Go Vap Orphanage, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

If there is one thing we are used to in Ireland, its rain. But even 26 years of conditioning couldn’t prepare us for the heavens that opened as we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. It is rain like you see in movies, rain that floods streets in minutes and soaks you to the bone in seconds. Also, unlike Irish rain that comes at you sideways in icy stabs, Vietnamese rain is warm!

In fairness, the rain is biblical and the thunder and lightning storms are literally electric, but they only last for an hour or two and the rest of the days are quite lovely... once you acclimatise to the humidity. 

This is Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in October, coming into the end of its wet season.

While most backpackers head straight to District 1 (while making jokes about the Hunger Games), Karen and I took a detour and were set for a very different experience in the Go Vap District. A Vietnamese friend of ours had kindly arranged for us do some volunteer work at Go Vap Orphanage. He also provided us with some invaluable information for arriving to Ho Chi Minh City – only use Vinasun and Mai Linh taxies as others will rip you off, and for godsake be careful crossing the road!

Even still, nothing can prepare you for the traffic. Apparently there are 37 million motorbikes in Vietnam but in HCMC alone it felt like there was more. They are everywhere, going in every direction and more than likely carrying something they shouldn’t be. I have seen entire generations of families on one moped, a man driving while holding a door, another man driving holding a windscreen and countless women driving with tiny babies on their laps – nothing surprises anymore.

Thankfully we arrived to Go Vap in one piece and stayed in Hon En Hotel close to the orphanage, which is cheap, run by a lovely family and just what we needed for a few days.

It sounds dramatic to say, but the next few days genuinely changed my life. We spent just under a week working with the amazing carers in Go Vap Orphanage who look after 280 children. The majority of these children have special needs, while the rest are perfectly healthy little babies and toddlers. All of them are equally capable of stealing your heart.

When we first arrived we met the inspirational lady who runs the orphanage and were taken to the Baby Room. It is lined with cots and there are, as you would expect, babies everywhere. However, there was no crying and no chaos and the place was spotless.

After lunch and a nap (which happened everyday while the kids all slept) a lovely American volunteer named Sarah showed us around the rest of the orphanage. I don’t feel it fitting to go into details but suffice to say that some of the wards were hard to see. I can’t commend the carers and volunteers enough who spend their days with some very sick children.

Karen and I were assigned to divide our time between the babies and the toddlers. We started work at 8am wherever we were needed, usually helping to feed the babies and being there to give them a cuddle when they woke up.

Afternoons were mostly spent in the toddler room, entertaining a room full of tiny tots who were mad to play but craved nothing more than to sit on your knee and have your attention.

The older kids were always waiting for us to arrive to their floor, to take us by the hand and show us around. Or just to sit beside us and take some selfies!

It was extremely hard to leave Go Vap and the children behind. There are so many little faces and personalities that I will never forget, and one little girl in particular that broke my heart to leave behind. Seeing two little girls get adopted and meet their new families in the time we were there made it easier, as does knowing how well they are looked after. I cannot stress enough how kind and admirable the orphanage director and carers are. They treat the volunteers like family, and truly love the children they look after like mothers. It is an experience that will stay with us forever, and planted Vietnam warmly in our hearts.

I would wholeheartedly recommend volunteering in Asia as there are so many worthwhile causes. It somehow makes you feel closer to the place you are staying too as you get a sense of the people and the real culture, not just what the tourists see.

Unfortunately, I have heard some less than pleasant stories from other travelers who intended to volunteer in orphanages in Vietnam and Cambodia. Generally, you should never have to pay an orphanage to volunteer there and the only expense should be your food and accommodation. They should also be reluctant to let you volunteer there for just one day. As long as you make sure to research a project and the host before you sign up, volunteering will be a huge highlight of your travels.

Next Stop: District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Cochabamba, Bolivia

We have been so lucky and so glad to call Cochabamba home for the past 2 weeks. 

It was something we had arranged long before we set off, to volunteer with an organisation called Sustainable Bolivia for 2 weeks and to stay in one of their volunteer houses in the permanently sunny town of Cochabamba. If nothing else, it was so good to be able to unpack that godforsaken backpack for a while, but it was so much more than that. 

