Goodbyes&Hellos
on It began in Africa (Kenya), 10/Aug/2011 06:25, 34 days ago
In the last couple of weeks we have been saying goodbye to a few volunteers who have come to the end of their placements. And while our (and in particular, my) adventure has just restarted we have definitely been reminded that the adventure will come to an end.New volunteers have also arrived starting their adventure, with the same fears, excitement and nerves that we had when we arrived, and that has reminded us of the beginning.When you arrive as a volunteer, you are thrust into a volunteer community full of people who know the country, the language and each other. You are the person arriving late to the party with your four-pack of lager: the music stops and everyone turns to look at you; they’ve all been introduced and you need to make your way around the room, forgetting names and stepping on toes.As you settle in, all that is forgotten and you are just in the party, glad to have other people in the same situation whocan buy you a beer ,you can turn to for advice,whose hospitality you can abuse, share skills andexperience you can take advantage of.The volunteer network is the go-to place for tips on good bars, restaurants and tour operators, and in our experience it has been invaluable.Beyond that, the volunteers around you become your friends because they have made the same choices as you, and they are the only people who can share the frustration of the culture clash and the despair of development work, all over the aforementioned beer.Soon there is the next batch of volunteers who are in the same situation, and you think to yourself‘but they are here so soon, I don’t know anything yet, I have no knowledge to share,’ but you have already forgotten the reassurance of seeing volunteers without the nervousness and fear of having coming straight off the plane.And then people start leaving: the peoplewho bought you a beer, helped you, organised the trips, and shared their temporary home. They leave back to the four corners of the earth and you realise your world has become bigger again, filled with places you hadn’t heard of before and you need to start working on your air miles. It's sad watching friends start to drift back to their "old" (never-to-be-the-same-again) lives and leaving you behind.It also makes you realise that somehow you have become an "old hand", despite feeling like you probably have fewer certainties than when you started, and that you have only just begun to glimpse how much more there is to know, understand and try to fix. As the "Big Kids" head home an odd kind of responsibility for the VSO team sets in.There is still much more of the adventure, many more frustrations and beer to be had but the carousel of volunteers keeps turning, people get on and people get off, one day it’ll be your turn to get off. It is dawning on us that we may need a plan.