"Preparing to Volunteer" Course

Just got back from a very busy weekend training course in Harborne, near Birmingham.

Friday night was until 21:15, Saturday and Sunday were 09:00 - 20:00, and I didn't leave until about 15:00 today.

Stayed at the training center "Harborne Hall" in a room with a basin. Smelt like fly spray! Good food though, and a resource library with net access.

Course was very interesting. We covered the history of developing countries and how they got like they did. About how the rich countries get richer at the expense of the poorer ones.

Interesting facts like: sending your second-hand clothes to developing countries can actually wipe out that country's own textile industries as people buy and sell their "donated" clothes and have no need for their home produced clothes.

Then we learnt about how to cope with culture shock by doing role plays etc. How what you think the reason for people behaving like they do might not be the reason at all. The reason half a class doesn't attend a session might be because they all have to gather the harvest etc.

We also looked at our own reasons for volunteering, how you should not expect to "change the world."

Also how HIV/AIDS affects everything, like the reason a teacher is away for 5 days is that they have to travel across the country on poor transport to attend the funeral of a relative who has dies of AIDS.

There were 17 of us, a couple going to Ethiopia at the same time as me. It was great being with people who all had the same goal - a great bunch!