THE Voluntary Services Organisation is this year celebrating 50 years of helping people in poor communities across the world.

Kat Dibbits speaks to two Bolton volunteers for whom working with the VSO proved to be life-changing experiences IMAGINE having to travel by boat to do your weekly shopping, or spending two days a week without electricity.

It sounds like hell, but for volunteers with the VSO, overcoming such obstacles is all just part of the challenge.

For two women from Bolton, signing up with the VSO was a truly life-changing experience - although there were plenty of trials along the way.

Carol Jakar, aged 59, of Astley Bridge, travelled to Papua New Guinea with the VSO, while Deborah Ward, aged 33, of Bromley Cross, spent two years lecturing in Ethiopia.

Carol said: "It was very remote where we were - the only way you could get to the nearest town to shop was by a little fishing boat. You basically had to just go down to the beach and hope that one would come along."

For Deborah, living in Ethiopia during the drought caused even more fundamental problems.

"You always had to make sure you had a supply of water in jerry cans because it stopped quite often.

"The electricity was hydro powered, but because of the drought, it meant that they often had to stop the water, which meant we also had no electricity. So we had two days a week with no water or electricity."

Yet despite all this, both women say that the experiences were among the most rewarding of their lives.

Carol, who taught maths, said: "Some of them had gone to school for a couple of years, left and then gone back a few years later because their parents couldn't afford to pay in between. My eldest student was 24, in the equivalent of Year 11.

"You'd have 40 in a class, three to a desk and they'd all be quiet when you taught and when you'd finished they'd ask you to go over it again which felt very unusual.

"I came back over here at Christmas and I found that all the kids were like I want, I want.' Over there, they weren't like that, even though some of them didn't even have shoes. I gave away everything I had there when I left."

Deborah, who lectured in textile engineering at a university north of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, said: "The students were hungry for education. They really had a lots of respect for everything you did for them. They just wanted to learn so much because they could see that that was going to improve their life if they had an education. I think a lot of kids here know that if they do well they're going to be OK but they take it for granted that they have an education."

Unlike in England, where schools are well-equipped and teachers dedicated to their jobs, both Carol and Deborah faced problems abroad that they had to overcome if they were going to fulfil their plans to help their pupils.

In Papua New Guinea, Carol would often find that teachers who were sick would not arrange cover for their lessons, so children would be left on their own in classrooms. The extreme poverty of the country also took its toll in the schools.

Carol said: "I think the biggest problem over there was money - they all paid fees but from what I gather, there were a lot of fees not paid.

"The head was completely in charge of the money and I think a lot of it was sifted off. They had rice for breakfast, rice for lunch and rice for their evening meals with sometimes a few vegetables on top with tinned tuna or tinned corned beef. They'd come and knock on our door sometimes and say there's no food for us'.

"When we first got there, we had electricity from a generator, we had a washing machine, we had a hot shower. By the time we'd been there six months, everything had broken and there was no money to fix it. The generator was broken, the kids had no fresh water, there were lots of problems like that. But they didn't complain at all."

Deborah encountered similar problems in Ethiopia.

"I had about 90 kids in the class and they didn't even have books or chairs," she said. "Equipment and basic facilities were very scarce - if I left a pen on a table, it would be gone. They were so desperate for things they could use. They really wanted to succeed and do better - they were always asking how they could improve."

And although the university was well provided with new textile machinery, there was no money for maintenance or for the materials needed to use the machines.

"A lot of things were done theoretically but the students didn't get to actually put it into practice," said Deborah.

"So when we were teaching, we had to improvise a lot and try out new strategies of teaching to see what worked."

For Deborah, the most rewarding part of teaching at the university actually happened away from the classroom. She said: "The girls were very timid. They wouldn't push themselves forward and be assertive. So I worked in what they called the female education centre in the university doing assertiveness training and helping them get jobs, preparing them for work and preparing them for interviews.

"That was probably the most rewarding area of my work at the university because after two years, you could see that some of them had really developed and were actually getting involved in things.

"When I started, there were six members of female staff - I was the only lecturer and the rest were support staff and technicians. By the time I left, there were 19 women working in the university, doing the same jobs as the men. I felt in my own way that I acted as a role model," she said.

Since returning to Bolton, Carol and Deborah have found that their experiences have left them with a new perspective on life.

Carol said: "I'm definitely less materialistic than I used to be and I find I can't be doing with people who go on about what they have and money.

"I am less tolerant to people like that and I relate more to people from abroad when I meet them here. I'm more understanding, maybe."

Deborah said: "It has made me appreciate things a lot more. I think our lives can be quite materialistic and we don't appreciate what we've got. I don't think I take things for granted as much as I did - I certainly appreciate water!

"I think I'm more tolerant now than I was before as well. I'd lost my patience with teaching a little bit so I think taking a break was a good thing to do."

Judith Brodie, director of VSO UK, said: "VSO believes that people can make a real difference to other people and so we focus on linking people together to share skills and experience to learn from each other.

"There is so much to gain from volunteering with VSO, not only the experience of living in a different country, but also an insight into how the world operates.

"Volunteering is a two-way process, so as well as the volunteers going to share their skills they also learn a lot, too.

"Coming back to the UK, volunteers can share what they've learnt and so bring their two communities together."

VSO FACTFILE

  • VSO is an international development charity that works through skilled professional volunteers in 34 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia.
  • Since 1958 VSO has sent more than 32,000 people to share their skills with some of the poorest communities in the world.
  • VSO recruits volunteers not only from the UK but also Canada, India, Ireland, Netherlands, Kenya, Philippines,and Uganda.
  • 31 per cent of VSO volunteers are over 50, and the average age of VSO volunteers is 41.
  • VSO recruits volunteers with skills and experience in education, health, business and management, engineering and natural resources.
  • VSO also has two programmes for people aged 18 to 25, Youth for Development and Global Xchange.
  • For more information, visit www.vso.org.uk.