International Group Leading with Concordia International Volunteers

A question I get asked a lot by my friends these days is “where are you off to next then?”

I have developed the reputation for being the traveller of the group, the one who will only stay in the same place for a short amount of time. The one who always has the next destination booked, or the next adventure planned (Berlin, in case you were wondering!)

This is in no small part due to my volunteering with Concordia International Volunteers. I’ve volunteered with this organisation since 2009, and they still manage to find me new adventures to go on! I have participated in a Spanish work camp, attended workshops and seminars across Europe, helped to deliver training weekends in the UK, co-ordinated UK volunteer projects, contributed to the writing of educational resources, and most recently, visited Asia twice to lead on their group volunteering programme.

The group volunteering programme sends groups from the UK to participate on international volunteer projects. I travelled to Vietnam in 2015 and South Korea in 2016, both times with groups of Girl Guides from London and the South East Region.

To say that these trips were challenging is putting it mildly! From non-stop rain for most of our time in Vietnam and living in leaky rooms, to finding a variety of gluten free food in Korea (difficult to find much that wasn’t rice and plain steamed vegetables!). From lost luggage in Hanoi, to an (almost!) lost passport in Busan. Hospital trips, cactus stings, sore hips and knees. Bad stomachs and squat toilets! Early mornings, late nights, hot sun, crowded bedrooms. Eating rice three times a day...

But for every challenge, there was a reward. Moments such as early morning Tai Chi on our junk boat in Halong Bay, or even earlier morning meditation with a Korean monk at a templestay. Finally seeing blue sky after 10 days of rain in Vietnam! Meeting local residents in Busan and being given free ice cream while we painted steps in 35 degree heat. Watching friendships develop between UK and Korean teenagers, who may live 5000 miles apart but share the same appreciation for the High School Musical soundtrack and photos of Zac Efron!

Then there is the personal growth. Sitting in a rooftop restaurant and listening to the youngest member of your group describe so eloquently how the trip has changed how she views the world is a moment that has stuck with me, and is my reason for forgetting all the difficulties and hard times and coming back to Concordia for more.

Nicola 

Eternal part of the Concordia Family

Volunteering at the Social Centre outside Hanoi, Vietnam - March 2009

As this volunteer placement was only two weeks I was unsure how much I was going to out of the experience in such a short time compared to what I had done previously.

My concerns proved to be unfounded as I had a wonderful time with my fellow volunteers and the children at the centre were adorable. I had been told I was going to an orphanage, which was a reasonable description but I found out it was in fact a social centre. Most of the chilren weren't actually orphans, only about 40 of the 500 or so (the centre has previously had up to 1000) live there full time, most return to either their parents or family members who are now responsible for them during the weekend. This doesn't apply to babies, of which there are probably another 40 or so and who have mostly been abandoned.

The reason most of the children are there is due to learning difficulties; some of the kids are deaf/mute so the centre teaches them sign language and education comes through that. They were really bright and beautiful and the only frustration I felt was when my limited sign language meant that we could only communicate a little. Most common question was "what is you name?" and "how old are you?" which we all managed to master answering eventually!

We were split into 3 groups of 3 with a timetable that was set out from the beginning: 8-11am was the first task and then another in the afternoon 2-4.30pm. The job was either taking care of the babies, painting two rooms (a task that we completed during our two weeks) or teaching. This was in some ways the hardest job because of language barrier. We all had a Vietnamese speaker in our group which meant the class was kept busy but I did struggle to feel useful sometimes. We did plan our lessons to a degree which was done equally between the three of us but because I couldn't talk to the children directly I found it a little frustrating. We stuck to basic things, playing games, drawing our countries flags, basic origami and playing with a world map, all of which the children responded well to.

The other children had various mental disabilities and were really sweet and good natured. The obvious Vietnamese language barrier meant only Mai and Huong, the Vietnamese volunteers could really talk to them but they did their best to help the rest of us understand what the children wanted to say. All of the kids mostly just appreciated the attention and affection which we were happy to give them. In the evening when the day was finished we had the option to go into the yard and play with the children which was really fun (if exhausting!).

