Chapter 11...The Cambodian VSO experience!

I'm currently jet-lagged from my 30+ hour journey back home from Cambodia (via Korea), but as my blog has been neglected for a while I have decided to dedicate a good few minutes to this post...

I have spent the last three weeks visiting Daniel at his placement in Mongkol Borei and boy was it an eye-opener to VSO and volunteering life! Daniel lives in a very small village where you are highly unlikely to see a backpacker passing through let alone a volunteer renting a house and working in the local hospital!

Walking through the village and getting stopped to be given fruit!

Attracting some attention!

I spent a day visiting the hospital and within minutes was in tears as I saw the conditions that people are being cared for in. I saw a young lady who had just had some surgery on her womb and would not be able to have children because of it. She was lying in a metal bed with a thin mattress, dressed in her own clothes with a blanket laying on her stomach as post surgery comfort. She was clearly still under anaesthetic, but I could see pain and sadness in her eyes, which hit me hard! At this point I was dreading walking in any further, but 'manned-up' to visit the other wards. It got considerably worse as we entered areas where patients families were living in the hospital - sleeping, cooking and doing their washing there - because, as I got told, there are not enough nurses and doctors to provide care so families have to do it themselves. It was a draining and emotional day, but one I needed to experience to realise just how lucky I am!

The morning song and flag raising ceremony! Spot the odd one out?!

The first ward we walked into...

Meeting with the lady in charge of paediatrics

Paediatric ward

I spent a few weeks living with Daniel in his four bedroom house and realised that I could not live alone like that on my own placement. The house is huge and can be quite scary at times with all sorts of creaky noises! I felt very proud of him that he has managed to survive two months out there and as time went on the house became less scary so I know he will be fine for the next four months!

The front gate of the house that gets padlocked at all times!

The essential mosquito net!

Enjoying the balcony :-)

After all that intensity we decided to treat ourselves to some fun too with a little holiday at the coast...

This three weeks has given me a huge insight into what may lay ahead for me in Ghana over the next year! I just hope I have as much support and meet as many amazing people as Daniel has! 16 days until I find all these things out...

Chapter 10...The Motorbike!!!

Well after a few weeks of silence from VSO I have received notification about my Motorcycle Training, which weather permitting is due to commence the week between Christmas and New Year! So my advice to you all if you are anywhere near Cambridge then is to steer clear of the roads and if you do happen to see a very anxious learner Motorbike then speed off as fast as you can in the opposite direction! Wish me luck everyone, we all know what happened in Thailand when I ventured near a bike...

The helmet has arrived!

Chapter 9...The Final Acceptance!

So once I had done my research and agreed to my CV being sent to the employer came the next round of waiting, and waiting, and waiting (the longest it would take was four weeks, which took me right up to Christmas)! Again I was convinced I would not be accepted, even to the point when at the end of November after Daniel had left for Cambodia I started planning my next travel trip to India, China and Japan!

Then exactly as before, the moment I really had given up hope, I received an email from my Volunteer Programme Advisor saying that my employer in Ghana had accepted me for the placement and I would be leaving in the middle of February 2011! How so much can change from reading one short email!!!

Right then I thought, time to get planning...I will be spending a year of my life and the majority of 2011 in Bolgatanga and working in Talensi-Nabdam so I should probably find out some more about it! It is in the Upper East region of Ghana, Latitude. 10.9155556, Longitude. -0.5169444; it is bordered by Burkina Faso to the north and Togo to the east; the regional capital is Bolgatanga, sometimes referred to as Bolga; the population is primarily rural (84.3%) and scattered in dispersed settlements and the dominating religion is Catholicism.

Upper East Region of Ghana!

And so the excitement continues as day-by-day I get closer and closer to a year in Ghana! The more research I do and the more I hear from current volunteers, the more I realise what fun and nerves there are ahead...!

Chapter 8...The Offer!

Following P2V where there was about a 30:70 split between those who had placements confirmed and those who were still waiting for an offer, I was pretty down-hearted as Marketing placements were known to be thin-on-the-ground! As it reached the end of October I was pretty convinced I wouldn't get a placement to leave early 2011, which is when I had been preparing myself to go!

Then as is always the case, as I had just about given up hope, came the offer I had been waiting for...a one year placement in Ghana, West Africa working in Education and communities...perfect! It was exactly the placement I had been hoping for and ticked all my criteria, plus I have to learn to ride a motorbike for it, which was one of my biggest hopes for the placement!

I started researching Ghana straight away, in order to then be able to reply to the email saying I wanted to be placed there and to have my CV put forward to the employer! So...what did I find out about Ghana...

Ghana, West Africa!

It is in West Africa; it's capital is Accra; it was the first African country to drop colonialism and go it alone; it built the biggest artificial lake in the world; it's people eat stews, potatoes, rice and meat, lots of meat! According to my guide book Ghana's trademarks are...'Beautiful beaches; vibrant city nightlife; fishing villages; ruins of the slave trade; elephants and antelope; highlife music; ancient forts and castles'...who would turn down a placement here!?! 

