In a nutshell...
I'm Pippa and in the early summer of 2019, Cuso International selected me for a volunteer placement in Vientiane, Lao PDR. I arrived in Vientiane at the end of September and following a two-week in-country orientation I began teaching EFL at the Institute of Foreign Affairs. In early 2020, we learned that Cuso was ending its volunteer program in Southeast Asia in mid-March. I didn't want to abandon my students halfway through a term so I decided to stay on until the end of the course in late June as an independent self-funded volunteer.
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And then Covid19 intervened all over the world and suddenly the Laos adventure was over. There are still stories to tell, however, so don't leave me yet. And I hope that at some point there will be other volunteer adventures.
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Here's a little bit about me. I live in Victoria, Canada when I'm home. Born in Vancouver, I was educated mostly in Toronto, then lived and worked in Europe for 25 plus years where I raised a family. I'm fluent in English, French and Italian and even speak a bit of pasa Lao now. I'm an enthusiastic dragonboater, I enjoy playing the ukulele and it travelled with me to Laos where a group of us formed the Tiny Ukulele Group of Vientiane. I also like to sew my own clothes and mend them, grow vegetables , cook and lift weights.
