Structured & Self-Funding Volunteer Programmes :Selection & Eligibilitymangoes. I did not get brave enough to buy live chickens but had a cooked meal every day
at the office. I ate lots and lots and lots of rice, but on the whole a good, balanced diet of
fish, meat and vegetables.
Where you live and how you adapt to domestic arrangements are important parts of your
volunteer experience. As well as flats, rooms and houses (either shared or not), you will
also find volunteers living in guesthouses, hostels and cheap hotels.
Who you live with is also a consideration. Sometimes it is refreshing to have the company
of other volunteers, especially in the evenings. But, as Kate Sturgeon points out, it can be
stressful:
There were six of us in the house and it was an intense way to live. If the team is good and
the dynamics are healthy, it becomes your family and you make excellent friends. Trying
to get privacy was not always easy but the hardest aspect for me was everyone knowing
what you were doing all the time in or out of work.
Living on your own or with a friend or partner may be the best arrangement for some
- see p39 for more details on volunteering with others.
Volunteering on a conservation and wildlife project is often another kettle of fish. Vikki
Cole volunteered in the jungles of Borneo with Trekforce Worldwide (p115) and this is
how she describes her living conditions:
Mud. That pretty much sums up the part of the jungle we were living in. It was knee-deep
clay mud, which also got deeper and gloopier the more it rained and the more we walked
in it. Every day we washed in a little waterfall 200 metres below us, which sounds beauti-
ful except for the leeches which, trust me, get everywhere. We also used this to wash our
clothes in biodegradable soap. Our meals, which consisted every day of noodles or rice,
were cooked by live-in locals who were camped with us. We slept in hammocks, which is a
very interesting experience indeed. Trying to get into them while up to your knees in mud
is definitely an acquired skill and was very funny after a few mess-mug-fulls of the rice
wine that was passed around the camp at night! The jungle is definitely not the place for
the squeamish: every bug and insect was on steroids and had tattoos. And everything bites
or stings. But the wildlife and scenery is breathtaking.
Don’t be put off by Vikki’s experiences: it doesn’t always have to be like that. Compared to
Vikki, Robin Glegg, who volunteered with Biosphere Expeditions (p174), was positively
pampered on one of his wildlife expeditions in the Altai (Siberia):
Accommodation consisted of tents. The toilet facilities were known as ‘long drop’. Yes, a
deep hole in the ground, surrounded by a toilet tent. But the meals were superb consider-
ing we were well away from civilisation; plenty of soups and stews with loads of vegetables
and fruit. Having been in the field every day until 5 or 6pm, we would bowl into the large
mess tent and be greeted by an evening meal prepared by a hired cook and helpers. We
really were fed like kings. Washing ourselves was interesting. There were two or three
shower tents, where the water was supposed to be heated by solar showers. However, the
helpers started to boil water before we returned from the field, so that a warmish shower
actually became a reality.
Finally, there’s the issue of what you do with yourself when you’re not volunteering. How
do you spend your evenings?
Sometimes you’re so shattered you just crawl thankfully into bed. Otherwise, volunteers
make their own entertainment (this is where living with, or nearby, other volunteers can
help). Of course, if you are working in a city or large town you’ll have the usual night-time
attractions (as long as you can afford them). Linda Walsh, who volunteered in Brazil, says:
Entertainment whilst living in Rio was endless. The volunteers were all really friendly and
we had a very active social scene outside work.
Jacqueline Hill’s experience in Bangladesh was different but rather closer to what a lot of
international volunteers find themselves doing when they are not working:
Entertainment consisted mainly of reading (I got through the entire VSO library and had
books sent from home), writing an internet diary, writing emails, letters and visiting local
friends. I listened to the BBC World Service a lot and talking books. There really wasn’t
much else a single female could do.
Kerry Davies, who volunteered in Cambodia with VSO, agrees:
Evenings were quiet and the Cambodian people would often lock up their houses at 8pm.
I spent my evenings reading books, watching DVDs bought locally and I also studied with
the Open University, although I had to go to the capital, Phnom Penh, for an internet
connection.
On the other hand, as many conservation and wildlife projects are group-based, the team
spirit often continues long into the night. Clodagh O’Brien’s experience in Borneo is typical:
We had a wonderful time. Many of the guys who worked at the reserve played guitar so
we sang together pretty much every night, had bonfires, learned poi and, when the tropical
rain set in, watched a DVD or two. Put it this way, I was rarely bored.
Robin Glegg, who has volunteered on many wildlife expeditions, remembers this about his
last trip to Namibia:
After helping to clear the dishes (helpers were on hand to wash them) we all gathered
around the campfire telling tales and generally discussing where the cheetahs were
hiding and recapping the day’s activities. We generally went to bed on the wrong side
of midnight, with some of the group staying up until the last embers of the campfire
had died.The Working Week
As Dr Kate Simpson advises in her Ethical Volunteering Guide on pp26–27, try to obtain
a rough estimate of how many hours a week you will work before you go overseas. Also try
to clarify what happens work-wise on weekends.
On most volunteer programmes you are expected to work full-time five days a week, with
weekends off. Sometimes, though, you may work a six-day week. At times, the hours might
be longer. Rachel Oxberry, who worked in an orphanage in Ecuador, says:
I generally worked six days a week from 7.30am to 9.00pm. Every so often I took a week-
end off.
Sometimes you may need to work shifts. Jackie Bowles, who also worked in an orphanage,
but in Brazil, says:
Volunteers had various timetables according to what suited the children and the educa-
tors. Your shift could either be 9am to 5pm with weekends off, or 7am to 7pm with every
second day off.
Or your time might be a little more flexible, as with Peter Bennett, who was a volunteer
teacher in Sudan:
At the university we were contracted to teach for 15 hours a week. In theory, we were
expected to use the same time again for lesson planning and preparation. In addition, our
host organisation expected us to get involved with other local voluntary initiatives. Time
off was strongly discouraged and hard to negotiate.
Some volunteers, of course, don’t wish to work full-time and opportunities do exist within
well-managed volunteer programmes for part-time work. Jackie Bowles even did this after
a period of full-time volunteering. She explains:
I volunteered for five months, then returned for a further three months on a part-time
basis as I missed it so much!
What you want to avoid at all costs is any misunderstanding about the hours you’ll be
expected to work. There is nothing more discouraging than thinking you’ll be volunteering02: Choosing Your Volunteer Experience:Arranging a Worthwhile Placement