Visions Service Adventures

"Vietnam is a country whose will to live has been challenged since its inception by foreign armies without number - from impassive Imperial China to the...Khmer Rouge, from colonial France to the…Americans...Unparalleled, expectation-breaking, story-making, life-changing...contagious, undying optimism...the atmosphere is thick with hope and breathless anticipation." From LET'S GO VIETNAM on a Budget (2nd Edition, St. Martin's Press, New York)

This five-week experience embraces both urban and rural Vietnam: the bustle of historic Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, and the serene green landscapes of unsurpassed beauty contrasting rice paddies, rolling hills, mountains and jungles.

The faces of older Vietnamese reflect centuries of perseverance and loyalty to tradition while the youthful majority of Vietnamese enthusiastically embrace Western ideas. The government initiated broad-based reforms two decades ago that spurred steady and rapid growth so that Vietnam now is one of the fastest growing free-market economies in the world.

Service is the centering lens through which you will view Vietnam. We live in the Ba Vi district an hour southwest of Hanoi at the Thuy An Disabled Children's Center where you will mingle daily with Vietnamese of all ages and backgrounds. Volunteers for Peace Vietnam (VPV), our primary partner, shares a mission with similar centers throughout Vietnam that were co-founded by American war veterans and Vietnamese and are supported now by a host of other countries. These small village-like enclaves aim to improve housing, education and health care for Vietnamese disadvantaged and disabled by the long-term, cross-generational effects of chemicals used in the war.

We work mostly at the Center, hand in hand with Vietnamese, and a few projects may materialize in a nearby village. We renovate Center facilities and grounds, teach English songs and games to the children, continue working on an occupational therapy garden where children learn to cultivate, care for, and harvest the food. 2008 participants built a concrete path to the garden from the compound. Another 260 ft. of concrete road was leveled, graded, mixed and poured.

Weekends mean trips to Hanoi', its markets and craft villages, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Old Town, to renowned Ha Long Bay to sleep on house boats, kayak, and explore island caves. By train we go north to Sa Pa near the Chinese border passing ancient villages and rice terraces on mountainsides. The fifth week is all travel. From Hanoi we go to the old capitol of Hue, the citadel and marketplaces and the DMZ, continuing south to Bach Ma National Park, the legendary beaches, Hoi An's silk-producing factories and ancient ruins, and finally to Da Nang. Assigned to us throughout the program are our very own VPV volunteers and excellent companions, Hoa, Ling and Trang.