There's no denying it, these bloggers are bound to make you jealous. Whether it's their guts, their energy or their tan you admire, overseas volunteers have got plenty to share with you about their remarkable work in fascinating countries. Read on to find out what you could be missing.

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Wednesday Nov 22, 2006

slowly getting closer!

only 46days to go! everything is getting very close, bought my kit, and managed to annoy my mum and the sales assistant greatly by insisting that I get the orange rucksack because I liked the colour (and I still do!) despite it not being as practical as the plain black one. Applied for my visa with shocking photos, I looked like a starteled rabbit. and sent off my last bit of money, so Im all ready to go!

what I wanted to talk about though was something else that has been making me think. I do a photography course and the woman I sit next to found out last week, or the week before that she has won 8 and a half MILLION pounds on the lottery! Shes probably in her 50's, and want to go on holiday to lapland with it. the interest she earns in one day on her winnings would pay for my trip to tanzania, think what a difference even 5 million could make to people living in poverty across the world. it could pay for hudereds of thousands of children to go to school, and learn to spell hundred! stop child labour, build proper housing for people living under inadequate shelter. Then I thought that acctually 8 million would make a huge difference, but not without passionate people behind it, making it work....and one passionate person can make more difference than 8 million pounds.

But you know what would be great....a compassionate rich person! but can that acctually exist? If someone is charitable and genererouswould they ever be able to make a fortune, without using it or giving it away before it builds up. And if they are born into it, can they ever keep it? I dont know...

x

Posted by Emily ( 4:55 PM )
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Sunday Nov 19, 2006

Journalism - why I love it and why I shouldn't

 

Right, I really will sort myself out sometime about this whole 'posting once a week' thing... There's so much that doesn't get mentioned just because too many other things have happened by the time I get round to it. Like I still haven't talked about when we went out to the desert to find a herd of wild horses with one of our friends who's a photographer. It was amazing, when we sat really still just watching them they came to see what we were, and actually came so close they were touching us. It was such a strange experience to be that close to a completely wild animal.

 

A couple of weeks back we went to the desert festival in Solitaire, that was an experience and a half, too. It's a really strange concept. Solitaire is a tiny place in the middle of nowhere, but once a year people come from all over Namibia for a big party there with live music and, of course, huge braais. It was a really spur-of-the-moment decision to go, we didn't even have tents, but slept in sleeping bags on stretchers, under the stars. The sky here is so beautiful, in England it was a rarity to have a really clear night when you could see stars clearly, and here it's every day. On the way back we got a puncture and due to various complications ended up stuck in another tiny place called Maltahohe for another night, which actually turned out to be pretty fun (though I hadn't anticipated that long away from the flat so we were all badly in need of a change of clothes!).

 

Today we were talking about how strange a career journalism is. In the paper that's about to go to print we were really happy that we had 3 interesting stories that all could have been front page news – but it can't be right that I'm happy about 3 engineers dying in a ship fire, a 14-year old girl getting raped or a man being stabbed to death in the street. The stabbing was early this morning; we got a call from a woman who runs the hotel next to where it happened. Me and Bozena ran out with a camera to get pictures of the scene of the crime, there'd been a big fight so there were lots of smashed windows, a smashed up car and when we got there there was still a large bloodstain on the pavement. We were shocked and everything, but we still took pictures. There's something disturbingly voyeuristic about it all. It also struck us as odd that the police weren't even at the crime scene, let alone had it cordoned off or anything.

 

Apparently the police had been called before it happened by a security guard, but didn't turn up. A local took the man who'd been attacked to the hospital in the back of his bakkie (pick-up truck type thing) but he died before they got him there. He was only visiting Lüderitz on business, he lived in Cape Town. We actually met him on Thursday night – our desk officer from Project Trust had come to visit so we'd gone out for a drink together, and talked to him and his friend in the bar. Lüderitz is a little place, so chances are you'll know most people here, it's just odd.

The thing that's strange from the 'journalism' point of view is that I find myself getting irritated that I couldn't get a good enough picture of devastated people at a memorial ceremony for the men that died at sea last week, or thinking, "My god, I'm getting some good quotes here" while talking to a guy who's in tears because his friend just died...

 

I apologise that I'm not ending this on a very happy note. Don't worry, Lüderitz isn't that rough, it's just been pretty crime-filled recently. Which is good for the paper of course, which brings us back to the whole moral dilemma... But hey. Whether I should or not, I love working on a newspaper!

Posted by Lucy Hayes ( 8:38 PM )
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Tuesday Nov 07, 2006

true or false?

