Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh Community Involvement

The students of the English club in Ho Chi Minh were extremely accepting of the volunteers. Their motivation and excitement to learn are admirable. My time in Vietnam was beyond my expectations, and I hope I can come back soon.

I can’t believe it went by so fast!! This is such a great program, the kindest organization, really. I signed up to participate with the Kindergarten but a mistake happened where they were on a 1 week break the same week I signed up for! So I chose to teach English to a wide range of students. And might I say; the best kind of mix-up because I ended up falling in love with the field. Teaching and gaining huge gratitude from the students are the things most valuable in life. I loved it. Thank you, GoEco, for all of your help, this unforgettable experience could not of been done without you.

I'll just mention that I felt very well taken care of by the staff at our accommodations in Ho Chi Minh City. The room and board were excellent--no complaints there--and the staff were very attentive to the needs of the volunteers, who must have felt as grateful as I was to arrive in a strange city and find such a friendly well-organized system in place to help us get started. During my 4 weeks of volunteer work (teaching English) I heard only one mild complaint from a volunteer in food outreach who had expected to be serving the poorest of the poor and was disappointed that the food distribution wasn't reaching those people. "We need to reach deeper," he said to me, referring to a level of need more desperate than what was then being targeted. Of course finding such desperate need and then putting together a program to address it cannot be an easy matter. But perhaps it's something to think about.

I enjoyed the orientation week a lot, because we saw the main attractions of Ho Chi Minh City and we got to learn about the Vietnamese culture. The whole week was very well organised and there was not a second when I was bored. I also enjoyed working with other volunteers during the program. You get to meet a lot of different people with different backgrounds who have the same aim, which is helping others. Overall this trip was a great experience for me. You can say it was the trip of my life. I got to meet a lot of interesting people who wanted to help other people. The fact that you can volunteer but at the same time travel around Vietnam is a great thing. I learned a lot about the Vietnamese culture and tried a lot of food from its cuisine. I highly recommend this trip to anyone who loves to travel. By volunteering you get to experience how some days look like for some of the locals. This way you get to know the culture of the country even better instead of just travelling.

The two weeks that I spent in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam provided me with amazing memories and invaluable friendships with volunteers from all over the world. At the end of my two weeks there, I left Vietnam gloomily, and promised myself to return to this beautiful country full of kind souls as many times as I can. If I’d known before that I’d find myself feeling so close to the people of this fascinating country so quickly, I’d have planned to stay for two more weeks. Of course, the best part of it all was the volunteer work. I got up at seven o’ clock on weekdays, and had breakfast with my roommates, who were all involved in different kinds of volunteering projects. I left with my team at eight and walked to the orphanage, which was inside a beautiful Pagoda. The staff was always so friendly and welcoming that I never felt like an outsider; they treated me as one of them. As a volunteer, I needed to take the kids with special needs out for walks first. After this, I usually went upstairs, where the classrooms are, to teach English. Even though the kids were naughty at times, they were so much fun to be around, and they learnt eagerly. When it was lunchtime, I went to feed the kids with special needs with my teammates. Usually at eleven thirty, I went back to the accommodation to have lunch and rest for a while. After lunch, we went back to the orphanage, where we helped the kids walk around, played with them, painted pictures and helped do the cleaning until four thirty. What I liked the most about volunteering in the pagoda was that the staff always took us very seriously. They saw us as equals to them, and they trusted us with everything. We were allowed to enter the babies’ room or the toddlers’ room at any time. We were also given serious duties like helping disabled kids walk using their walking frames. At first, this had intimidated me a little, because I was afraid of hurting them, but after getting to know the kids I was very comfortable around them. Our accommodation was very comfortable and nice. After a few days, it felt like home. GoEco staff was always ready to help, the organization was remarkably great, and the people at our accommodation were also very friendly and helpful. Another thing that I enjoyed very much was staying with other people from all over the world with similar world views to mine, and getting to know them. We went downtown with my roommates every night and had a chance to explore the city. I’m very glad that I volunteered this summer. Everything was better than I could ever imagine. I’m glad that I had the chance to explore one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a chance to be immersed into its culture by helping its people. Nothing else compares to the experience of being miles away from your country, surrounded by people who do not speak your language and who are culturally very different than you, and still being able to feel at home.

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This experience combined perfectly my desire to travel and explore the world, as well as my passion for health! I really had no expectations when I got there at first, but I have to say I was very impressed! All the coordinators for this program were really helpful and available if I had any questions and they made the best as they could to ensure that my experience was the best as possible. At the hospital, the doctors were also very welcoming and let us do and watch many interesting things. For example, we learned how to do acuponcture, vitamin B12 injections, wound care, physiotherapy and we got to assist many big surgeries such as bone graft, internal fixation surgeries, nerve replacement, etc. Everyday we are divided in groups of thw or three and we get to follow a doctor in his different tasks. Also, Vietnam is a wonderful country, very rich in culture and history. Food is very good and during your free time, you will have plenty activities to choose from. For example, during weekends, I traveled my my friend to Halong bay, Mui Ne and Da Nang, you surely don't want to miss those places!

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