ELI partners with organizations in Ho Chi Minh City, The Mekong Delta, and Hanoi to create unique volunteer travel opportunities.

Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta

Orphanage and Teaching Programs
ELI works with several children's homes in Ho Chi Minh City that provide shelter and education to over 1000 children who have been orphaned, abandoned, or living on the streets. The children attend the regular neighborhood schools, but they need extra English classes and tutoring in order to catch up with the other students in their classes. Volunteers at the orphanages will also have the opportunity to lead other activities and assist the orphanage staff with various tasks.

Health Programs

ELI works with several clinics catering to the poor of Ho Chi Minh City. Volunteers will assist with general tasks in the clinic, assist with physical therapy exercises, and other tasks depending on their qualifications.

HIV/AIDS Programs

HIV is a growing problem in Vietnam. Currently an estimated 300,000 Vietnamese are living with HIV. These people face many obstacles because of the stigma associated with being HIV positive. Many HIV positive people are abandoned by their families, refused care in hospitals and clinics, lose their jobs, as well as being generally ostracized by their communities. Thanks to recent legislation and a large influx of foreign aid, the old attitudes about HIV and AIDS are slowly starting to change. ELI works with several centers providing care for patients with HIV/AIDS as well as educational outreach programs for the larger community. Many of the patients staying in the centers arrived homeless, hopeless, and barely surviving on the streets. The centers provide the patients with Anti Retroviral Therapy and Palliative care. Now that ART drugs are more readily available in Vietnam, some patients are recovering well enough to return home from the center. Several of the centers also provide care for HIV positive orphans whose parents have died from AIDS related illnesses. The children receive treatment and an education in a nurturing environment. Many neighborhood schools will not accept HIV positive students, so teachers must be brought into the centers for the children. Volunteers with this program will be able to get involved with a wide range of activities from teaching English to the patients, orphans, and staff to assisting with the day to day care of the patients and helping with education programs. The most important role a volunteer will play is to empower the people in the center by demonstrating they are worthy of the kindness, respect, and love that is accorded to any human and is often denied to the HIV positive in Vietnam.

Center for Disadvantaged Children in the Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta, called the "Nine Dragon Delta" in Vietnamese, is one of the most densely populated regions of Vietnam. The Mekong river spreads across the plains and splits into hundreds of distributaries before emptying into the sea, creating rich, productive soil which produces most of Vietnam's rice and fruit. Towns in this region float on rivers or stand above the flood plain on tall stilts. Most people living in the Mekong delta are agricultural workers. The labor intensive process of producing rice leaves parents very little time to spend with their young children to provide them with the education needed outside school. Volunteers will work at a center started by a local priest to give the children of Cai Mon a safe place to stay while their parents are working as well as provide early childhood education. Volunteers will teach English, lead activities, and spend time with the children. The center has the goal of providing the children in this small town with the same educational advantages that children growing up in the big cities have.

Hanoi

Teaching
The Vietnamese economy is improving but not for everyone. The gap between the rich and poor and rural and urban is continuing to increase. The people have realized that getting a good job and having a better life may depend on the ability to speak English. Volunteers can teach English to a wide variety of students eager to learn the now universal language. Volunteers can work with primary school students in both rural and urban areas, an ongoing community English development program, or with adults from marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities, school dropouts, sex workers, and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Agent Orange
A tragic legacy of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s is the millions of people affected by Agent Orange. Between 1961 and 1971, the US military dumped millions of gallons of herbicide nicknamed Agent Orange on Vietnam. The defoliant released dioxins into the environment causing massive health problems in exposed populations. Many of the victims are small children whose parents were exposed to dioxin, suffered chromosomal damage, and gave birth to children with birth defects. ELI works with organizations committed to helping the victims of Agent Orange. These organizations area home to the children and provide medical care. Volunteers in this program will assist in providing day to day care to the children, lead activities for the children, and assist the center staff with tasks around the center.

Health Programs
ELI works with Health organizations where volunteers can gain clinical experience, assist with public health campaigns, and gain insight into the complicated health issues Vietnam is grappling with. In Hanoi, volunteers can work with clinics that cater to underserved populations, an HIV/AIDS prevention campaign, or in the clinics associated with the Agent Orange centers.

Community Development
ELI works with several organizations in Hanoi devoted to helping the community strengthen itself and develop to its full potential. Volunteers can assist by teaching vocational courses or by assisting with the research and implementation of sustainable development and poverty reduction programs.

Organic Farming
Volunteers can work at an organic farm, created in 1993 to promote a harmonious approach to agriculture in areas of environmental and human devastation. Volunteers will join local farmers in planting trees, growing vegetables, and raising fish.