Photographer : khym54 @ flickr
Deciding to live and work overseas as a volunteer is a big decision. There are many questions to think about ranging from 'what do I do with my cat?' to 'what's the value of a volunteer to a developing community?' Perhaps the most important question to answer is, 'why am I doing this?' You'll go back to this during the tough times and the good.
It's important to think about all these issues before applying to become a volunteer and again before you commit yourself to a placement.
Leaving Australia
Family and friends
Leaving partners, family and friends can be distressing. For many volunteers, the hardest thing about being away is missing people they love and who love them. It's important to consider the effect that your departure will have and how you will cope without a familiar support network.
Other things that matter
Many volunteers underestimate the extent to which they will miss their lifestyle and their favourite possessions. Volunteering means being separated from opportunities and items that define and sustain your everyday life. It's important to think about the things (other than friends and family) that you don't want to live without and which you can't take with you.
Financial commitments
Most volunteers receive the equivalent of a local salary and a safe and secure home. It's enough to live simply in your host community but it will not stretch to luxuries, nor savings. Many volunteers find it useful to have a pool of personal savings for unanticipated expenses. Before you go, you'll need to think about how you will meet and manage any financial commitments you have in Australia.
Health preparation
It's important to realise that health is more than just physical. It encompasses emotional, spiritual and environmental wellbeing. During preparation for departure you'll need to access up-to-date medical and vaccination information related to the country and region where you will be working.
Talking to others who have travelled and lived overseas is a good way to learn how they have managed their health and what precautions they took. On assignment, you may need to be more proactive about your health than you are at home. Managing your health will require researching the health issues and services available in your country of placement.
Most volunteer organisations provide insurance cover that includes reimbursement for medical treatment and hospital expenses in your host country, and emergency repatriation if required. Medications and pharmaceuticals are usually covered only when they are part of a course of treatment that is necessary as a result of an accidental injury, sickness or disease.
Settling in to your new home
Culture shock
Moving between cultures is an individual experience. Most volunteers underestimate their capacity for change and are unprepared for the adjustment, even if they've previously travelled or lived in their host country. Moving from a familiar to unfamiliar environment can be turbulent and exhilarating. As a volunteer, you'll be changing everything all at once: diet, climate, language, friends, colleagues, home, social activities, privacy, pace of life, expectations, daily routines and more.
Common symptoms of culture shock include loneliness, fatigue, loss of appetite, a loss of motivation and an inability to make decisions. These are not unlike signs of stress and are quite normal but it's important to work out if you have the personal qualities and mechanisms to cope with the extended period of adjustment.
Work expectations
While you may be given a job description, there is no guarantee that your job will be exactly as outlined. You may find that many decisions rest on you or that there is a set plan of work with little room for innovation. Although your skills may have been requested by an employer and the agency responding to that request by sending you, it could be that you will be under-utilised or overwhelmed. It will be up to you to try various ways of using your skills and to work out how to discuss particular issues with your employer and colleagues. Expect to be resourceful and don't assume that the things you need will be available.
Personal security & safety
In most countries where volunteers are placed there are security issues of one nature or another. Your agency should monitor security very closely at all times through their official and local contacts and are experienced at responding to situations that change. In the pre-departure briefing they should work with all volunteers so that they can develop their own security plan before they leave. Understanding the culture, observing local social behaviours, establishing friendships and seeking advice from the local community will improve your everyday personal security, as will being sensitive and sensible.
While it may be tempting to take expensive camera gear or electronic equipment away with you, consider how you will feel if these items were damaged, lost or stolen. Also be aware that, as a volunteer, taking such equipment will make you stand out in your host community and could affect people's perception of you.
Dealing with differences
Communication
Communicating across cultures is challenging and rewarding but it is unlikely to happen quickly. You'll be living and working with people from varied backgrounds who may have values far different from yours and English may be their second or third language. Even in English-speaking communities you'll encounter differences in meaning and usage and expressions that are unique to that country. It requires time and energy to overcome language barriers, understand a new culture and successfully function within it.
Social & cultural issues
As a volunteer in a developing community you will be confronted by a variety of social and cultural issues that at times may challenge your values and beliefs: poverty, child prostitution, child labour, HIV/AIDS, refugees, corruption, discrimination, deforestation, and more. How, for example, will you respond to beggars on the streets? How will you react when you observe discrimination based on gender, ethnicity or religion? How will you deal with the grief of people dying around you from HIV/AIDS? Most volunteers contemplating working in the developing world will be confronted by many of these distressing and unavoidable issues.
Personal relationships
We've probably all experienced how complicated relationships can be within our own culture. In a cross-cultural environment they can be even more difficult. There are many cases of successful and rewarding relationships between volunteers and locals but the consequences of getting it wrong can be painful and damaging, not only for the individuals concerned but also for local communities and local friends of volunteers.
Living locally
Volunteers usually live under local conditions and find many of the comforts of Australia absent in their new homes. You may encounter polluted air, an unvaried diet, extreme temperatures, lack of sleep or privacy, crowded transport, persistent insects and other physical discomforts. Consider how you might react to these and if such factors would substantially affect your state of mind or performance.
Also think about the type of physical activity and socialising you enjoy and what you will do in place of these. It's not unusual to find yourself in a place with limited opportunities to play sport or even to go out alone, and a volunteer salary may not provide for travel and leisure activities as often as you'd like.
Making it work
Dealing with differences, managing expectations, balancing responsibilities and tolerating ambiguities can be overwhelming. The challenge is to find ways to enjoy the diversity, keep your sense of humour and nurture relationships with people.
Giving something back
If you're still considering whether you want to work as a volunteer, returning home will probably be far from your mind. However, it's useful to think about this part of the journey as early as possible.
Living, working and learning in a different community for an extended period is about more than a change of scenery. Many returned volunteers find that their own beliefs and values are challenged by the experience, and that they are in many ways 'different people' when they return to familiarity of home.
Settling back in to Australia and working out what to do with a new perspective on life can take time. Seeking support and advice from other returned volunteers is an effective way to make the adjustment; they understand the challenges facing returning volunteers. Many are actively using their volunteer experience to enrich their own communities. Remember: no matter what you do as a returned volunteer back in Australia, you're destined to make a lasting contribution.
Note: this tool is a guide only; if you are thinking of volunteering overseas contact the volunteer organisation or agency arranging your placement regarding conditions of service.
This content has been adapted from Volunteering Australia’s Go Volunteer website. For more information visit http://www.govolunteer.com.au>