Psychic Says

SETTING: small, Midwestern library circulation desk

CHARACTERS: Staff Member A - passes some of her time moaning about wanting to volunteer overseas. Staff Member B - always patiently listens to moaning staff member A. Lady Patron  - known to all staff members as rather loony lady, but apparently has psychic ability and has been known to be spot on with some predictions for other staff members.

SCENE

Staff Member B - (having spent ten minutes helping Lady Patron) Good luck getting on that game show! See you next week. (turns to her computer and starts processing books again - then, suddenly turns back to Lady Patron) OH. Wait. So, what do you see in her future? (motions towards Staff Member A)

Lady Patron - (turns, contemplates for a moment) She'll be going to Europe for a year. (addressing Staff Member A) You're very homesick, aren't you? Don't worry, though. It'll happen - and quickly - when it does. Something exciting's going to happen soon after you get there. (turns to exit)

Staff Member A - uuummmmm.......(jaw practically dragging the floor)

Lady Patron - (turns back) You going back to your husband?

Staff Member A - uuummm..... no. I'm not married.

Lady Patron - Oh. Not yet. (smiles and exits)

 

The above story is true. Happened to me last week. 

I'm holding onto it as proof that things are still going to work out. Right now, the guy in NYC is looking for a new placement for me (things fell through with the Y up in Cumbria) but is confident that something will be coming through in the next few days. Will keep you updated on any developments - with the YMCA or the Lady Patron!

 

Posted by Dana ( 5:25 PM )
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Thursday Nov 02, 2006

training weekend

well Ive just come back from a training weekend up in london for tanzania. It was really good, i finally got to meet the people I'll be travelling with, and it succeded in making me very aware that I am actually going. For the majority of saturday I panicked about packing when they told me that I should only take one huge backpack...for 8 months! but I've come to terms with it now, and think I'm going to cope...just! Im very succeptable to the culture I'm in and at the moment my room is overflowing with jeans, t-shirts, jumpers, necklaces and shoes, but when i get out there Im sure ill be fine, if not I'll shop! The weekend also instilled in me the importance of learning swahili, so I'm trying to do that a lot more now, and I learnt one very important word at the weekend...'jamba' which apparently means fart! Aswell i learnt some cultural rules like what i can and cant wear, and they confirmed that my smoking must stop, but i dnt think thats going to cause a problem as i smoke out of habit, and if i'm busy, or out of daily routine i can not smoke for weeks.

I'm so excited, I just want to buy all my kit stuff and go..NOW! this has been made even stronger with the beginning of christmas songs at work yesterday (1st november) when rudolf the red nose reindeer is on every half an hour it makes me just want to scream, but i have what...6 or 7 weeks of it left! after a weekend of excitement, and talking to people who are passionate about the same things as me, to return to helping overweight women but jeans is hard, but not long now! whoooooooo

 

Posted by Emily ( 5:47 PM )
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grasping at straws

Belated Boo to Y'all! Halloween here at the library yesterday was a blast. Most of the staff dressed up and we had fun with all the kids who came in for the free goodies.

When I bought my costume (McDonald's milkshake),

I thought I'd have to grasp at straws (pun intended) to try and tie it to volunteering so that I could chat about it here, but thanks to the 'kindness' of some co-workers, I'm actually going to get a proper international vol blog post out of it.

A girl started singing some obnoxious (& rather rude) song called 'Milkshake' by Kelis at me over and over and seemed stunned that I had never ever heard it. She kept at me until I smiled, shrugged and said, 'Musta been drinking in a Scottish pub when it was out here.'

The whole incident brought to mind one of the off-hand, little-thought-about ways overseas work can change a person. While you're out of the country living the vol life, tv shows come and go, celeb dish splashes across the tabloids, and Blair or the Twit from Texas (I've got other names for mr. bush but they're not fit for polite blogging) says/does something newsworthy. Months later, you're sitting with hometown friends, the conversation shifts and suddenly you're left defending yourself when you say, 'Huh? Who got killed? He said what?' And, for a moment, you can't help but think back wistfully on what you were probably doing when whatever happened.

Sometimes it's hard to explain to people that, no, really, you don't know what they're talking about. An English friend of mine wanted to volunteer internationally, but said he couldn't face losing a year of music and Everton football. I don't think there's anything here in America that I couldn't walk away from for a period of time. You?

For me, the experience of living somewhere new, meeting new people far outweighs anything mundane. Certainly, there are things I miss (like my thrice-daily Mountain Dew fix), but... come on. Really. Who cares if you miss two or three or twenty stupid pop songs?

When I wiggled into my costume at lunch, I certainly didn't think I'd end up with a proper post!

 

 

 

Posted by Dana ( 2:30 PM )
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