. All of those people were there for one single purpose - they cared. I paused myself for a while and asked :"what's wrong with me?". Once again I felt the hot and humid weather while i was inside the hotel. This time was not the weather of Washington DC, but of Vietnam- my country. And I once again caught up with my vision for going there. I was there for more than 400 kids in Vietnam, I was there for thousands of Vietnamese American teens, and I was there for ICAN... I was there for the same purpose as theirs: we cared.
The conference was such an eye-opening experience. I learned alot about leadership skills, which were extremely important for me as a young member of ICAN - a youth organization. And it was awesome to share my own opinion and experiences with other youth leaders. Attending different workshops helped me understand how to organize a nonprofit organization, which i had never known before. And through the workshops I was able to figure out the advantages and disadvantages, the organized and unorganized parts of ICAN. Being able to attend those workshops was such an opportunity for me to grow up and expand my knowledge. I would like to say thanks to ICAN and everyone who had contributed into the conference, for giving me such a valuable gift.
 With a light blue aodai, I proudly stepped into the night banquet as a real Vietnamese girl. I was proud to wear my country's traditional dress and I was proud to be there with my Vietnamese brothers and sisters. Martin Luther King said he had a dream, so did we. We were all there with the same dream - a dream of "empowering the comunity through giving". Thank you again and again for reminding me once again that I'm Vietnamese and I live for the Vietnamese people.
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