What is a workcamp ?

Workcamps are short-term projects (STV-projects), that seek to provide an experience that connects solidarity, intercultural learning, and community life.While the workcamp we offer does improve the quality of life for others, it is equally important as a time to reflect on our own way of live and to meet other young people. The significance of what we do is more than social charity, it is an encounter with real people in the real world. Workcamps go beyond the familiar road of commercial society, taking us outside of our comfort zone.

Workcamps are organized by SJ Vietnam in cooperation of partner organizations and institutes in/around Hanoi. Most workcamps have a duration of two weeks, and are designed for both national and international volunteers to have an opportunity to explore the potential of an international group, working and living together, to accomplish community work, and above all to have fun.

Workcamp participants will live and work together in one of the SJV houses in Hanoi, and will be guided by a Vietnamese or international workcamp leader. Together with the whole group, problems will have to be solved, decisions will have to be made, and actions will have to be taken; everybody is responsible for daily life. Team work is an essential concept in participating in a SJV workcamp. A workcamp is what each volunteer makes of it. It requires seeking out opportunities, looking to see what needs to be done, taking responsibility. Volunteers should feel as an equal part of workcamp management. Workcamps thrive on the initiatives of individuals.

One other important aspect of the work camps is the intercultural integration of the participants. Due to the fact that you will live and work together with people from all over the world and with different ages, each with different views on life and culture. The work camp is an opportunity to learn about the cultures of your new colleagues and housemates. This could however result in difficulties and misunderstandings. Please regard this as an opportunity to learn, instead of a source of conflict. Furthermore, please be aware of the importance of assisting everyone in speaking the stated language (ENGLISH) of the workcamp. Volunteers from the same countries should be careful not to exclude other volunteers by lapsing into conversations and cultural patterns which others may not understand.

Furthermore, volunteers who are unskilled in certain fields are encouraged to learn new abilities. In this learning process, volunteers may have to seek a balance between good, efficient work and should be prepared for making mistakes due to inexperience.

It is strongly recommended that you do not arrive late or depart early from a workcamp. The workcamp runs for just two weeks, and if you arrive late, you will miss the crucial period of orientation and introduction. Furthermore, departing early can erode the feeling of solidarity in the group, and has a negative effect on the workcamp’s atmosphere.

Remember that a workcamp is not a holiday, a professional training or a social-humanitarian project ! Do not expect to help the “poorest” people and to understand the situation they are in, within just two weeks. You will contribute for a short period of time in a long-term project, so no direct results will be noticeable. The most important result however will be a personal change and the energy that you will bring to your project. Trough these work camps you will probably see the world from a different point of view. The cultural challenges that volunteers will encounter during their work camp will strengthen them in their knowledge of problem-solving and life experience. So that when you return home, you will probably look different at things that always looked very common.

About the life in a workcamp

You will live together with other volunteers both from Vietnam and abroad. As participants of a work camp, you are responsible for everyday-activities such as: cleaning the house, going to the market and cooking. You will be split into groups and do these tasks together. That’s much faster and more fun too. In sum, whether the house is a comfortable clean “home” or a dark dirty dungeon, whether you have delicious steaming meals or dry bread and cold rice depends on you and your team. Make this YOUR work camp. We are sure you will do a great job!

What can i do in a workcamp ?

The types of project are for example the construction or renovation of a community building, such as a school or medical block, cultural monument or community centre, or environmental work; for example improving public gardens, building a public paths, removing invasive growth, or ecological research. There is also work with disadvantaged people, such as refugees, the physically disabled and mentally ill, children, the aged, and minority ethnic populations. There are sometimes cultural projects and study projects, agricultural projects and others depending on the identified need of the local population.

What about leisure activities ?

During weekdays and evenings, volunteers will spend time together at the Youth Houses for social activities, discussions, workshops, games, etc. These leisure activities will be organized by volunteers to understand more about each other and each other’s culture. Ask our Vietnamese volunteers or coordinators for suggestions of interesting places to visit and to enjoy. They are very friendly and even willing to take you to these places. Volunteers are not permitted to go out after midnight or to stay out overnight. We are responsible for your security when you are at our work camps.

If possible we will organize a trip to Ba Vi, a natural park not far from Hanoi, Mai Chau, Ha Long Bay, or Dai Lai Lake. We will try to organize trips that you would not do with a travel agency. This way we can show you the secret beauty of the surroundings of Hanoi. However, for these leisure activities, we will ask the volunteers to pay the extra cost(s) (e.g.: entrance fees for a museum, bus tickets for evening parties, weekend activities, cinema tickets, discos, beers, etc.).

Here, you can find some usual activities organized during workcamps:

International Day: Some nights will be dedicated to one country. Volunteers are invited to cook (and drink) specialties of their country for dinner (e.g.: Vietnamese day, Korean day, Spanish day…)

Enjoying Hanoi by night (Night Market in the weekend, Water puppet theatre, street pubs, disco).

