The Global Volunteer: Part One – The Decision!
by This article is the first in a series about the experience of being a volunteer in a developing country. The writer and her husband are embarking on a year as volunteers in the tiny Pacific Nation, Vanuatu. This story is about making the decision to go. Following stories will be about settling in and the work of volunteers.
Ron’s Mum sadly passed away before we could deliver the news, which we believe she may have had some difficulty coping with. My Mum surprised us all by saying “Mad if you don’t do it! Go on off you go and have fun. Send me postcards and don’t forget to ring or email”. The children said they would follow us for holidays if they could and provided their blessing as well. We are in debt to them all for their generosity of spirit and the release they provided us to take this path. Our friends had a variety of reactions from “Oh, My God – you must be joking” to “I don’t get it – why would you want to do this at this stage in your life/careers!” to “Make sure you have an extra bed – we will be there to visit!”
AVI has a very professional process and we headed off to Melbourne for our Orientation and Induction program about 6 weeks before we were to step on the plane to Vanuatu, giving us plenty of time to back out and AVI some time to replace us, if need be. I have to say by this stage we were beginning to doubt our own sanity. On meeting the other volunteers who had signed up in the group being mobilized with us we once again took heart at the decision we had made. There were about 80 people being sent to all parts of the Pacific, Africa and the South East Asian region. Seven of these made our group to travel to Port Vila in Vanuatu. We formed a very tight and supportive friendship group in the months to come, but more about that later, perhaps in another article.
The following six weeks flew by and the date for leaving was looming large through all our preparations. One of the children, our third son, and his wife agreed to move into the house. We gifted our second car to our eldest son, loaned our new car to our daughter to support her to be able to continue her studies, gifted our second son with some furniture that was no longer needed and eventually closed down the house and the business. Our son who was moving into the house would not entertain the idea of moving the dog on so she stayed with them and they loved her and cared for her very well!
I think the magnitude of what we were doing only hit me when I was at the airport, ticket in hand, 2 suitcases to set up in a new country, a large grin on my face and tears in my eyes with all the children saying goodbye. Finally I came to the conclusion that we may indeed be slightly insane – but also insanely happy and ready for the adventure. We strode onto that plane with confidence we didn’t really feel and a new group of friends for life.
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