The babies were adorable and due to no communication problems, being with them was in some ways the easiest job. Usually we just sat cuddling them and sang to them if they cried or fed them from a bottle of watery rice mixture, as milk is too expensive. When I found this out I was a little concerned as I was unsure if it gave the babies sufficient nutrion. The budgest for caring for them is only approximately 400,000 dong a month per baby, which just doesn't go very far. This was a hard fact to swallow but the reality is the babies are being cared for better at the social centre than they would be elsewhere so you have to appreciate the context. This was also hard when I quickly realised that the babies are not provided with nappies, meaning that if you're holding a baby and it pees, that's right, you get wet! This happened to nearly everyone at least once in the two weeks and while having to go and change your trousers is annoying (particularly if you foolishly wore jeans) it's even nastier for the babies; as they are left with extremely red bottoms which looked very painful in most cases.

Once I realised our main job was just make sure the the children had fun I found the project much more satisfying. They really did enjoy the novelty of us being there and they were such a joy to spend time with that we all gained from the experience. I was the only Westerner in the group, everyone else being Vietnamese, Korean or Japanse. I was slightly concerned about this beforehand, wondering if I would be treated as something of an outsider, but all the other volunteers were wonderful and we all got along really well. There were two other volunteers from Germany, Martel and Heshar. They were on a longer term project, several months but they were still friendly and happy to talk to us even though they worked seperately to us and had seen short term volunteers come and go before.

The close friendship I found in such a short time both surprised and delighted me. The language barrier was an issue when some volunteers didn't have fantastic English but it really wasn't a problem, it just meant talking a bit more slowly.

Only Shiwon and I stayed for a few weeks following the completion of the project. Huong let us stay with her which provided a really intersting opportunity seeing how Vietnamese students live. She was a wonderful hostess who cooked for us and took us all over Hanoi on her motorbike to see all the sites. She genuinely couldn't have done more for us and I am forever in her debt. We also went to Sapa with Mai where we spent a night doing homestay with some of the local tribal people and it was lovely to spend some time with her too. I'm still in touch with a lot of the people I volunteered with via facebook and email and I really hope one day we will see each other again.

Katherine Blacklaws, Vietnam March 2009

Read more about volunteering with our North South Programme >>

Concordia first Group Project in Vietnam!

Concordia ran its first ‘Group’ project earlier this year to Vietnam with students from Ashington High School, who are based just north of Newcastle in Northumberland. As it was a new project Fiona went along to help set the project up and help our partner, SJ Vietnam, with some Health and Safety training.

(In the picture: Fiona arrives in Vietnam…by bike?)

I thought that by arriving in Vietnam in February I would escape the cold UK winter but was a bit surprised to find the evenings cold and even some rain! However when the sun did come out it was lovely to get warm. It was great to meet up with friends from SJ Vietnam again and they were very excited about having their first UK group coming to Vietnam.

The group volunteered for two weeks at a school in Hai Duong City, which is about 50km away from Hanoi in the north of Vietnam. We all arrived at the end of the Vietnamese ‘Tet’ festival which is like the UK’s Christmas holidays so the school was very quiet the first day. This was quite nice as it allowed us all to acclimatize to our new surroundings and get to know where everything was.

(Above: a street view in Hay Duong City)

Our quiet was soon over when all the school children came back and we were all a bit overwhelmed by our welcome. The Hai Duong Children’s centre has around 1000 children, with over half of them living at the school in the orphanage and the rest of the children have some type of disability linked to the ‘Agent Orange’ bombings during the Vietnam war in the 1970’s. It was thought that over 50,000 children have disabilities linked to these bombings in Hai Duong area alone.

(Below: Fiona with one of the Children in the orphanage)

Our group, which consisted of two teachers, one support worker and five students, was raring to go and all got really involved in the life of the school. Our day was divided into three slots. We would spent one slot in with the baby orphans helping to feed and playing with the babies (who were just lovely), the second slot, teaching English to the children and the 3^rd slot doing environmental work around the school, like painting the railings etc. The work was tough but very rewarding too.

Our accommodation was in the school and we slept on bunk beds with no mattress under mosquito nets. All the children also sleep on the bunk beds but just on grass mats. We ate local food which was rice, meat and tofu and no knives and forks to be found so we all got good with chop sticks.

The project was a real success and the group had a great time. They did find the living conditions tough and living in a noisy school quite challenging but it gave them an amazing experience that would stay with them for a very long time.

