The DVS is pleased to welcome you to the society forum at Dauphine London tomorrow, do not hesitate to come to see us and ask us questions! 
Various new projects are planned for this year so stay tuned :) 

The Dauphine Volunteering Society wishes you a happy new year and hopes to see you very soon on campus!

These past two years have been rich in emotions. Our board has changed, the team has recruited new members, and the DVS has been trying to plan and organise events and projects that are legally authorised to be realised during this pandemic and lockdown.
For this year, the DVS is full of hopes, and, since it cannot organise as many roams due to quarantine and social distancing, it will increase its visibility on its social media, especially on Instagram and Linkedin, where it will publish news, documentaries, films and series that are thoughtful.

Thank you so much for your understanding and your cooperation through this challenging year!
​

​Day 4 : Charlotte & Léa
​We started the day with a huge noodles soup to fuel us before starting our work at the construction site. We have learnt how to make concrete with cement sand and water ; it was a quite exhaustive task. We put the first bricks of the toilet house and started to fix them all. How satisfying it was !

After a big lunch and a small nap, we welcomed the children of the village for their first lesson. We  were able to teach the 15 dynamic and attentive kids the essentials of the French language : the alphabet,  how to introduce themselves, the numbers… We also sang a nursery rhyme together.

Following the class, we offered them all to go to the river with us to freshen up but we discovered that the girls here, by tradition, are not allowed to bathe and do not know how to swim. In the water, the boys were initially quite hesitant to play with the female volunteers but they understood rapidly that they could play with us like they were doing with the males. 
While we were playing, we had the chance to observe buffaloes crossing the river, a few meters away from us. 

Two new Vietnamese volunteers have joined us. They are students from Hanoi and they participate to the same manual works and activities as us. 

For diner, we had the chance to taste a salad made out of banana flower and green mango. It was delicious !

​Day 5 : Julie & Mathilde R.​
Yesterday we woke up at 7:00 and started working at 8:00 as usual. We almost finished the evacuation area created for the toilets and continued building the walls of the actual toilets. It was very satisfying because at the end Nam told us that we were very efficient and that we will be able to completely finish the two toilets in the two different families by the end of our stay. Then, we had lunch where we decided that we will divide in four different teams to teach the children. We thought that it would be easier for them to concentrate and to learn if we were less people around them. The first team was composed of Lisa, Mathilde Kolb, Anais, Pauline and Iris. They started with a review of the first class and then taught them new numbers and some animals. In the meantime, the rest of the group rested as the days are very exhausting here. After the lesson, the children took us to fishing. We both caught one fish, it was a great moment as now the children were the ones teaching us a part of their culture. As it was very hot we then went to the river and played with the children. 
​When we got back home, some of us did their laundry and others helped in the kitchen. It was a very joyful diner as we met a French couple, Sophie and Xavier, from Pays-Basques that were hosted by our God Parents (this is how we call our hosts here: Bô’ and Me). They were with their Vietnamese driver and guide and, as it is in the tradition, we drank shots of the local alcohol with them. After everyone bounded and chatted a little, thanks to the arrival of the French couple, the villagers performed a great show composed of fivetraditional dances. The dances represent the everyday life of the villagers of Buoc: the dance of joy, the dance of rice fields, the dance of the fertile woman, the dance of bamboos and finally the dance of the Mong. The dance of the Mong represents the cooperation, the mixing of ethnises (in Vietnam, there are 50 different ethnises with different languages and traditions). We all danced together and sang French and Vietnamese songs. It was a very strong intercultural moment. 
​There is a French game we play every night before going to sleep called the Loup-Garou. We invited Sophie, Xavier, their driver, their guide, and Binh and Hai (our fellow Vietnamese volunteers) to play with us. It was very funny as we had to traduce in three different languages: French, English and Vietnamese. Of course, the game was less strategic than usual but it was a great pleasure to play all together and everyone participated as much as they could. Finally, we all went to bed very happy with everything we had the chance to see/do/achieve during just one day. We are all so glad to be here.

