Short back and sides, Sir?
on Melissa Hipkins (Rwanda), 22/Nov/2010 08:25, 34 days ago
Before volunteers are accepted for placements through VSO they go through a pretty rigorous vetting system that requires them to examine and analyse deeply their personal motives for volunteering. This process attempts to dispel preconceptions and tries to remove the rose-tinted glasses. Discussions centre on many aspects of a life abroad; the benefits of living in a different culture, the two-way process of sharing skills, but they also cover what the volunteer will miss most from life in the UK, what are their deepest concerns about the problems that may emerge by being away for up to 2 years. VSO tries to minimise the risk of volunteers being discontent in their placement and demanding to be repatriated. Obviously this possibility would cost the charity dear, so a good deal of the training is focussed on making volunteers absolutely sure they are making the best decision.The sorts of things that are offered back in discussion depend a lot on the age and background of the potential volunteer. They roughly divide themselves into two groups; the motives of those in their twenties being distinct from older volunteers. These‘youngsters’ have yet, maybe, to establish themselves in a career or profession and look to this period as a chance to sample another way of putting their education to use, impossible to simulate in the UK. A way of giving back some of the advantage gained through having been part of a privileged system. To test themselves under difficult conditions, a bit like being called up for military service only without the press-gang element, and it always looks good on a future CV.The other group is represented by those who have found themselves at a stage of their working lives where they face less challenge. Children have left home, the thought of chasing jobs in the market once the placement is finished not uppermost in the mind. The appeal of the idea of a new challenge and to pass on experience gained over the years.The anxieties of the young are those of straining promising relationships, of prejudicing the progression of early careers, of looking for new jobs once returned, of what they can possibly contribute with so little experience themselves. The greyer group have unease about their health and the resources available in a less advanced medical system, what to do with their property remaining in the UK, how well established relationships will endure under the stress of parting or adaptation to new surroundings and conditions.What people seemed not to place high on the list of concerns was what to do about getting a hair cut. Initially I came with the idea of doing it using electric clippers. I had bought a set of Tesco’s do-it-yourself clippers and hair cutting kit but that soon proved an abject failure, the thing fell to bits or seized solid, there seemed no middle way. It also soon dawned that a simple Number 2 all over does not suit the perpetual summer sun here. Carrying a hat around and wearing it to avoidthe sunburn is inconvenient, and draws even more attention as hat wearing seems reserved for muzungus. I also agree with general opinion that Indiana Jones I’m not.So after abandoning Tesco’s not-so-bargain clippers I bought a superior set here and hoped that with a little tuition and a lot of trust Melissa could be persuaded to do the business every month or so. It started well enough but she was a bit too tentative and didn’t trust the blade only to take off the predetermined amount. I think she and I became frustrated and the experiment hasn’t been repeated. I’ve had a go myself unaided which isn’t too difficult even with no mirror but the result was too short on top exposing me to the sun which is too powerful even at 10 in the morning to bear for long. The enforced use of the hat confirmed my poor opinion of hats in general and resolved me to find a better solution. Volunteers have a grapevine of services they have used and even know of those amongst them who can cut hair. I went down that route but volunteers are busy people and not always around when you need them. Finally it was Melissa who discovered the man she went to also did men’s hair so she fixed an appointment and all is solved. He’s from Uganda and has set up in the basement of a hotel in Kigali. He charges about the same as I was paying in the UK; included in the price is a shampoo, nice head massage, which I’ve got to get used to, and for a limited period only, I hope, nicking of ears with scissorsFollowing on to the last time I wrote, I still have yet to locate anywhere in Rwanda that uses general anaesthetic during surgery on dogs or cats. I appealed to someone I knew who had been in Kigali and had dogs, but he never had to have major surgery performed on them. He gave me a link to“Kigali Life”, a website that shares information amongst it subscribers, a lot of them belonging to the demographic group likely to have pets, but the gen on vets and their facilities is very limited. I contacted one or two mentioned on this site and they were very keen to operate on this mythical cat of mine. However, when it came to answering with specifics on the methods and materials used they refused to be drawn.All this is still very unsatisfactory. There are rumours of a Rwandan veterinary association but I have no means of contacting it if it exists. Without some form of united front to lobby for access to general anaesthetic agents, it is likely very little will change, much to the detriment of the pet population.