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Paige and Pierre’s Volunteer Experience at La Ferme du Colvert
La Ferme du Colvert Spa Ecolodge is about to send off our two most recent volunteers, Pierre Fabra (France) and Paige Brennan (US) who have been working with us over the last two months.
About our volunteers
Before joining us at LFC, Pierre and Paige travelled around Vietnam for 6 months getting to know the northern countryside and visiting eco-lodges and sustainable projects along the way.
Before Vietnam they both lived in Spain for almost a decade where Pierre owned and operated a French-style café-bar and Paige managed an English school. Pierre’s expertise lies in hospitality and tourism services where as Paige has studied and worked in linguistic and cultural communication.
Their backgrounds in tourism, language and culture really came in handy during their volunteer work!
How it all began
Pierre and Paige heard of La Ferme du Colvert by chance – in a tiny unknown guide book written by a friend’s friend. They got in touch with LFC and received an answer that their help was indeed welcome and so they met with Phuong Tran, LFC’s owner in January to talk and arrange the stay and work.
Pierre and Paige learned more about LFC’s mission and goals and they were excited to work with us. Our volunteers appreciated that we engage with the local community by creating employment and preserving nature, bringing quality service to customers.
Most staff are women, allowing their empowerment and providing a school for their children, plus Pierre and Paige were interested in our large focus on ecology and environment.
It was the perfect fit for Pierre and Paige’s interests and they were ready to contribute! It also helped that our volunteers loved being surrounded by LFC’s nature and enjoyed escaping from busy city life.
Accommodation
Pierre and Paige were invited to stay in lovely Tea Hill House, where they had lots of peace and quiet in their own little 3 bedroom 3 bathroom home. They usually shared meals with staff at the Hoa Ban school or at Le Colvert restaurant, getting to know LFC employees and practicing some basic Vietnamese!
Their neighbours were 5 adorable puppies who they fell in love with and they even enjoyed the intense local traffic on the little road nearby: sometimes up to 5 buffaloes at the same time!
An Experience to Remember
After working several weeks with the same people you develop good relationships. By going through very busy weekends, working hard, you really get to know your colleagues.
That’s exactly what our volunteers were looking for: to know Vietnam from the inside, from a Vietnamese point of view. Sure it’s amazing to see landscapes and live in a beautiful oasis, but to become friends with the staff, through work, even if communication was sometimes hard, that was the real achievement!
