VOLUNTEERING: A trip to the sun, where you get to meet the locals and forget the whingeing of home? MARY RUSSELL talks to four VSO volunteers about getting away from it all, and giving more than a little back
'I struggled to say goodbye to my niece and nephew'
Gary White (30) was a secondary school teacher in Swords for five years and during that time took two postgraduate courses in philosophy and in English literature.
Now he finds himself in Ethiopia. Why Ethiopia, I ask. "No special reason, just that it was offered and so I took it. I'm working at Haramaya University training newly-qualified graduate assistants to teach English. We had some very good training before coming here and the most important lessons I learned were to be patient and to downscale expectations.
"The language here is Amharic. VSO pays for 24 lessons and I've made a start. I'm the envy of other VSOs, by the way, because I have a fridge, an oven and satellite TV, and the university also pays my household bills.
"The main religion is Ethiopian Orthodox Christian so although I'll spend December 25th at my desk and have a ferenji [foreigners] meal later, the big day is January 7th and then we'll eat habashi [local] and drink habashi too. I'm vegetarian and there's injari, a sour-tasting pancake that I love.
"Do I miss anything? Well, the Guardian (sorry!) and I had to struggle to say goodbye to my little niece and nephew."
White is so happy in Harar that he has no plans to return to Ireland during his two-year placement but his two sisters will be visiting. They're to arrive with caseloads of books, he says, and that's an order.
'I wouldn't mind a bit of that snow'
Mark Kelly (31) worked as an IT manager for a tourist company in Dublin before going to Ethiopia.
"This is my first time in Africa though I've travelled quite a bit and done the round-the-world ticket thing but I'd always wanted to live and work in another culture. It was the gloom and doom situation in Ireland that got me going. Now I'm in Hawassa University in southeast Ethiopia working in IT training and management. I did two training courses in Birmingham as well as an online course before coming here. They were to prepare me for working in a developing country.
"There are seven VSO people here and we meet up every so often. Two weeks ago, we went to Addis Ababa to do the Great Ethiopian Run. I'm going to do a ferenji [foreign] meal on December 25th and I'm inviting some local friends. In fact, I'll need them to help me kill the Christmas dinner.
"I'm getting used to the local language. The script is totally different but I'm getting my head round it.
"I'll try to Skype the folks at home on Christmas Day and they are going to try to reach me on my local Ethiopian mobile.
"I cook a lot of tomatoes, onions and potatoes with pasta and rice and do that on an electric ring but mostly on a kerosene stove as the power is off a lot.
"Is there anything I miss? Well, a fry would be nice and I wouldn't mind a bit of that snow you've got. It would make it seem a bit more like Christmas."
'Weekends are the same as Dublin, with films, concerts and eating out'
Adrienne Harrington (42) worked at the Oireachtas before volunteering. She now uses her managerial skills to advise on the implementation of Namibia's HIV and Aids programmes.
"I could see an election coming up so I decided this was a good time to volunteer. I chose VSO because of the philosophy, which seeks to develop the capacity of the country in question. I'm based in the city of Windhoek, so weekends and evenings are much the same as Dublin, with films, concerts and eating out. Namibia is a carnivores' paradise and, although I like cooking, meat three times a day isn't for me. I've also passed on Mopane worms.
"Christmas is going to be busy as I'm travelling with a group to Fish River Canyon, the second biggest canyon in the world. I'm also going with some other VSOs across the desert to the sea to see the seals. In fact, I'll have done more in this one Christmas than I've done in the last five in Ireland.
"The things I find different here are first the heat, then the slow pace of work, and finally, the huge difference between rich and poor. Some poor people earn less than $1 a day and the difference between rich and poor here is the biggest in the world.
"When people learn I'm Irish, they want to hear about our relations with Britain and they want to know about Ian Paisley and, of course, there's no escaping Riverdance.
"For me, the things I miss, apart from the important people in my life, are brown bread, my allotment, my garden and the sea."
When Brigid returns to Ireland in six months, she will return to work at the Oireachtas and there's also the possibility she might do some work for VSO in Ireland.
'You drive on whichever side is safest'
Brigid Grant (29,) studied French and Music at TCD and before going to Rwanda. She taught in Saint Mary's National School in Sandyford and hopes to return there when her year's placement is finished.
"Rwanda is the size of Munster and I'm in a place called Gitarama so on December 11th we're having 'Gitma' when we'll wear the national colours. Everyone brings food and drink and we'll even have secret Santa. I'm working as a basic education methodology trainer and I try to bring music into nearly everything I do. The children like the recorder but they're not sure about the classical flute. I'm hoping to learn African drums which I'll teach when I get back to Ireland. There's lots of music here anyway, in churches, community centres and bars.
"I miss eating chicken but here you have to kill, pluck, gut and cook your own so I don't have it often. We get lots of fresh fruit and vegetables but not much meat as I don't have a fridge. In Kigali, you can get cheesecake and croissants but that's a long way away and the roads can be dangerous. You drive on whichever side is safest. For Christmas, I'm going to Zanzibar – that's 30 hours on a bus. I'm bringing my kanga, which is a long skirt for hiding your bum when the bus stops on the way.
"I'm in touch with my family as I have my laptop and dongle but I still miss things like pickled onions and sitting by the open fire."
VSO factfile
Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is an international NGO that sends 2,000 professionals to work abroad, 50 of which are Irish. It costs €25,000 to have a volunteer in place for two years. The Government contributes a block grant of €3 million over three years. Volunteers range in age from mid-20s to people in their 70s. Malcolm Quigley, executive director of VSO in Ireland, says: “Volunteering is of two-way benefit. We’ve had the Celtic tiger but the African lion has begun to roar and our volunteers return wiser and with a greater understanding of the culture and economies of the countries in which they have worked.” Vso.ie
