Farm Volunteer in Vietnam

I had decided to help out on a Vietnamese organic farm for 4 weeks (all of March). Before my trip, the RGV checklist helped me a lot so that I didn't get confused during the preparations. The flight booking process also went very well.

My arrival

So I left Zurich for Hanoi on March 1st. Before my trip, the RGV employee from Vietnam contacted me and informed me that she would pick me up at Hanoi airport. When I arrived in Hanoi, I found RGV employee Duong right away and she drove with me to my place of work, which was about 45 minutes from the airport.

My arrival

When we got there we met Mrs. Trang, the owner of Organic Farm. She showed me her farm and told me that I would live with her at home. I said goodbye to Duong and Mrs. Trang drove me to her house.

I was able to unpack my things there. Then we went back to the farm, where I met the other 4 employees, unfortunately they couldn't speak English, but they were open and friendly towards me.

The tasks

The next day Mrs Trang drove me back to the farm. I was supposed to help plant the soybeans there. Two employees had already drawn furrows in the field. Here the beans had to be sown by hand, always 5 pieces. During the week I got to know other jobs such as harvesting and shelling beans, planting fruit trees, digging fields and pulling weeds.

The weeding took a lot of work because no herbicides had to be used on the farm and everything had to be weeded by hand.

leisure

Food was always available on the farm with everyone during the week. Among other things, there were farm own vegetables and meat from self-contained chickens. During the weekends, Mrs Trang usually took me and her 2 children on outings. She showed me the city, sights and various museums.

I was very happy that she took such care of me, because I probably wouldn't have found these places on my own, because the city is very big and quite confusing in terms of transport.  

Departure and tips

On the day I left, Duong picked me up from the farm in a taxi. I had a very nice time in Vietnam, I gained a lot of experience, saw a lot and learned a lot. I felt that I was well looked after. If I had any problems or questions, I could contact Mrs. Trang or Duong at any time.

Despite the Vietnamese winter, I did not freeze at any day, because there were always between 20 ° and 30 ° C.

I would recommend a Vietnamese language course to anyone planning a longer stay. This makes it much easier to get in touch, especially if you work alone with the locals on the farm.

Field Report Volunteering on a Farm in Vietnam by Lea Z., June 2019