Day 6 : Agathe & Mathilde K.​​
Even though we slept one hour more than usually, we difficultly woke up at 8 am after a short night’s sleep due to our late werewolf games and aches! For our 6th day, we were divided into three different groups of 6 volunteers to work on the construction site. Some of us had to find stones in the village to build the ground of the septic tank, while others were in charge of constructing the walls for the toilets and to finish the ones for the septic tank. Personally, we were both in charge of the cement for the ground of the septic tank and the walls. Depending on the use of the cement its composition differed which made it a quite meticulous task. Since there is no cement mixer, we had to use shovels to put cement and sand in separated buckets. We learnt that cement is extremely expensive in Vietnam, therefore, to save as much as possible they would mix it with sand. Then, we needed to add water and mix cement, sand and water all together. 
We found that it was the most exhausting task we had to do so far because of the heat and muscular effort it suggested. 
We came back home at 12 and Bó cooked us a delicious and comforting meal. As soon as we finished our meal, children from the village came to play with us, which showed their affection to us and touched us. We began the third French course of the week at 3pm, 15 of them attended this class. We started by doing revisions of numbers until 20, of farm animals and basic dialogue such as “Bonjour, je m’appelle, je vais bien…”. Then we taught them new animals, family members as well as politeness expressions. They paid a lot of attention to the class and showed us how motivated they were by participating orally. We felt encouraged even though we had to overcome several difficulties related to children's level difference (some of them already knew numbers from 1 to 10), and their age (the oldest is 18 whereas the youngest is 5). At the end of the lesson, we played a quiz game to revise numbers and animals that had been seen in class. They really enjoyed it as we gave them a candy for each good answer! 
Then, to reward them, we went swimming in the river and we played water games. It permitted us to protect ourselves from the heat and to cool. We stayed approximately 1h30 and then we came home to shower and have dinner with our hosts. 
Some of the little boys stayed late in the evening to play Mikado with us and we were really impressed by their skills as they all have the concern to do it right and they remained fastidious for the rules. 
Despite the tiredness, the kids always succeed to keep us motivated and revitalized!!

Day 7 : Lou & Pauline​
Already one week that we have been here ... The atmosphere is really restful we feel more and more like home. Bô and Me (our ‘godfather’ and ‘godmother’) are kind to us and the children are sweet. We have created strong links with them in only few days. Five French lessons have been taught and the children make progresses really fast. Moreover, the toilet construction in the first house is expected to be done by Sunday.
This morning we did not work on the toilet construction but we helped Bô building a peer in bamboo in order to fish. First, we transported the bamboos that Bô has cut from the forest to the pond. We had to carry them during 5 to 10 minutes under the sun and they were very heavy. Each team did three rounds to transport them, it was exhausting. Then, we helped Bô to build the peer directly from the pond. It was interesting to see how he managed to build the peer only with bamboo and iron wire. At the end of the morning, Bô thanks us for our help and he told us that now he considers the group as his children. It makes us really glad and proud. Due to our work, we were all sweaty, therefore we went to the river and jumped in the water with all our clothes like the local people use to do. In the afternoon, before the French lesson we played several games with the kids. At the end of the afternoon, there was a storm and the children ran to their home. The power came out and we played card games waiting for the end of the storm. After the dinner, Nam invited us to hunt frogs in the rice fields like the local people use to do when it is raining. It was really dark and we went bare foot. It was really funny as Nam tried to scare us with spirit stories. We caught only three frogs by hands because some villagers went before us. However it was still a fun and memorable experience.

​Thank you for reading and see you very soon,
The DVS! 

Day 8 : Iris & Noémie​
Today after breakfast we divided the group into 2 teams. The first one went to the first « site ». The second one started a new « site » in an other house. The son of this house had already dig a hole and created the foundation of the house. But, our big surprise was that there was a giant rock in the hole. We had to find a solution to make it at least diminish to the level of the floor. All 10 of us participated, using hammer and shovel as we could. When some where sweating on the rock, the other ones where building the first layer of the house. As we where only 10, and we had already learn the different steps on the first house, we worked much quicker and much proper in this new site. In addition of the destruction of the rock, we built 4 layers in only one morning. After this hard work, some of us went to the river to rest.

After a delicious meal, the French lesson started. Children had learned a lot since the beginning so this session was mainly dedicated to revisions. We tried to make the course funnier to keep the children interested. For instance, we made a big game to revise the colors: the teacher say a color and the children have to find something of this color in the room faster as they can. We made this game in the dinning room where a lot of colorful fabrics are exposed so children really enjoyed this game. After that, to revise the animals we did some terrible but hilarious imitations (imitate the elephant or the frog is harder than it’s look like). We laughed a lot during these games and the other ones. We feel that children remember better and were more active when the course looks like a game. The kids here especially the boys often play competitive games between them, where they have to be the fastest or the strongest. This time they were fighting to show of their beautiful French. 

At the end of the afternoon we went to the river and played with the children. With their beautiful French the communication was much easier !

Day 9 : Savannah & Éloi 
​We started our day by eating a « Vietnamese Kebab », as we call it, which gave us all the strengths needed for the work camps. This day was the second one where we were separated on the two houses. On the first house, half of the volunteers, including Savannah helped building the last layers of bricks for the toilet house. We also learnt from the owner how to make a roof with palm tree leaves and bamboos. We needed to alternate the leaves on the bamboo like a braid in order to maintain them and make the roof waterproof. 

On the other work camp, the other group including Éloi also layered bricks for the house but Éloi quickly had to stop after a honey bee sting. His previous hurts pushed him to help the team by making cement instead of assembling the bricks.
Then, a part of the group jumped in the river before coming back for the lunch.

After the meal, three of the volunteers including the both of us decided to cut their hair. Savannah shaved her head one more time while Éloi adopted the Vietnamese style haircut. The five volunteers of the day taught to the children new body parts and numbers during the French lesson. After another swim in the river with brand new hair, the team got back to the house. We prepared for the party which started at 7 with a nice buffet of grilled meat, fries, sticky rice and fruits. As it was our last evening with Binh and Hai, we celebrated by drinking local rice alcohol that made some of us a little joyful; at 8, we were all dancing together on French songs. As the owners wanted to sleep, the party ended in the field in front of the house with societal discussions and a Loup Garou.

