Volunteer at an orphanage in Vietnam

country:	Vietnam
departures:	2008: 21 Nov, 5 Dec, 19 Dec 2009: 6 Feb, 20 Feb, 6 Mar, 20 Mar, 3 Apr, 17 Apr, 1 May, 15 May, 5 Jun, 19 Jun, 3 Jul, 17 Jul, 7 Aug, 21 Aug, 4 Sep, 18 Sep, 2 Oct, 16 Oct, 6 Nov, 20 Nov, 4 Dec, 18 Dec
price:	From £595 - £1695 (1-12 weeks) excluding flights. Price depends on length of stay. Includes accommodation, online TEFL course & 24 hour in-country support. Minimum age 18

Volunteering with children here

Vietnam holidays here

the amazing things you'll be doing

Don’t let Vietnam’s relaxed attitude to life fool you; there’s so much here to see, visit, and taste! And as if the floating markets, bustling streets and emerald paddy fields aren’t enough you will also experience the famous Vietnamese hospitality as you get involved with playing games, singing songs and planning arts projects in one of two local orphanages.

You’ll play a valuable role in the overall development of the children and your efforts will last long after the sun tan fades! If you enjoy a challenge this project is the perfect way to discover why Vietnam is becoming one of the hottest destinations in Asia and have lots of fun while you do it. Our TEFL certification is included to give you ideas for fun educational activities.

the project

You will be working at one of two orphanages, located in Ho Chi Minh City. Both orphanages were established in 1998 to provide care and an education for disadvantaged children and orphans. There are both male and female children and they are aged between 1 and 18. The children live in the orphanages and the older ones attend school during the day. Many of the male children love football and are keen to take part in outdoor activities. One of the orphanages is run by Buddhist nuns and both rely on the donations of sponsors. One of the orphanages has a number of disabled children that you will be helping with as well as able bodied children.

While volunteering in Vietnam on these projects, you'll find they offer valuable support to children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, many of whom are orphans. While the children at the projects have access to education provided by the government, they are usually unable to benefit from it fully due to the many complexities in their lives. The support that our volunteers provide allows many of the children to improve their English skills, which will create more opportunities for them, and learn about a new culture. Often the staff members do not have time to give attention to all of the children, and they will really benefit from spending time and doing creative activities with volunteers.

Volunteers at these projects should have a genuine love of children and young people. Although you do not require any special skills, any experience working with children or young people would be valuable. Volunteers must be able to use their initiative and be motivated to work without guidance. You should be patient, compassionate, resourceful and imaginative. As you will be involved in teaching some English to the children we have included a TEFL course to help you.

Volunteering in Vietnam

Your role as a volunteer:
Take the leap and join in volunteer work in Vietnam on these projects. You will be providing essential support to the staff by assisting with daily activities at the orphanages and by offering a positive role model for the children. You may become involved in a variety of activities, including teaching English, outdoor activities, arts and crafts activities, games, songs and social education and helping with disabled children. Volunteers will be teaching life skills and helping with domestic duties. Your schedule will be flexible and will depend on the needs of the project. You may be asked to help the staff members improve their English or IT skills, or you may become involved with fundraising or improving the appearance of the project.

Accommodation:
Accommodation is included with all projects. We only use locally-owned and operated accommodation so that part of your placement fee is filtering back into the local economy. You will be staying in a local guesthouse in a residential area of the city, so you will have easy access to local amenities.

Local facilities:
The orphanages are located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city. Here you will find traditional street markets and pagodas alongside modern architecture, international cuisine and American cultural influences. Motorbikes are everywhere, and you will find plenty of places to go silk shopping or have clothes tailor-made at bargain prices.

Project sourcing and assessment:
We work with hundreds of locally run partner projects around the world and are constantly sourcing new opportunities. We visit all projects to check that they are worthwhile and legitimate and we also conduct a thorough safety assessment before we'll send volunteers there.

volunteer travel - what's it all about?

Are you are looking for an adventurous trip with a purpose, or on a gap year or career break? If you want to make a difference in some of the world’s most important conservation areas - and in community projects - then volunteer trips are for you! Volunteers tend to have a sense of adventure, and come from a range of different backgrounds and from all over the world.
Edward Abbey said 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul'.

how this holiday makes a difference

We believe that travel can change lives! Travelling can change you as a person and, if done responsibly, can have a profound affect on the people that you meet and the places that you visit. We want as many people as possible to experience the heart and soul of another culture in the way that we have, and in doing so, help them to make a positive and lasting impact on our world.

Despite featuring in more war films than travel brochures, Vietnam has done a remarkable job of reinventing itself as a top destination for travel. Scars take a long time to heal though and it’s no wonder that with such a turbulent political history social problems linger into the present. Many of the youngsters can’t take advantage of educational opportunities because of their difficult backgrounds and your job is to use your patience, compassion and resourcefulness to help improve their future lives.

While volunteering in Vietnam on this project, you'll find they offer valuable support to children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, many of whom are orphans. While the children at the projects have access to education provided by the government, they are usually unable to benefit from it fully due to the many complexities in their lives. The support that our volunteers provide allows many of the children to improve their English skills, which will create more opportunities for them, and learn about a new culture. Often the staff members do not have time to give attention to all of the children, and they will really benefit from spending time and doing creative activities with volunteers.

Our volunteers work on local projects run by local people. We do not own or operate any project but simply partner with them to assist in achieving their goals for development. It is this continuous stream of committed volunteers that allows the projects the time to focus on improving the lives of the people they work with. This is a local project working in two orphanages that help disadvantaged children aged 1 to 18. As well as acting as a positive role model you’ll help them with their English and bring a smile to their faces with the odd sing-song.

You’ll stay in a locally owned guesthouse ensuring that you directly support the local community while you’re there. You’ll also be supported by your local in-country coordinator; Mr Nguyen Xuan Truong (Alex) who with his team are best placed to understand the specific economic, social and developmental needs of Vietnam.

On average 48% of your placement fee is distributed in-country for the services included with your placement (i.e. local support, transport & accommodation) meaning that the local communities are directly benefiting from your travels to their country. The remaining funds are required to cover the administration costs associated with sourcing, training, marketing and coordinating your travel experience.

We do not give a financial contribution to this or any of our projects as we believe that money is rarely the answer to complicated development issues; if it was, the poverty problems in the world would be getting better! Short-term aid relief can cause aid-reliance and financial instability and the corruption seen in many developing countries means the guarantee of your money going to the heart of the cause is massively reduced. From our experience (and by learning from our mistakes) projects benefit far greater from a sustainable framework to ensure they develop rather than short-term financial aid relief.

If money is paid directly to projects then they may become dependent on that income. If that country or project becomes unpopular, or through restrictions in the opportunity to travel to that country, the money dries up and they are no longer able to continue with their work. Supplying projects with enthusiastic volunteers creates a constant supply of helpful hands and as they are not reliant on an income can continue without the assistance of the volunteer travellers, although significantly slower in achieving their goals.

Instead of giving money direct we operate a grants scheme from our Helping Hand Foundation. This is designed to allow all our partner projects to submit applications for funding to achieve a specific objective. In 2007 we supported a number of partner projects including the installation of 20 toilets at a school in India, the construction of a community centre in Brazil and providing a radio communications unit for a turtle conservation project in Costa Rica.

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