Voluntary Service Overseas

2018 was a year of heartbreak and great adventure. It started with a gut-wrenching breakup - you know the ones, and ended with a trip of a lifetime to a small village in Southern Bangladesh.

Pulling up into Heathrow airport with my Dad and my massive suitcase, I was absolutely terrified of what was about to come. When you volunteer with VSO you usually don't know anyone you're going to be volunteering with as it is selected at random so you literally show up at the airport, and try and find around 80 people who all look vaguely as terrified as you and hope you make friends.

After the 7 hour flight to Dubai and another 4-hour flight to Bangladesh, you spend the first few nights in a lovely hotel in the capital city Dhaka. Here we were met with our Bangladeshi counterparts whom we would be paired up to live with, in a civilian home over the next three months. We were then able to get to know each other and our cultures, get to grips with the change in weather, and start some safety training.

Before we left the hotel to move into our civilian host homes, we were paired with our Bangladeshi counterparts who were able to help us with Bangladeshi traditions and help us communicate to our host families who spoke little to no English. However, in our group, there weren't enough Bangladeshi counterparts (ICV -in-country volunteers) to go around each UKV (UK volunteer) so me, being from Warwickshire and my (now) friend Jasmine from Essex, were plunged into the middle of Southern Bangladesh for 3 months in a house where we knew no one who spoke our language eating curry 3 times a day with no counterpart. It was typical that we were the only ones out of 80 UKV's without the support of an ICV but I wouldn't have it any other way. We found ways of communicating with our host family and created such a close bond with the children managing to enjoy our time with them never really managing to speak two words to eachother.

After a few days in Dhaka, we were plunged into the house we would be living in for the next 3 months. We lived with a host mother, her husband and their son Istaik. The dad had his brother and sister-in-law next door who had two children aged 5 and 9. Nimol who was 5, was a cheeky little boy who wouldn't leave us alone! He was so excited to have a couple of visitors next door. Sometimes it was a bit much but towards the end of the trip, he was like a little brother to us really. It was lovely to be around him as he didn't speak much Bangladeshi or English which broke the ice a little bit when trying to spend time with the other family members.

Our days consisted of waking up at 7am, getting ready for the day in large baggy T - shirts and baggy trousers or traditional three-piece clothes with a headscarf, and having breakfast. Breakfast was usually curry and rice - which Jasmine and myself found quite difficult. We would then walk about 10 minutes to our office space where we would do work for our community action days and set up other events or do paperwork. At about 12:30 we would go for lunch which would usually be curry and have a little lie down for an hour. I loved a midday break - especially because it was so hot! Back at the office we would continue with our work until 5pm and then we would be allowed to venture into the village a bit more, watch local football matches, play with the children and go to the tea shop which is a massive part of Bangladeshi culture we loved! We had to be in our host homes by 7pm which was unusual for us but the local police didn't want us out later due to apparent anti-social behavior from younger members of society. We would then have curry and rice for dinner, with occasionally something sweet afterward and then go to our rooms, play with the children from next door, read or watch one of the 3 films that we managed to burn onto an SD card.

In total, 80 UK volunteers were flown out to Bangladesh the same day as me, but we were then split into 4 groups of 20. 2 groups were based in the north of Bangladesh around Birampur and 2 groups (including mine) were based in the south around Mongla. I was based in Rampal, a small fishing village known for smoked prawns. Once in our communities, each group was then split into 3 categories depending on the role you wanted and what you wanted to change whilst out there. These categories were split into Livelihoods (providing training and job opportunities), Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (educating teenagers in schools about hygiene, sex, puberty and reproduction) and Governance (improving government relations and communications with smaller villages). I was part of the Livelihoods team who provided a total of 120 hours of training for 23 women in beauty treatments, and for 19 men in food safety, hygiene, and the production of street food. We then compiled a series of tests, written and practical, and rewarded the 4 most attentive trainees with tools to set up their own businesses. This was hugely rewarding and in 3 cases the entrepreneurs made more money in one day than they did in a week in their previous occupations. The aim was to decrease the high level of unemployment in the area by showing people that with the correct resources, you can become self-employed which is why we trained over 40 participants.

We were based in community for 4 weeks when 2 members of our livelihoods team, unfortunately, went back to the UK due to health conditions leaving just 3 members in my team including myself being the only English speaker. It was a huge challenge to pull off the remainder of the training and set up 4 businesses and I found I definitely had to take more of a front seat with organisation, paperwork, training, purchasing, delegation, and execution of the plan. With my design skills and previously installed design software, I was also given the task of creating the end-of-project newsletter which was a huge responsibility. This document was sent directly to the head of the VSO charity, UK and Bangladeshi Government officials to determine if the funding of such trips was worth it and whether to carry on or not. This, on top of the work I was doing almost single-handily setting up 4 businesses was a stressful challenge but looking back almost 4 years later as I write this, it was hugely rewarding for my own confidence and I don't think there are many people who can say they have done that at 18 years of age.

After 3 months we were home and it was time for the next cycle of volunteers to head to the community and continue offering support to the people running businesses. We set out a plan for them to follow and offered advice on how to work with the individuals chosen and to this day (2022) have been given assurances that such businesses are still running successfully which is a huge achievement.