P to V
on Kenya VSO (Kenya), 24/Feb/2009 20:04, 34 days ago
Normal0photo from Al Mercerwww.travelblog.org/.../Asosa/blog-249649.htmlI am just back from completing my Preparing to Volunteer course (P to V) at Harborne Hall, the VSO conference and training centre in Birmingham. The intensive course was not country specific and out of the sixteen participants only two of us already had our placements fixed up, it concentrated on giving background information on international development, VSO, the personal skills needed by volunteers and things to consider before accepting a placement. Before the course I was a wee bit sceptical about how useful it would be since I had already knew a fair bit about development issues and had decided on my placement.In fact it was a good weekend, the tutors were great, there is always stuff to learn, no matter how much you think that you know and it was interesting to reflect back on what I had thought about before opting to go to Kenya. I had thought about most of what we covered although not in such a structured way or in the same depth, so no regrets there. Most VSO placements are for one or two years and although at first the fact that mine was for just eight months was one of the attractions I did feel a bit of a fraud, with a jaunt that looked like an extended holiday compared to a two year stint. Of course I might yet be offered an extension and then I can think about this again.One person on the course had done VSO before in the nineteen seventies and thinking about that made me realise what a huge difference the Internet has made. Near instant communication instead of relying on letters and postcards that arrive late, if at all and not always in the order in which they were sent!