Tam Ky
The Quang Nam Province is located in the middle of Vietnam, 860km from Hanoi, 947km from Ho Chi Minh City, and 108km from Hue City. The province is on the National Highway 1A, the South - North railway and on the route to Da Nang.

Tam Ky is the capital of the Quang Nam province and is most famous for the nearby Cham Towers. It is around a 1 hour drive from Da Nang and is quite a large town (pop. 50,000). However, you won't find many westerners in Tam Ky, so it certainly offers a different experience of Vietnam compared to the more touristy areas. Volunteers should know to bring things like books, music, or anything to liven up their spare time. The house has a DVD player and DVD's can be purchased cheaply in Tam Ky.

GVN's partner in Vietnam cooperates with local authorities such as the Quang Nam Union of Friendship Organisations and Quang Nam Department of Welfare to place international volunteers to the following placements:

Home of Affection
This is the home for 30 orphans and street children in the Quang Nam community. There are two classes; one for 7-10 year olds and one for 11-15 year olds. The older children are all at school and receive general education. Volunteers are expected to teach the older children English as well as basic general studies. The younger children are still at a basic English level learning the alphabet, colours, days of the week, etc. Both classes love doing art lessons and sports. Generally in a 1.5 hour class, the first hour is focused on the core lesson content and the last half an hour is used for games or sports.

The Tam Ky Baby Orphanage:
The orphanage is the permanent home for around 47 baby orphans aged from one month to 10 years old. Most of the children are parentless, although some children are there because their parents are unable to look after them. For example, this may be because they are unable to afford to feed them and send them to school, or because a mother has remarried and her new husband does not want the children from a previous marriage. There are eight Vietnamese staff who work directly with the babies. Their jobs are cleaning, bathing, feeding and looking after the children.

Volunteers are expected to come and look after the babies while the mothers are cleaning and cooking meals. In addition, sometimes you will be expected to assist the mothers in feeding the children. There are some teaching programs, but mainly in games and some basic art and craft skills for the children.

English teaching program:
GVN's partner in Vietnam cooperates with the orphanages, day care and language centres to run some English teaching programs in the community. There are two English teaching programs in Tam Ky:

Tam Thanh program (available from January to October every year)
Tam Thanh is a small village 15 km east of Tam Ky. It is located in an isolated area and near the beach. Many children leave school because their parents cannot afford it and because there is big shortage of teachers at the village. Volunteers are expected to work with GVN staff to teach basic English, arts, crafts and some other skills to around 60 children aged from 6 to 11 years old. The program aims to encourage the children to stay at school and gain some skills for future job opportunities.

Tam Ky hospital
Tam Ky hospital is the biggest hospital in the Quang Nam province and it serves a large population in the community. There is great need for western medical knowledge and technologies to improve their services, for these reasons foreign medical experts come and work at the hospital. The program aims to teach the local staff how to converse with foreigners who come to work at the hospital. Volunteers are expected to teach English pronunciation and conversational skills and medical terms (if possible) to around 30 staff members and local members of the community who are involved in the services at the hospital.

A typical day at Tam Ky program:
9: 00 am to 10: 30 am: Baby Orphanage or Tam Thanh program
2:30 pm to 5:00 pm: Home of Affection or Tam Ky hospital


Accommodation:
Volunteers stay in a rented house . It is not too far from shops, an internet cafe and local restaurants. Rooms are equipped with beds, pillows, mosquito nets and fans. The house has hot running water and a telephone (for making local calls and receiving international calls only).