Volunteer in Vietnam 2025 & 2026

Culture Week in Ho Chi Minh City

This week-long adventure mixes Vietnamese history with what’s happening in the city right now. You’ll hit up iconic landmarks, get your hands dirty in some workshops, and check out these fascinating temples. It’s all about experiencing what Vietnam’s really about while making memories you won’t forget – plus, you’ll connect with other people who are just as excited to be there as you are.

You’ll learn traditional customs, taste some seriously delicious local food, and bond with people from literally all over the world.

You’ll be based in Ho Chi Minh City, which is basically the bustling heart of southern Vietnam – both culturally and economically. The whole program’s designed to be immersive but also, like, actually fun and educational at the same time.

Highlights

– Sightseeing: Walk through Vietnam’s past at landmarks like the War Remnant Museum, Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, Iconic Temples and Cu Chi Tunnels.
– Cultural Immersion: Participate in workshops on Vietnamese customs, cooking, and language.
– Authentic Experiences: Relish local delicacies and connect with the Vietnamese community and fellow travelers.

Kindergarten in Ho Chi Minh City

Volunteer at a local kindergarten in Ho Chi Minh. We’re talking playing games, singing songs, doing arts and crafts that actually mean something, teaching them some dances, and helping with basic English.

The kids are 3 to 6 years old, and they need your full energy. You’ll be working at this kindergarten that serves the local community, and you’re gonna help out the teaching staff who are already there doing amazing work.

Daily tasks include feeding the kids, playing with them, giving them that one-on-one attention they need. It’s hands-on stuff.

So this program’s actually a unique opportunity to contribute to these children’s early development. You’re focusing on kids aged 3-6, and the whole aim is to help them with their English communication skills and just their overall learning through activities that are fun and interactive.

As a volunteer, you’ll be assisting the local teachers in nurturing the kids’ growth – we’re talking singing, dancing, basic writing, teaching numbers, shapes, letters, all that foundational stuff.

English Teaching in Ho Chi Minh City

Join our English teaching project in Ho Chi Minh City, where you will be helping out at local schools with kids who are 12 to 18. You’ll be helping them get better at English while you’re also getting this full immersion into Vietnamese culture.

Your efforts actually empower these students to build confidence in English, which honestly opens up so many brighter futures for them.

The aim is strengthening the English language foundation for these students through learning experiences that are engaging and interactive – not just boring textbook stuff. The students are genuinely eager to connect and learn from international people like you.

As someone participating in this, you’ll be guiding lessons that focus on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Don’t worry though – there’s a local teacher there who helps with classroom management and can do translation if you need it.

Working with Disabled Children in Ho Chi Minh City

You’ll be helping take care of special children who have mental and physical disabilities at a local hospital in the city. It’s important work.

You will be working with the local staff to look after these kids – feeding them, comforting them, playing games, and helping them become more socially active.

This project happens at a childcare home that’s inside a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It’s dedicated to supporting children with disabilities, including autism. These kids are aged 3-12 and older, and they face unique challenges every single day.

By joining this, you’re contributing to improving their quality of life through care, play, and activities that help them develop.

You’ll work closely with the children to help enhance their speech, social skills, and physical abilities. The whole idea is fostering this nurturing and engaging environment for them.

You’ll gain insights into Vietnamese healthcare and how the community works to support disabled children. And you’ll learn valuable skills in caregiving, patience, and responsibility while working right alongside local staff who know what they’re doing.

Soup Kitchen in Ho Chi Minh City

This project is run by an NGO and they partner with local people to provide heavily subsidized, low-cost meals. The whole thing’s success actually relies on donations, help from locals, and participants like you, whose efforts keep the daily meal prep and serving going.

They’ve been doing this since 2012, and they serve hundreds of individuals every single day. Get this – meals cost just 2000 VND, which is approximately 10 cents. That’s it.

As someone participating in this program, you’re contributing to this important mission by helping with food preparation, serving, and maintaining cleanliness. You’re making sure the shop can keep offering meals to the elderly, local workers, students, persons with disabilities, and children who depend on it.

You’re assisting in preparing and serving affordable meals for 300-500 individuals daily. That’s a lot of people. You’ll work alongside local volunteers and NGO staff, and you’re helping create a positive impact on the community in a really tangible way.

Teaching at a Campus in Ho Chi Minh City

Teaching English and help students improve their vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, and fine tune their overall knowledge of English.

