Community Partner since 1994.
Elizabeth Wang, Senior Marketing Product Manager at Google, sought both a different way to travel and a meaningful way to give back to the global community. After reviewing several organizations online, Elizabeth selected Global Volunteers’ Vietnam service program. She served in Hanoi at Blind-Link, a non-profit organization which trains visually impaired adults in massage therapy […]
Blind-Link began in May 2013 as a dream-come-true for its co-founder and manager, Huong Nguyen. The NGO was established with her lawyer-husband, Phan Vu Anh, to train and employ blind and vision-impaired individuals as massage therapists in Hanoi, Vietnam. Through research and intuition, Huong single-mindedly employed the business advice she acquired in the U.S. on […]
In her second installment, Vietnam Volunteer Diana Swansen reflects on how she and her teammates experienced compassion while volunteering in Hanoi, Vietnam. As an aviation trainer, she transmitted her passion for aviation to a classroom full of sixth-graders, fascinating them with maps and charts; and nurturing their dreams of become pilots. As a volunteer, she inspired her […]
Vietnam Volunteer Diana Swansen notices the “simple things” in life that remind her of humanity’s goodness. She offers her optimistic perspective with us, and her teammates, when teaching conversational English on a Vietnam Service Program in Hanoi. What is good taste? For most people, taste is simply a matter of flavor. But how do we experience goodness? For me, […]
Maine Assistant Attorney General William (Bill) Laubenstein has served abroad and in the USA with Global Volunteers since 2007 – contributing his skills to youth and adults in Vietnam, the Cook Islands, Greece, South Africa, India, Ecuador and West Virginia. In this interview, he offers highlights on his volunteer travels to date. My Global Volunteering […]
First-time Global Volunteer Denise Nelson Nash has always had a passion for volunteering. In Hanoi, Vietnam, she accomplished a long-held goal – teaching conversational English at the Vietnamese Institute for Development Strategies (VIDS). She shares her story here: “As a young adult, I lived and worked in Venezuela. Living in another country taught me the value […]
Long-serving volunteer Laura Merriam first served in Vietnam with her husband, Peter Armstrong, in 2015. Her beautiful recollections were printed in MinnPost, an independent Minnesota newspaper. Below are highlights from Laura’s journal from one “average” day of her teaching assignment as a Global Volunteer in Hanoi. By Laura Merriam The old quarter of Hanoi, where […]
Expectations Vs. Reality in Vietnam: Fran, a volunteer serving in Vietnam, writes about her expectations and what she actually finds at a day serving with Global Volunteers. Expectations: It is early and I am awake. I want desperately for this day to begin when I will meet and make new friends. In the short time […]
by Global Volunteers alumnus Jim Swiderski A garden of “Peace Lilies” next to the lake and park in central Hanoi greets my morning walk. It’s hard to capture the rush of emotions I have today as Global Volunteers prepares for our 30th service program working with children at the NBK School. I reflect on yesterday’s […]