Day 11 : Lisa & Anaïs 

​After having a day off the day before, to recover from the party, we woke up today at seven. Most of us were happy to see that we had Vietnamese pancakes for breakfast, with the local honey. However, for some of us, they are not as good as French « crepes ».

Just after breakfast, we went to the construction site to start working on the toilets. We split into 2 groups like the previous day. Those in the first site were able to finish everything. Our group was also very efficient and there is not much left to do to finish the second toilets. We enjoyed working today as it was not as hot as the other days. Moreover, being able to see our progress motivated us to work even harder for the last days !

We started to understand why we should have been more careful about mosquitos and other insects bites as our legs are covered by red spots that scratch so much that we are going mad! As there were some tourists for lunch, we ate even better dishes than usual such as chicken with red pepper and banana doughnuts. We then had a small meeting to discuss about the show we have to prepare for Friday. We would like to share the French music and danse culture. Little by little, the children arrived for their French class and we had the pleasure to receive from Ha and Yuan, two clever little girls with whom we spend most of our time, our daily kisses.

At 3pm, the group in charge of teaching started the lesson. We used that time to rest on the bench in front of the astonishing view of the mountains. One hour later, we played « la balle au prisonnier » with all the kids. It was a special moment because it was the first time girls and boys participated to the same activity. We even attracted some spectators (the parents of the children came to see us play). Before dinner, some of us had a great time dancing on French music as the day wasn’t exhausting enough. After our usual dinner, while some decided to go to bed very early, others had some shots of the local mushroom alcohol with the owner’s Vietnamese friends. During the night, Nam shared with us some stories about the local culture. We learned that in this village, girls of our age have to get married and cannot pursue their studies. It made us realize how lucky we are in our European countries.

Day 1 : Charles & Aymeric
​This trip started at 6.30am at Roissy Charles de Gaulle in order to take of at 8.55 to Doha. After 6 hours of flight, we arrived at Doha. We stopped there for 3 hours. We wanted to taste traditional Qatari food, so we stopped by the Burger King.

We then took another plane to Hanoï and in order to manage the 6 hours of jetlag we slept. The plane was quite empty so everyone had 3 seats to rest. We arrived in our final destination at 7am local time, we met Nâm who is in charge of the program and took a 5 hours bus to Buoc.

During the bus travel, we drove through Hanoï. We were impressed by the traffic and the amount of motorcycles on the road. We also observed a huge difference between very large buildings and smaller traditional houses that were sometimes right next to each other. The 5 hours of travel were breathtaking. We eventually arrived in Buoc after driving through plain, hills, fields. There, we met the family that will host us for the three weeks. 

We had a long conversation with Nâm about our different cultures. How Vietnamese see European people and the opposite as well. It was very interesting. Nâm is so kind, very joyful and really tries his best to make us feel the best way possible here. After some rest, we had dinner and had a traditional cheering (with a Vietnamese song) with alcohol made up from local mushrooms. We then spent the evening with Nâm. We talked and played music with him. He was playing the guitar and knew some French songs which was funny. We then played card games and finally went to sleep !
 
Day 2 : Iris & Romane
We started our second day with a delicious breakfast! We had rice flour crepes with vietnamese honey and boiled eggs. Our mission representative named Nam presented his charity (SJ Vietnam) and our project for this mission. 
Then, we left to meet the family for whom we are going to build toilets. The father patiently answered to all of our questions on his family, his way of life and the organisation of the village. 
After our lunch, Nam gave us a small introduction to Vietnamese, for us to be able to have a short conversation with the villagers. Then, we went to the river to challenge the terrible heat. We played for a while, using the waterfall as a toboggan. We came back home exhausted, and after a nice cleaning to take all the river mood out of us, we had an incredible diner. Just before diner, due to the important rain, the village power came out and we were able to fully appreciate the beauty of the village and the mountain under a cat and dog rain and a lot of flashlights.

Day 3 : Raphael & Flore
Monday was the day when we started to work. Our trip mission is to build toilets in two houses of the village. Therefore, on our first day we had two tasks, so we divided the team in two groups. The first had to dig a hole for the toilets in the first house. On the other hand, the second group had to carry rocks and sand to the other house. It was exhausting due to the sun, the heat and the physical difficulty of the work. 
​When we came back home, some of us went swimming in the river which is between two rice-fields, while others were resting or setting the table for the lunch. In the afternoon, some children of the village came to see us, therefore we started playing with them. Some played football observed by cows while children were teaching us traditional dances or were drawing with us. 
​After this rich afternoon, we wanted to help our hosts to cook, then we learned how to make nems. So, at the dinner every-one could taste our nems and it was delicious! And it is not the only thing we could try, as we could eat insects and SNAKE! 
​Before getting to sleep local people invited us for a drink.