Chapter 7...The Training - P2V (Preparing to Volunteer!)

So the date was set and in just over a month's time I would be meeting some fellow volunteers at P2V training! Before this we had to meet online and take part in a three week online course, which started September 15th and finished October 6th. The idea of this was for the 20+ volunteers to 'get-to-know-eachother' as much as is ever possible online before we were thrown together for three days in Birmingham!

The course consisted of many e-tivities involving posting comments of our own and responding to those from others! It was pretty clear very early on that we were a great bunch of people who were going to get on well when we met, but there were going to be differences in opinions that could create some interesting debates...!

Another most unexpected thing that came out of this online course was Daniel, who I never in a million years expected to meet, let alone fall in love with! But as is the case with every great love story, things were not simple...Daniel lived in Germany and was leaving for a six month placement in Cambodia at the end of November, which gave us two months to spend as much time together making memories for when we were apart!

So then came P2V, which was an intense weekend of learning the positives and negatives of being a volunteer overseas! It was a very realistic insight into what life would be like in a new country and also to what leaving life as we know it behind would really feel like! However as we all know, no amount of preparation can really get you ready for such a huge change that will impact life after that forever!

Chapter 6...The Acceptance!

The answer I had been waiting so long to hear came as I started a three month temp job at the local distrcit council. I was sat at my desk (again back at the desk where I hate to be) when an email came through explaining that I had been accepted as a VSO Youth for Development volunteer :-)

But this was just the beginning (I'm sure we've already had that part) as I then had to actually get a placement offered to me and then accepted, which could take an infinite amount of time! Great I thought, so I'll be stuck here at this desk until the day I die...noooooo!!!

In order to get the ball rolling though I had to send my Volunteer Programme Advisor all my education certificates, passport details etc etc! And I had to choose out of three or four dates when I was available to participate in a three day training course in Harborne Hall, Birmingham! Me being the impatient person that I am I chose the first date possible, which was the 9th to 11th October 2010!

Chapter 5...The Assessment!

This was it, make or break! If I mucked this up then a new life plan had to be made, and as much as I love to plan ('Hannah the Planner' does have a lot of truth behind it) I did not fancy having to re-think my entire future! 

I got the train down to London glowing from my three month's in the sun and not knowing at all what to expect from the day! I walked in about ten minutes late to a room of six other people who were quietly filling in forms, so I did the same! Eventually the silence was broken by one of the VSO staff coming in to explain to us how the day would commence and what we should expect from it! After this we all went into a larger room where there were six assessors ready and waiting to decide our fate!

We participated in some group activities then had our one-to-one interviews! Mine went very well and I really liked my interviewer David, he reminded me of a quirky professor type who oozed warmth and sincerity! He said at the end of our chat that he'd had a lot of fun talking to me, which filled me with the confidence I needed for the afternoon session!

I left at the end of the day feeling really positive and anxious to hear a result sooner than the ten days they said we had to wait (yet more waiting)...!

Chapter 4...The News!

In late May 2010 after months with no news from VSO, you guessed it, I got an out-of-the-blue email saying that finances were now looking better and my application had been successful so could I please attend an assessment day in London in June! I didn't quite know what to think, I'd started 'making plans' to work as a tour guide in Halong Bay or to adopt one of the adorable Indonesian kids I had spent loads of time with! But I thought 'lets be realistic, me and dive instructor/bar owner/fire thrower probably won't happen so volunteering is the better option here!'

I replied straight away explaining how excited I was that YfD placements were back-up-and-running but that I was currently in Chiang Mai visiting tigers and learning to cook Thai culinary delights so couldn't make it to the June assessment day! They replied with full understanding and we arranged a date in July, one week after I landed back in the UK...!

Chapter 3...The Waiting!

So after sending my application off to VSO it was the fun part that we all love to hate, which is the waiting!!! Each time an email came through or my phone rang I prayed it would be them, but was it...no (of course it wasn't, this story would be too simple if it was)! After a couple of weeks I decided to drop them an email to check they had got my application OK and when I should expect to hear from them with an answer! The response I got back was most unexpected and my heart sank when I read it...due to the recent recession YfD placements were being put on hold as funding cuts meant that overseas employers were unable to take on volunteers at the current time! Right, I thought, I still have South East Asia to look forward to and to plan for and there is still hope from VSO so all is not lost...! 

Chapter 2...The Application!

As we all know, for every new job comes an application process and boy did VSO have an application process. I spent hours and hours infront of the computer composing the 'perfect' application; filling in forms; updating my CV and explaining why I wanted to volunteer overseas, all in the hope that they would read it and accept me straight away on their Youth for Development program (the one for us young-uns who are aged under 25)! I had my two references named and shamed and as I finally pressed that send button in January 2010 I was filled with hope and knew I had done the very best I could!