Visit of the city and museums (old quarter, ethnography museum, Ho Chi Minh Mosoleum , etc)

During the week ends, SJV Staff can book a tour to the Ha Long bay or Sapa for the group. Please let us know in advance.

After work camps, we can recommend you some beautiful places in Vietnam to visit such as Ha Long Bay, Sapa, Hoi An, Hue, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, Me Kong delta, etc. Moreover, if provided space is available, the volunteers can stay longer in the SJ Vietnam Youth Houses for a small donation (around 2$ by day). Our houses are also open to any young travelers who are members of our partner voluntary organizations.

Workcamp as a mutual learning process ?

Although the work of the projects is important the workcamp is also an intercultural learning educational process for volunteers involved and the local population. The collective living and working experience brings about an awareness of people of various backgrounds, a contact with the local population, and a feeling of living international solidarity between young people. Workcamps educate not only the participants but also the local population, with whom the project is organised and who will continue the work started by the volunteers.

Can i join a workcamp with someone else or a group ?

People wishing to be placed in one project together should register as soon as possible because we try to limit the number of people from the same nationality to avoid groups between volunteers and to create the richest international environement mix possible for the volunteers. If you wish to join a workcamp as a group, then it is not anymore a workcamp but what we call a "group workcamp". Please contact us at info@sjvietnam.org for more information

How are organized the workcamps in the world ?

The exchange of international volunteers is organised through a series of networks of CCIVS members working with each other on a technical level. The volunteers are recruited through a workcamp organization in their own country which then arranges the placement through a workcamp organization in the receiving country, here SJ Vietnam.

What is a workcamp leader ?

The coordinator or leader is a local volunteer directly placed by SJ Vietnam staff to help organise the project in collaboration with the international volunteers. It is really important to note that the workcamp leader are volunteer themself and are not paid. They are there to help the management of the workcamp but not to be translators, tourist guides or maids.

Who are our volunteers ?

Local workcamp volunteers are from Vietnam, mainly from Hanoi, they are vietnamese or expat people living in vietnam (Belgium, Canada, Italy,Germany, Korea, Nicaragua, UK and USA).Our foreign workcamp and LTV volunteers ome from everywhere in the world : our organization has hosted international volunteers from around the world including: Australia, France, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, South Korea, Japan, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, USA, UK, etc.. A majory of our volunteers are students between 16 and 28 years old but also people older , couple and even famillies with baby ! The average age of workcamp volunteers is around 23 years old and 60 % are women.

So far our vietnamese volunteers are also travellers and you could meet them in Thailand, South Korea, France, Belgium, Indonesia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Germany, Russia, China, Czech Republic, Mexico, Spain, UK, USA... SJV volunteers are everywhere !

The common point between all these young and less young people is that all of them believe that it is possible to live together on this earth even if we are from different cultures and that each of use can change a little bit the world around us by concrete actions.

Attending the entire work camp

It is strongly recommended that you do not arrive late or depart early at a work camp. A person arriving late misses the crucial period of orientation and friendly awkwardness as group members get to know one another and a group spirit builds. A person departing early erodes the feeling of solidarity in a group and leaves the remaining volunteers with a sense of having been left behind for something more important. No matter how successful a work camp is, an early departure can create among the volunteers a feeling of waiting for the work camp to end.

Volunteer having disability

SJ Vietnam encourages people having disability to join our work camps. Contact us for more detail

When was the first international workcamp ?

International Workcamps began in its modern form in 1920. The idea was the result of a meeting of a group of people in a house in the Netherlands following the First World War (1914-1918). The four horrific years of the first world war left Europe in ruins and its people in despair.They decided that they had to do something active to try to deal with both the dreadful effects of the war, and to find a way to remove the causes of conflict. One of the people there, Pierre Ceresole invited volunteers from former enemy countries rebuild together a village near Verdun in France which had been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting, including one 10 month battle in 1916 which claimed over one million lives. It was the first international workcamp. Some believed that international encounters of young people who jointly engage in work for the community lead to bonds and friendship across national boundaries and consequently could prevent future conflicts. Out of this belief several organisations (a majority of them with a religious background) started International Voluntary Service programmes. Three of these still exist today: Service Civil International, Youth Action for Peace and the International Reconciliation Union (Internationaler Versöhnungsbund). All three organisations were fairly revolutionary for their time – not so much regarding their aims but regarding their principles. Their activities were open to both sexes (in a time when women were still fighting for their basic rights) and they avoided all kinds of military drill in their work camps. They believed strongly in the principle that the young people should engage voluntarily in their activities, principles which have remained valid up to today.

In 2004, 2,700 projects in 94 countries were organized in 2004 by workcamp organizations.