SOCIAL WORK & LIGHT CONSTRUCTION
Code: 64399 Copied
Vietnam
Social work
People with disabilities
Manual work
Social work
People with disabilities
+1
Fixed dates
About the project
SOCIAL WORK & LIGHT CONSTRUCTION
📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Thuy An Rehabilitation Centre for people with disabilities finds itself 13kms away from small town of Son Tay and 70kms from down town of Hanoi. Founded in 1976, the centre was originally opened for disabled children whose parents are the veterans infected with the Agent Orange, the toxic chemical used in American war. Over time, however, the centre has started to render its services to all disabled children. Thuy An Centre is a campus’ housing up to 150 children and 50 staff. The children aged 0 to 18 suffering from mental or physical disabilities are helped in any of three ways, depending on their disability.
1. Rehabilitation: This consists of physical therapy, orthopaedic surgery (Galvanic electrolysis, ultrasound, laser acupuncture...), and backbone relaxation treatment and in providing for and assisting the children with the use of aid equipment.
2. Education / Vocational training: This consists of special education, integration education, vocational training such as sewing, wool knitting, embroidering and computer teaching.
3. Upbringing / Looking after: The children are well looked after by staff who are disciplined and efficient. The job requires high level of responsibility and self discipline.
The Centre receives financial support from the government as well as NGO’s and occasional businessmen. Though receiving assistance from various sources, there are still a constant need of help in infrastructure and finance. The ultimate goal of the centre is to help the children re-integrate into society. While special education helps to lessen the burden of children’s families by teaching the disabled to help themselves with personal activities, the vocational training programs enable handicapped children to earn their living and able to live independently in the future. There were thousands of children benefited from the education here and many of them have a stable job. The centre itself has five staff who were nursed and educated in this school and now they are helping the other unlucky children.
💼 What the programme involves
There are two types of work that volunteers are expected to support the center: manual outdoor work with construction and social indoor work with children.
Physical work varies from time to time but the need for renovation and construction is constant because the center was built more than 30 years ago. VPV has sent groups of volunteers to the center since May 2008 and did support the center in some construction work and small projects. There are also a lot of unnamed work that the staff want to do but do not have enough time and work force to carry out. Volunteers will also join the activities that the children and people there are doing everyday such as preparing meals, cleaning the center and others. For this camp, the expected work is to help to finish building the playground : cleaning the area, even out the ground (with sand), putting bricks and creating small fences around the trees. The volunteers might need to help with the construction of the sewerage as well.
At the same time, volunteers can work in the classrooms for special education such as retardation class, basic education for deaf and mute children or the vocational classes where children learn to sew, do embroideries, wool knitting
if the volunteers have the necessary skills. Working with kids here requires a lot of creativity and different groups prefer different approaching methods. It is advisable if the volunteers can bring some educational materials. Our former volunteers often use pictures, drawing, clay, games, CD and music to teach some dance moves.
Note: The work may change everyday and be informed at short notice, which is based on the requests of the center. Therefore, volunteers are expected to be flexible with sudden changes.
🏠 Accommodation on site
• Volunteers will stay in the guestrooms of the center, which are close to each other.
• The center will provide mattresses, pillows and blankets. Volunteers should bring their own mosquito nets.
• Bathrooms and toilets are available close to the rooms. There’s no hot water.
• Volunteers will have lunch and dinner in the center. VPV will prepare breakfasts for the group which include a few options such as breads, sticky rice or dumplings. If you are a vegetarian, or have special diets, please let us know in advance.
• No washing machine for the group, so prepare yourselves to do hand-washing.
• No wifi available
📍 About the location
Volunteers will have 2 days off on Saturday and Sunday at the end of the 1st week of camp. Volunteers can travel to Ba Vi National Park, one tourist attraction near the center. Or volunteers can leave the village on Friday afternoon and take the bus back to Ha Noi or other provinces. In case volunteers stay at the village, food and accommodation are still provided.
ℹ️ Additional information
The program fee is to cover food, accommodation, transportation to the project site as well as project cost and coordination cost.
Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.
Sign in to apply📅 Available sessions
VPV19-02
05/08/2019 → 16/08/2019
Volunteers registered
3 / 12
♂ 0/6
♀ 3/6
ℹ️ Key information
Age required
18–60 years old
Solidarity donation
0.00 EUR
French tax residents may be eligible for a tax reduction of up to 66% of their costs (membership, plane tickets, solidarity donation).
📍 Location
Ba Vì, Hanoi, Vietnam
Vietnam
🌍 Location info
Local currency
Viet Nam Dong (VND / ₫)
Exchange rate
1 VND = 0.000035 EUR
Rate as of 31/05/2026
Timezone
Indochina Time
Local time: 21:33 (12/11/2026)
🛡️ Before you leave
✅ Features
🗣️ Languages spoken
English
Vietnamese