The students are mostly hospitality and tourism students, ages 16-25, in this mutually beneficial, two-way learning process and cultural exchange. It’s not just you teaching them – you’re learning from each other.

You’re supporting students in hospitality and tourism management, which is pretty cool. As a mentor, you’ll help students improve their English communication skills, and these skills are honestly essential for their careers. 

You’ll engage students with real-life exercises, games, and interactive lessons – keeping things dynamic. Beyond just the teaching part, you’ll immerse yourself in local culture, participate in college activities, and connect with students who are genuinely eager to learn.

No previous teaching experience is required. The focus is on creating a supportive and friendly learning environment, not being some perfect teacher.

Medical Placement in Ho Chi Minh City

If you’ve ever wanted to see what healthcare actually looks like in another part of the world, here’s your chance. 

This whole setup is basically made for pre-med students or anyone already in medical school who wants to see how medicine works in Vietnam.

You get to shadow healthcare professionals all over the place – surgery rooms, rehabilitation centers, places where they practice traditional medicine. It gives you this whole new way of thinking about how healthcare can work.

You’re following professionals through all sorts of departments – surgery, rehab, traditional medicine spots. You’re learning from doctors, nurses, therapists who’ve been doing this forever, and it’s all pretty hands-on in terms of what you get to observe.

Plus, you’re seeing traditional Vietnamese medical practices up close, which is something you definitely don’t encounter in your typical Western hospital.

You’ll help out with hospital operations too, things like triage, wound care, taking blood pressure readings. When they’ve got health awareness campaigns going on for schools or local communities, you can jump in on those. 

It’s pretty much a chance to step out of the textbook world and see medicine as it’s actually practiced, in a city that’s absolutely buzzing with life and culture.

Culture Week in Halong Bay

Join this amazing experience in the north of Vietnam, near Hanoi.. Every single day you’re doing something that gets your adrenaline going, and experience the local culture.

One minute you’re wandering through these gorgeous lantern-lit streets in the Old Quarter, next thing you know you’re up early experiencing the peaceful vibe of a morning market.

You’ll be exploring stuff, actually making things with your own hands, and connecting with people in ways that… well, it just hits different than regular travel.

So you’re based in Ha Long Bay – which, by the way, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and absolutely stunning – and this whole cultural adventure shows you both the quiet, peaceful landscapes and the super vibrant local traditions.

Each day’s a mix of getting out there and making real connections. We’re talking temple visits, hands-on cultural workshops, strolling through markets, and heading out to explore those jaw-dropping limestone formations in the bay.

You’ll get to dig into Ha Long’s history at this place called the Quang Ninh Museum, figure out the real secrets behind Vietnamese coffee and food, and do some creative stuff like making bracelets.

It’s this perfect balance of really getting into the culture while also having these epic natural adventures. Plus, let’s be honest, Ha Long Bay’s pretty much the ideal spot for young travelers who want something meaningful but also, you know, fun.

Kindergarten in Halong Bay

At the Kindergarten you’re working right alongside the local teachers helping out with kids who are 2 to 5 years old.

You’re doing stuff like playing with them, helping them pick up some basic English, assisting with the everyday routines – that kind of thing.

Early childhood education? It’s literally the foundation for everything that comes later in a kid’s life. And the reality in Vietnam is that a lot of kindergartens – especially the local ones in areas that don’t get as much support – they’re dealing with some real challenges. We’re talking limited resources, classes that are way too big, and honestly just not enough one-on-one time for each kid.

That’s where this program comes in. They place volunteers in these kindergartens so you can actually help the teachers out and bring some joy, some creativity, and yeah, an international perspective into the classroom. 

Things you could be doing:

– You’re directly impacting early childhood development in actual Vietnamese communities – like, real grassroots stuff.
– You get hands-on experience in international education and working with young children.
– You’re helping with English language exposure, but it’s all done through natural, interactive ways – nothing forced or awkward.
– You experience authentic cultural exchange. Just everyday Vietnamese life, which is pretty amazing.
– You’re assisting teachers with the daily routines and whatever’s happening in the classroom.
– Helping welcome the kids when they arrive in the morning and then helping out again when they’re leaving.
– Supporting them with basic hygiene stuff and during meal times.
– Organizing and leading these fun, interactive games, songs, arts and crafts activities.
– Introducing the children to simple English words and phrases, but doing it through play – keeping it light and fun.

Ha Long Bay Recycling Project

You’re working right alongside this local cooperative, collecting stuff and repurposing it, creatively transforming things like glass bottles, fabric scraps, tires, even old advertising tarps into sustainable products.

