Deployment: delayed
Blog entry #1 (originally posted on 15 September 2023)
I should have already arrived to Kongo. My suitcase was almost packed, I’ve resolved most of my affairs at home, but a mishap with the Italian post had my passport stranded for several weeks. Luckily, after many calls and emails, along with the help of the very kind embassy staff in Rome, I had my visa issued within a day. So, after rebooking flights and receiving my travel document, I am all set for deployment.
I say that I am all set because I have been meticulously planning, reading, making lists and asking questions on all possible fronts. I may have my concepts of what I’m about to encounter, but I promised myself that I am going open, adaptive and eager to learn. Even though this volunteering experience which I’m about to kick off will undoubtedly change the course of my life - I want it to change my life, I feel that I need to make a note of how it came to be in the first place.
Before arranging various disease vaccinations and handling bureacracy, I was working as a journalist and was quite unsatisfied with the direction of my life. I’d google volunteering opportunities in Costa Rica or Nicaragua, which were abundant, but they all stipulated that participants fund themselves completely, something I could not afford. Just before Christmas, a friend told me that the European Commission was extending the age range for its humanitarian aid programme and that she’d be applying. I knew of the European Solidarity Corps’ initiative and I knew I missed my shot, having turned 30 the previous year. The idea was interesting to me at the time, but I didn’t give it much thought.
After the New Year, I did start with the application process, with not so encouraging feedback. After the initial assessment, it turned out that I am a highly motivated candidate, but with too high expectations of the actual programme. I let this feedback simmer for a while, yet still decided to go through with the second phase. Since I alread had experience working with both EU funded projects and within its institutions, it wasn’t that difficult for me, nor was I in a hurry. One thing that did stick with me from the online training are the introductory remarks of previous volunteers. One guy in particular said: “You definitely have to be a little crazy to decide to do something like this.” — which I find somewhat amusing, but quite accurate.
I definitely wasn’t in a rush to complete the training. It was becoming increasingly clear to me that I want to devote my career (if I persisted on such a concept) on issues like protecting biodiversity and mitigating climate change. I’ve already been involved in environmental activism for a while and I was reading anything I could get my hands on regarding climate change. One thing led to another and everything fell into place: I’d gotten accepted for the final phase of the training and quit my full time job on the same day. I wasn’t in a rush to be deployed immediately as I had another three years window for the humanitarian aid gig. Having started a freelance job, I turned down a couple organisations that reached out to me when I noticed the Mondo vacancy for Climate Change Advisor in the Nabdam district in Ghana.
To be completely honest, I could not even point out Ghana on the map, and I had no knowledge of the country or West Africa whatsoever! So I did a bit of reading and researching and without thinking much, I sent Mondo a short application letter and that immediately got the ball rolling!
I remember where I was when I received the email containing the offer: in front of the dm in the centre of Zagreb, I was elated, but I also wondered should I return the pricey shampoo that I just bought? Would I have any use of it in the African savanna? My friends and acquaintanes were really excited, as were various cash register operators and random people I interacted with. I just couldn’t stop talking about it. My family was mortified, imagining all kinds of threats and accidents. Eventually, it took some time and careful elaboration and they made peace with it. I have to admit, I was taken aback a bit by my family’s reaction. Other people reassured me that it’s completely normal for family members to react like that. Where I saw opportunity for growth and learning, they saw danger. So it might come in handy to some future volunteer going through the pre-deployment process to possibly take that into account. Nobody had warned me of that stepping stone, and the purpose of these blogs is to inform our incoming volunteers. So perhaps it will be of some use to someone.
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