Sustainable Bolivia works with loads of partner organisations around Cochabamba to provide them with support and funds and volunteers. Most volunteers stay for a few weeks or months and can be set up with an organisation or a project that really suits their strengths and interests. Because Karen and I only had 2 weeks and have a limited level of Spanish, the organisation best suited to us is named Movimiento Sonrisa.

Movimiento Sonrisa helps the families of children being treated in the Videma Hospital in the city of Cochabamba. Parents who have brought their children to the hospital for treatment from rural areas are often forced to sleep on the streets because they lack the funds to pay for accommodation. Movimiento Sonrisa provides accommodation for parents in this difficult situation.

Movimiento Sonrisa volunteers also work within the children's hospital playing with the kids and keeping them company through some pretty tough times. The patients can be on their own quite a bit, so they really appreciate just having someone to hang out with. There's also a rule that they can't leave until their medical bill is paid, which means that some kids end up staying much longer than they need to if their parents are doing it tough. 

We absolutely loved going to the hospital every day and will be so sad to say bye to our little niños when the time comes. We worked between the General Ward and the Burns Unit, with more than an occasional visit to see the babies too. 

The kids were incredible. I can't even describe the feeling that you get from being around them. The kids in the burns unit in particular have such a hard and long recovery time in front of them, but they were the most resilient and cheekiest little ones you'll ever meet. 

I did find myself getting frustrated sometimes because I couldn't talk to them much in Spanish or I didn't understand what they were asking me for, but in reality it didn't matter to them as long as we were there. But one little girl, Carminia, did take me under her wing and teach me all of the colours in Spanish one day while we were painting. Cuteness. 

Call us girls, but we LOVED feeding the babies. Most of them were there due to malnourishment and were so teeny-tiny, but even after just 2 weeks we could see a difference in them and were like 2 proud mammies! 

As well as going to the hospital every day, I opted to take daily intensive Spanish lessons (4 hours a day for 5 days for 1,000bolivianos/€100ish). I can only apologise to my teacher for those 20 hours of blank faces on my part. I am not picking it up as quickly as I'd hoped. No bueno. 

I also learned how to ride in a "Trufi", which is like a cross between a taxi and a public bus but with no set stops. So for 2Bolivianos you can jump in and out wherever you like - just don't expect the driver to wait for you to close the door. 

We took a trufi to the ridiculously huge market, La Cancha, where we bought all kinds of stuff, including some questionable but oh-so-cosy floral thermal leggings, which will remain unphotographed if I can help it. Oh, and we bumped into these llamas:

And of course I have to mention the the Plato del Dias - 3 course meals for less than €3. These may be part of the reason why EVERYONE is sick in Bolivia, but delicious all the same.

We had karaoke, salsa, bbqs, jazz nights, sightseeing and endless fun, but one night that sticks out is when 4 of our group got arrested and piled off to the police station for not having their ID on them... but still made it to the nightclub afterwards! 

We loved Cochabamba and Sustainable Bolivia (can you tell?!) and would stay so much longer if we could, but the thing that makes us saddest to go is leaving the amazing people we've met. Those volunteers are the business and it's safe to say we'll miss them quite a bit! 

Other bits and pieces: 

Looking for a bus to Cochabamba? Follow the people in the bus station screaming "COCHAAAAAAABAAAAAAAMBAAAAAAA" at the top of their lungs! It's extremely annoying but very effective. The bus from La Paz was supposed to take 8 hours but took more than 10, so try to get one with a toilet. 

Bring a copy of your passport and immigration card with you everywhere in Cochabamba, the police are so strict and will ask you for it, especially if you are going out at night. 

La Pimienta Verde is the best club in town, we had the best night there  dancing until 4am.

There is an area called Las Islas which has the best food. Taxi drivers should know it.

It sounds too good to be true, but it actually is always summertime in Cochabamba! 

Next stop: Uyuni and the Salt Flats