We’re talking tote bags, floor mats, hats, chairs – real stuff people can use. And you’re involved from the collection part all the way through to the actual crafting.

Plus you’re learning about circular economy principles while doing it and helping make the community cleaner and greener.

This project partners with a local women-led cooperative that’s all about reducing waste through creative reuse. You will be working with this cooperative to collect, repurpose, and transform glass bottles, fabric scraps, tires, and those advertising tarps into sustainable products like tote bags, floor mats, hats, chairs.

You’re hands-on with everything from collection to crafting, learning about how a circular economy actually works, and contributing to making the community cleaner and greener.

Ha Long Bay Compost Project

The Waste & Compost Program in Ha Long City is a hands-on opportunity to be part of something that’s sustainable and community-driven – all focused on organic waste management.

It’s a really meaningful initiative that takes organic waste and turns it into compost that brings new life to public green spaces, school gardens, and local community plots. You work right alongside these dedicated local teams and you’re helping reshape how people think about waste. Not as this burden we’re stuck with, but as something valuable that can actually help create a healthier planet.

The project partners with local environmental cooperatives that lead these grassroots initiatives in sustainable waste management and urban greening.

As a participant, you’re involved in the entire cycle of compost production. From collecting organic waste at local markets and households, to sorting it, layering it, aerating it, and then harvesting the finished compost. You’ll also help with education and outreach efforts to get people thinking about proper waste segregation and being better environmental stewards in their community.

This is way more than just an environmental project. It’s this immersive cultural experience that connects you with local sustainability champions – people who are genuinely making a difference. Plus you get exposed to the real-world impact of circular waste practices in an urban Vietnamese setting, which is pretty eye-opening.

Ha Long Bay Construction Project

In a lot of rural Vietnamese communities, quality education resources are pretty hard to come by. Schools don’t always have the funding they need, and finding a quiet, safe spot where kids can just sit and read outside of school hours? Yeah, that’s usually not even an option.

That’s the problem we’re trying to fix here — building a dedicated library that’s not just a place to store books, but somewhere that gets kids excited about learning and exploring new ideas.

And your part in all this? You’re there from the start. You’ll be doing actual construction work, sure, but also helping prep the space in creative and educational ways. What you’re building won’t just disappear when you leave — it’ll be there for years, supporting kids with knowledge and inspiration they might never have had access to otherwise.

Here’s what you can expect from the experience itself:

– You’re contributing to something permanent that’ll keep helping people long after you’re gone.
– You’ll learn a ton about sustainable community development through actually doing it.
– You’re directly helping kids get free access to education and literacy resources.
– You’ll work closely with local educators and community members, which is pretty amazing for cultural exchange.

And honestly, there’s something special about that kind of grassroots teamwork where everyone’s working toward the same goal.

Ha Long Bay Medical Placement

Join the medical project in Halong Bay and work at one of Quang Ninh Province’s top general hospitals. If you’re studying medicine or already working in healthcare and want to see how it all goes down in a totally different setting, this could be pretty eye-opening.

You’re learning straight from Vietnamese doctors and medical staff, getting an inside view of how a government hospital operates over there.

This program lets you dive into Vietnam’s public healthcare world and see how different medical specialties handle things when they’re working with limited resources. It’s a completely different ballgame from what you might be used to.

In accordance with Vietnamese government regulations, this is a strictly observational program. Participants will not engage in any hands-on medical procedures or direct patient care.

You’re going to walk away with a totally different perspective on how healthcare works globally – the challenges, the creative solutions, all of it.

You can access more than 25 medical departments – everything from Cardiology and Neurology to Pediatrics, Surgery, Oncology, Rehabilitation, and Traditional Medicine. That’s insane variety.

It’s a genuine cultural exchange. You’ll see how Vietnamese healthcare blends modern medicine with traditional practices, which is pretty unique.

You’re learning from people who do this every day. Watching real procedures, picking up knowledge from specialists who actually know their stuff.

You’ll understand how Vietnam’s healthcare system actually functions. Not just theory – the real deal.

You get to observe local medical staff doing their thing at the hospital. See their techniques, their approaches, how they interact with patients.

Your whole perspective on international medical care broadens. You’ll see treatment models that might be totally different from home.

And the cultural side? You can’t underestimate that. Seeing how local culture influences healthcare delivery and medical practices – that’s something textbooks just can’t teach you.