Organization: Volunteers for Peace Vietnam

 

In May of 2011, a team of 16 students flew across the world to Southeast Asia where they spent 4 weeks volunteering in Vietnam. After two stopovers and 18 hours of flying, the team arrived in Siem Riep, Cambodia. It was about 40 degrees outside and as instantly sweaty as we got we were super excited to finally hit land. After dealing with visas and lost luggage we finally made it to our first hotel in Siem. Even though it was past midnight, we were all too hyper to go to bed and so we left our bags at the hotel and went to explore the streets of Siem. 

 

We soon after made our way to Vietnam by boat on the Mekong River. We arrived on our home stay and the streets were filled with motorbikes, people crossing in all sorts of directions. We settled in our house and were introduced to our area by Andy, our in country supportive staff from Volunteer for Peace Headquarters. We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to work at two placements -- one was a rehabilitation centre and an orphanage.

 

In the morning we would do all sorts of different activities such as drawing, singing songs and teaching. At the orphanage we would help any way we could, from feeding the children at lunch, to putting them in their beds, playing with them in the common area and taking them around the complex for a walk. As the orphanage was behind a beautiful temple the children loved going inside to play hide and seek or simply walk around the long halls, up and down the stairs. 

 

Since there was a structured day for the children during the morning we got the opportunity to hoe a field where they would use it in the future for growing food. Once that was done, we hoed the playing ground and re-painted making it more vibrant and fun to play in. 

 

We got plenty of time to walk around the town and become familiar with the community. It was very small and very beautiful. This is where the team really bonded as we lived in very close quarters. This experience really opened our eyes and allowed us to see different ways of living and adapting to your surroundings. It allowed us to grow as individuals and as a team. On our last day we had a multicultural day with the locals who taught us a lot about Vietnamese history and culture.

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