Our partners in Vietnam really believe in volunteering and cultural exchange. It is wonderful to see a country that has suffered so much in its recent past putting so much energy into being so positive, it really was inspiring. If you want a challenging and fulfilling experience then volunteering in a Vietnamese orphanage is a real must. Fiona J

(Fiona Callender, Volunteer Programme Manager, February 2009 Vietnam)

(In the pictures: the volunteers teaching and with local hosts in Vietnam)

Projects available in Vietnam

More on Vietnam

Nichola Villiamson on her social project in Vietnam working with street children

Picture:Nichola with the children she was looking after
Well where do I begin with this description of my first volunteer project at the age of 37!Perhaps a good starting point would be with the months leading up to the project as this [I believe] assisted in the whole success of the project. Well here goes……

Once I had decided to undertake a project I had to perform the daunting task of a web search to find a suitable organisation. As can be imagined the search found hundreds of thousands of sites. For me important factors included a friendly organisation and one that when I emailed or rang them were always there to help me and to answer any of my concerns. Spending a weekend with the organisers and other volunteers was particularly useful. I had the opportunity to talk to people and found that we all had the same concerns and excitement about planned projects. Learning about other projects on offer was very good also and being able to talk to host organisers gave me confidence to think of other countries that I had perhaps at first thought best to avoid. The weekend definitely gave me a taste of things to come (but can I stress only a taste as nothing can truly prepare you for the actual work experience).

Travelling alone at first seemed exciting but as the day approached I experienced waves of nervousness if not nausea! I did not really want to travel alone but when it came down to various people who wanted to come with me on the project but unfortunately did not end up committing in the end for various reasons: it was a case of ‘go on your own or not at all’. I am so glad now that I did this first project on my own as I believe this made the whole experience unique and I developed people skills that at my age I didn’t think I had!!!

The journey itself was long and tiring! I wish I could put into words how nervous I was the days leading up to my departure from the UK. The feeling of being many miles away from my family and friends and going to do something I had never done before was overwhelming. How many times I had gone over scenarios in my head typically starting with the words “what if”!!! Travelling on my own was a whole new experience to me also but to be honest I met so many people on my journey to and from Vietnam that I believe I wouldn’t have spoken to if I was travelling with others. I quickly discovered how many people actually travel alone and are eager to talk to you. The planning of my journey involved some form of ‘mental’ criteria being met and I was glad I planned well. For example I made sure I landed in Hanoi during the day and not at night. I had arranged with the host for collection from the airport and I felt reassured when I saw the taxi driver with my name on a card. Unfortunately when I arrived at the youth house there wasn’t anyone to meet me. I no this is a negative point to raise but is something that other volunteers from other organisations had experienced. A positive point was that we just got on with it and were fine. In fact that first night we sat eating scones, butter and jam that I had brought all the way from England (trust me it was a great ice breaker!!)

Being immersed in the true culture of Vietnam was out of this world. We see poverty portrayed in the media etc but to truly understand how this must feel is something else when you are actually living it. It was hard to get accustomed to such poverty but you would be surprised how quickly you adjust and definitely having a positive outlook on life and the experience helped. Also appreciating that our way of life is so different to other communities and not expecting too much of our very indulgent lifestyles to be upheld on our chosen ventures!! Days of no running water certainly makes you appreciate what we have here!!

My project was working with street children but I was fortunate enough to have met a Vietnamese teacher who took me to a Pagoda housing 55 orphans. This was great as any free time I had I went to do some work there too. Praying with Monks was something else and so many tiny babies to cuddle. The general organisation of my work load and timetable was structured by the host lead. It was reassuring that the teaching sessions and daily job allocation was written on a wall planner. This gave all the volunteers the chance plan ahead. Working with the children that involved cooking or teaching was so wonderful. The children were so great and accepted us into their lives. Emotionally it was exhausting and involved periods of tears falling and bursts of laughter but each night reflecting on a truly unique magical experience.

I thought I would end this paper by trying to reflect on a question that I have been asked so many times and am still struggling to answer. “Why volunteer in the first place” answers that I had read from other volunteers included “do good work”, “to be able to give something back”. For me I don’t know why I wanted to be part of this other than I wanted to do something useful…..even if it was for only a short period of time. I truly believe I contributed to something unique in this mad world. The emotional journey I went through in two weeks was extraordinary and I learnt so much about myself and other people. I now feel inspired to take on more projects and I am keen to involve my sons too.

For more information on our partner in Vietnam, click here.

Click here for a country profile of Vietnam