Volunteering in Vientiane, Laos

I volunteered with Green Lion, IVHQ's local partner in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Accommodation: I stayed in a guest house with other volunteers. The room was a double room and had air conditioning and hot shower. The bed was an old fashioned wire frame bed, a little bit noisy and not much comfortable for me. The room was cleaned twice a week.

Food: Volunteers had 6 choices for breakfast and 6 choices for dinner at the guesthouse. I liked the food.

Safety: Vientiane is a relatively safe city. I didn't have problems, although one volunteer was robbed while riding a bicycle.

Transportation: the local organization provided transportation to/from my placement. Also, bicycles were available for volunteers at the guest house.

Social scene: Around 5 volunteers started every week. Vientiane is a quiet city, however volunteers could go to the night market or to restaurants at night. Volunteers must respect the curfew at the guesthouse.

Culture week: Green Lion takes volunteers to go sightseeing in the first week. My impression is that it could be done in 2 or 3 days. I would have preferred volunteering instead of attending culture week.

Volunteering: my placement was a center for autist children. It was a private center where the children's parents paid US$250 per month. Some of them had scholarships. It was nice to learn more about autism, although volunteers didn't receive much orientation on how to deal with autist children and in most of the times volunteers just watched the carers (the center had a good number of carers).