Volunteering in Vietnam as a solo female traveller: a personal account

By Hannah Eichler

I was 22 years old, and working my first full time job after finishing my Bachelor of Nursing Science at University. I had moved away from what I later realised was a safety net, with friends I had known since high school, and it hit me: I no longer wanted to work full time. I wanted to scratch the itch that had slowly been nagging at me for years - I wanted to travel.

I decided I would take a gap year after completing my transition program at the hospital and began researching. I spent hours and weeks researching ways to travel, where to travel, the “must-do’s”, the highlights and the “safe” places for solo female travelling.

I ordered a dozen different travel brochures and books from different companies and soon decided that group travel in large numbers, with the more common travel companies, wasn’t to my taste. I knew deep within that spending a night or two in a tourist hotspot and moving on wasn’t the kind of travel or adventure that I ached for. These brochures were still useful, however, to write a list of countries and cities that intrigued me, and helped shape my research on the suggested accommodation and activities for each place.

Eventually, I stumbled upon a thread on one of my University Facebook groups about the possibility of completing placement hours in different countries, and having it count towards your nursing degree. Within that thread, I found an alumni who had volunteered while still a student in Nepal. I hungrily followed the link to a company called “Projects Abroad” and, after yet another busy shift dealing with extremely unwell people, decided this was how I would start my gap year; volunteering with a company who could provide accommodation and support.

My mind was made up on the spot, the only issue was, which country should I choose? Should I go somewhere where English is the primary language? As it turned out, there was no need. The company stated there would be a translator at all times, or that I would be buddied with a staff member who would have a basic understanding of English. This was still a daunting consideration for me though: the only other solo travel I had undertaken prior was to New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

Suddenly, the whole world was available to me through this volunteering program. I spent weeks agonising over this and reading other peoples’ blogs and reviews about the countries they had volunteered in. I knew that I wanted to volunteer somewhere I could utilise the skills I had gained as a Registered Nurse, but in an environment that would let me expand my knowledge and gain insight into other countries' health systems. Prioritising finding the right opportunity which offered this balance made the decision-making process more agonising. After many emails to the company, and many hours spent reading blogs, I had narrowed it down to Jamaica, Nepal and Vietnam.

In the end I decided on Vietnam as the visa process was easy, I love South East Asian food, and I was planning on travelling in February, so the climate would be more favourable. I signed up for a four-week volunteer period at one of the largest hospitals in Hanoi on a Paediatric, Cardiology and Respiratory Unit.

Hannah with some of her Vietnamese colleagues (who later would became friends) in Hanoi

The next five or so months at work seemed to drag on and fly past at the same time. I found work stressful the majority of the time as I was working on a higher acuity ward, helping and nursing a large number of very sick people, and dealing with a number of deaths.

After spending the last four years in aged care and seeing those you look after everyday slowly slip away, it takes a toll on you as a person. This made me only more determined to take my gap year, to start focusing on my dreams and wishes and not fitting into the role society seems to have set for me.

I saved every spare dollar I could, continued to embrace a minimalist lifestyle and kept my eye on the prize. Eventually, everything was finally ready for Vietnam. I had flights booked, my visa sorted, now it was time to turn my attention to planning the trips after that.

My family had a camping trip to cross the Simpson Desert in Australia, which meant I had to come home after Vietnam (an amazing must-do for anyone who has the opportunity!) and I knew I wanted to explore Europe in summer – just like every other Australian twenty-something with a few spare dollars and social media.

But the rest I decided I would make-up as I go. I ended up spending about half the year overseas (exploring India, Singapore, Scandinavia, Europe and Northern America) and the rest in a different state back home in Australia enjoying the quality family time that I had missed out on for the last five years.

I flew to Vietnam in February on my birthday (HBD to me!) and landed in Hanoi. There, I was received by Projects Abroad, who went on to be excellent throughout the entire process. I was collected by one of their workers, who took me to buy a sim card (they want all their volunteers to be able to make contact at all times to their 24-hour assistance line), then to the volunteer house where I was introduced to fellow volunteers.

I was staying in a traditional city house with a tall, long and narrow layout. There were four storeys with two rooms on each level that has a wet room (an interesting bathroom experience where everything, including your clothes, ends up wet no matter how hard you try) and a rooftop for laundry.

We were provided with a cook who provides you with three meals a day and packed our work lunches for us. The food was incredible, all that you could ever want! The daily fruit platters were a house favourite – I’ve always been intrigued by other countries' fruit and vegetables more so than meals themselves. The cook in the mornings was different from our dinner cook. If I was home early enough from work, the evening cook would let me help her prepare the dinners and she would teach me some traditional techniques and recipes which I thoroughly enjoyed.

It was an option to either live with a host family or live in a volunteer house with other volunteers. I enjoyed living in the volunteer house as your fellow volunteers soon became friends who then soon became like a family. We would wait until everyone was home before sitting down and eating dinner and would discuss the day’s events. I lived with people from around the globe who were volunteering across a variety of vocations: in schools and early childhood education, in other hospitals as a doctor or nurse, in dentistries, and one girl who was working with building social projects for the disadvantaged.

The hospital I was volunteering at was a half hour walk from the house or fifteen minutes by bus. I was shown both ways to get to work and quickly took to walking as the buses were overcrowded and never fully came to a stop (although they would slow down enough for you to jump in or out)!

