Volunteer. Do it. Buy the ticket.
I keep getting annoyed by the BBC World Service broadcasting brokers’ and bankers’ hard luck tales to Africa.
They had it all. They lost it. It wasn’t their fault. Yeah yeah.
They still have much much much more than most people here.
But, as bored as I am with all things credit crunch, it has dawned on me just how sweet I have it here. A wage. A house.
I’m unlikely to run up any debts. I am unlikely to lose my job. I’ll keep my head down and ride it out from here.
Okay, so maybe I didn’t think it through, but suddenly I envisaged waves of new volunteers who had either been made redundant or wanted to escape the current negativity (real, imagined, financial etc) of Britain and elsewhere.
Turns out I was wrong. Very wrong.
From Charity Finance:
This week, VSO confirmed that 55 prospective volunteers with experience of teaching or management had withdrawn from the recruitment process. They cited worries about not being able to find a job after they return from their two-year placement, or not being able to rent out their homes to cover their mortgages while they were away.
And from VSO themselves:
The charity is currently trying to recruit 335 volunteers from the UK for two-year placements, but so far just 48 professionals have gone overseas since April, and if levels of interest do not pick up 70 jobs could be left unfilled at the end of March. Enquiries from prospective volunteers in the year to August 31st 2008 were down 1236 on the previous 12 months, and this summer 55 professionals withdrew their applications, sparking concern that the credit crunch is undermining people’s confidence to volunteer.
This lifestyle I now have is as a direct result of my turning-thirty-fall-out. I had something of a personal crisis and just travelled because, well, I just couldn’t face doing what I was doing any more.
I’ve had the wanderlust ever since. Volunteering was the next step.
My point is this: I procrastinated about travelling. It took me months just to finalise it and make up my mind and to. Just. Do. It.
Somebody told me – the hardest part is buying the ticket. The rest just falls into place.
And they were so right. Once it was bought I suddenly had a deadline to sort the house, to pay the bills, to quit work, to square things with the bank.
I had no kids, any debt was manageable, my credit cards were not maxed out. I know. I was lucky. But I could have found plenty of excuses if I had wanted to.
I am not sure what the volunteering equivalent of “buying the ticket” is. But just get on-line. Fill in the form and they will get back to you.
Can you imagine what it felt like when I opened an email and they told me I was going to Cameroon? Me? In Cameroon? Ha. Wow. Yes. Count me in.
That’s still the biggest kick I get out of this. Just how bizarre it is that Steve Jackson, office worker, is living like this. First in Vietnam. Now in Africa.
And that could be you.
Final words from another VSO volunteer Debbie Dorobat who volunteered during the last recession:
Volunteering altered my perspective on life completely. Going to a country where you got two hours of electricity a day, running water for an hour if you were lucky and bread on ration makes you look at things differently. When I got back to England I tried to make people realise ‘ok, it’s not brilliant, but it’s much better than what some people manage with, so let’s get on with it.
If there’s any way you can make volunteering possible, you should do it. It’s a fantastic way to refocus your life and give something back at the same time. When the credit crunch hits, it’s amazing what you can do without if you get your priorities straight. Volunteering opens your mind to all sorts of possibilities
VSO has job examples here but in my experience its best just to fill out the form – find out if you’re eligible and see what they send you.
Do it. Buy the ticket.
* It’s worth noting that VSO is open to all nationalities.
Tags: credit crunch, recession, volunteering, vso
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October 9, 2008 at 10:05 am
I would love to do it, have already filled out the forms & been told my experience is suitable…however they still have jobs for graphic designers once in a blue cheese moon
It’s also a huge worry for me now to sell (impossible) or rent out my house…still, I’m hopeful that the recession will reverse in a year or two and VSO will need a designer
October 9, 2008 at 10:11 am
I hope so too – as I have said before – I would have killed for someone with design skills when i was in Hanoi. I hope it happens for you. Keep the faith.
October 9, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I can agree with you on so many points there, but I can understand the ones who’re worried about covering the costs of owning a house while they’re away.
Both the easiest and hardest part is “buying the ticket”. A simpl thing to do, but it’s the part that changes everything. I got round the problem of finding renters by selling my house. At the time, the house prices were going mental and I’d likely have had far more luck than people now but shoving the thing on the market was easy.
2 1/2 years and still travelling. I’ve looked into VSO, but IT jobs aren’t too common either. There were three last time I looked. So… one of my plans is to head home at the end of this year and do a PGCE/PGDE (depending on whether I land in England or Scotland) and become a primary teacher. Then see what options that gives me.
Oh, and then there’s talking my other half into it when she has a cushy job at a very good school. Hmm.
October 9, 2008 at 7:38 pm
So.
If one has , or if we both have, `stuff’ a.k.a.: paid for house, cars, and all that kit/shit that seems to fill the nest over the years – it just isn’t that easy to just buy the ticket and say bye.
Maybe I’m alone on that one.
Even if one didn’t have that `stuff’ to `manage’ then it would still be really hardcore.
But.
You tell us you actually get your costs over there covered?
Then many things are possible.
Camels, needles. Just lock up and leave, kinda thing. Nearly, kinda.
Mosh signals it all isn’t always that neat.
But – your comments / links should encourage / help all tempted, from 16 to 106, to get engaged and `do it’…if they can.
But not to beat themselves up if they can’t.
October 10, 2008 at 7:19 am
This blog post made me want to buy a ticket. But wait. I will be buying a ticket. Oh, my, it is gonna cost me quite a bit. Yeah, I’ll be back “au pays” but I am wondering, could I be a volunteer? I mean, would it work? I am not sure. But I am curious all the same, does VSO recruit locals as volunteers, too? Or do the volunteers have to be international? It sounds like you work with Cameroonians, such as the medical professionals at MezamPolyClinic…are these cameroonians also considered volunteers? Wow, this must be the shorest comment from me ever.
October 10, 2008 at 9:13 am
Mosh – I’m an IT VSO, there are an increasing number of IT roles with VSO. Here in Ghana we have people setting up internet cafes for local districts authorities, doing web design and I’m providing training and have built a database for an NGO. If you don’t apply you definitely won’t get a placement. If you do you might, what have you got to lose?
BamendaBabe – here in Ghana VSO is working with the Government on it’s own volunteering scheme (national volunteer program) and I beleive they’re doing that in other countries too. As Steve has said the international side of VSO (‘O’ stands for Overseas so it does imply international) is very international, I counted 13 or 14 nationalities at our national conference. If you’re in the US apply to VSO Canada.
Steve – Great post. I hope that some of the city workers who get big redundancy settlements think about doing something constructive with the new time on their hands.
October 10, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Tim – I think Tim said it all.
Yes Brian we get our costs covered – an allowance, a house, our travel here, healthcare.
We live cheaply but want for little.
I understand it is not that easy. But I have cleared a house on a couple of occasions now.
I guess the advice is – it isn’t easy but if you really want to most people will find a way.
And I am happy to be away from credit crunch and all that.