An excellent, honest, and affordable program

I have Ubelong and my mentor Raul Roman to thank for making my experience in Ho Chi Minh City possible. I am so grateful for Raul's help and guidance over the past few months in making my trip happen. The professionalism and level of ease in working with Ubelong was superb.

During my time in Ho Chi Minh City, the local NGO that Ubelong connected me with was Volunteers for Peace Vietnam. They assigned me to an orphanage called "Chua La" for abandoned kids that had been taken in by Buddhist monks. The monks fed us everyday at their pagoda and I felt very welcome among them. We were among the first group of volunteers that had ever been allowed to work there. The other volunteers I worked with were a wonderful group of people. Fourteen children and a baby were all cared for by one 56 year old women. The amount of work she had in order to care for so many children was overwhelming and it made our work very valuable and necessary.

While helping to provide care for the kids, I also helped renovate the house that the children lived in. Alongside the renovations, me and another volunteer initiated the construction of a garden in front of the orphanage. I spent many hours in the hot sun turning up the soil! After many days and with the help of local and other international volunteers, we planted several flowers, a mango tree, and a squash plant. This garden will improve the image of the orphanage and also help them become more self-sustaining.I hope to see more planting done by future volunteers.

There is still much more work to be done at the Chua La orphanage/pagoda and I hope that things continue to improve as more volunteers are assigned to that particular project. I truly hope that one day I can return to Chua La and see the progress that has been made. I definitely see myself doing more volunteering through Ubelong in my future!