I found the buses intimidating, being in other people’s personal space and fighting your way through the crowd to jump in and out. I enjoyed the walks as I would leave soon after sunrise and watch the city come to life. I would watch the shops slowly open up as the workers were half asleep (most workers slept or lived at the back of the shop) and put their displays out on the footpath after first sweeping or hosing them down. I would smell the cafes starting their breakfast rushes with food and coffee, watch other people walk to work, see the start of tours at the main tourist sites in the city wearing their matching hats or shirts and watch the families walking their kids to school. During my second week doing this, I realised as I passed the shop owners would start to give me a polite nod or smile back at me on my regular twice a day walks, it was one of the little things which helped me enjoy my time feeling like a local, rather than a tourist.

My work schedule was Monday to Friday and 7am until 4pm with a two-hour lunch break in the middle. The staff at the hospital welcomed me and after the first week trusted me enough to start working hands on. It was an incredible experience and so vastly different from my experience back home in Australia. I worked with amazing nurses, doctors, and domestic staff.

Everyone was friendly and wanted to practice their English with me, and would let me practice some Vietnamese that I had been learning as part of the volunteer program. I was also provided with two translators who soon became friends. The hospital staff would have a one-hour lunch break each day where we would come together in the staffroom, sitting on mats on the floor with hotpots to cook and share food, another amazing cultural experience compared to back home where you would be lucky to even get to eat your full meal when on shift.

I started using my breaks to explore the city after the first week or two and would leave for the full two hours. I took myself sightseeing and soaking in the city that was starting to become familiar. With the help of co-workers and translators, I was starting to become adept at basic phrases in Vietnamese and felt comfortable enough catching a taxi or motorcycle taxi and getting to where I wanted to be, but I mostly enjoyed exploring on foot. I found many cute or themed cafes in the Old Quarter (Harry Potter café or dog café anyone?), treated myself to a lot of food and snacks, bought gifts for all my friends and family back home and people-watched.

I used my weekends to explore the city, surroundings and further. One weekend in particular, a few other volunteers and I joined a tour to Ha long Bay and did an overnight cruise. It was a truly memorable experience being in the company of those who, not too long ago, were complete strangers but now, felt like close friends, if not family after living together in close quarters. It’s a feeling I’m sure all who travel can resonate with.

Another weekend, the nurses from work offered for me to join them on a day trip up north to near the Chinese border to go shopping at an outlet and stop at some temples along the way. We all packed ourselves into the bus, stopped in small towns and ate traditional street foods. They had singalongs on the bus – which I could not understand a word of, but enjoyed all the same, and played car games. It was a warming feeling being invited along and cared for. They would not let me out of their sights for fear of losing me in the crowds at the stops and outlet centre and would help translate when needed.

Weekends around the Old Quarter in Hanoi are a special time for the locals. The main street around the lake in the centre is closed to vehicles and is for foot traffic only. The community really comes together - games are set up, sports are played and some of the older generation turn on music and dance together. It was something I had never experienced before, back home or elsewhere, and I loved the experience. Locals took the opportunity, when seeing me and other volunteers, to come and practice English with us.

Sadly, my volunteering stint came to an end. Before finishing at the hospital, two of the nurses whom I closely worked with organised a family dinner at one of their homes with their husbands and children. It was a beautiful experience being welcomed into their home for dinner and sitting with their family on their living room floor, cooking in large hotpots, and coming together to share a meal. Their husbands both spoke English well and the children would practice their phrases with me or read from their English books. We ate and laughed and enjoyed the evening. It was an experience I’ve never forgotten, the friendship and warm welcome into someone else’s home is something I don’t ever take lightly.

After volunteering, I had joined a Busabout tour for the two weeks I had before I needed to be back in Australia. Starting in Hanoi and finishing in Ho Chi Minh, we went:

- bike riding in the rice fields of Mai Chau (have you even been to Vietnam if you don’t ride a bike through rice fields?) staying the night in a traditional village

- explored caves in Phong Nha Ke Bang

- explored Hoi An – a truly remarkable place and personal favourite for the lantern displays along with undertaking a cooking class (have I mentioned I like food?)

- visited Nha Trang where we enjoyed snorkelling on boat trip

- drove some questionable roads up into the mountains and stayed in Dalat

- walked through the Chu Chi tunnels to immerse ourselves in knowledge of the Vietnam War just outside of Ho Chi Minh.

The tour included a few other places and stops at small towns for lunch breaks and sketchy places to empty our bladders. While not being a tour kind of person, I enjoyed this as it was a small group and run by a fellow Australian.

As with most travels, they come to an end eventually. While on the tour I was reflective of my time in Hanoi volunteering, as well as enjoying the temples and sights I was introduced to each day on the tour. I knew I had made the right decision to undertake a volunteer program from the minute it began.

The Vietnamese people welcomed me with open arms, I was thankful and grateful for everyone who worked for the company to support volunteers in the way they did, I was sad to leave my volunteer family and work family behind when joining the tour group, however I did make new friends.

Later in the year when I undertook my European and Scandinavian adventure, I visited and stayed with some of my volunteer family, which is one of the benefits to travel – making friends across the globe!

Vietnam, and my experience there, will always hold a special place in my heart, as it was when I knew I was more than capable of exploring as a solo female, even if I was in the comfort of a volunteer program.

However, it was a stepping stone. It was the first adventure of my twelve-month gap year, it expanded my nursing knowledge and made me abundantly grateful to work in Australian health care and have access to it. The Vietnamese health care system is vastly different to our own, but that’s a story for another time.

Safe travels all, scratch that itch and research ways to make travel work for you!

Hannah x

Hannah meeting a new (furry) friend while on the road, exploring rice fields