vso.ie - Cathy relives volunteering with VSO Ireland Cork teacher Cathy O'Connor relives her volunteering experiences with VSO Ireland, which ignited a love for West Africa and sparked the start of her career in international development.

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Cathy relives volunteering with VSO Ireland | VSO Skip to main content Fighting poverty through volunteering Search form Search Donate Other ways to support us Menu Search You are hereHomeBlog Cathy relives volunteering with VSO Ireland 12 Mar 2018 The way VSO works has reverted since Cork teacher Cathy O'Connor went on placement - we no longer send teachers into classrooms to teach with volunteer placements stuff increasingly focused on skills mart with local teachers. One thing's for sure though - Cathy's volunteer placement ignited a love for West Africa and sparked the start of her career in international development.  Why did you decide to volunteer with VSO Ireland? I decided in the final year of University that I wanted to do something variegated surpassing settling lanugo into a career. My aunt had worked in minutiae all her life and so I unchangingly wanted to engage in work of that nature. I had seen an telecast for VSO on the TV and it looked like the perfect fit for me at that time. However, when I was placed with VSO, the entry requirements were slightly variegated and considering I had washed-up a PhD in Chemistry, with tutoring experience, I was wonted into a Chemistry Teacher role in a secondary school in Zambia. What surprised you most well-nigh your placement? Everything was so new that the whole wits was a pleasant surprise. I think the weightier way to tideway it is as a learning opportunity and not have set expectations on how it is going to be. What was your favourite thing well-nigh your placement? There are so many things it is nonflexible to segregate just one. However, I made unconfined friends, it nurtured my desire for travel, it exposed me to whole other ways of life and opened my vision to the possibility of a variegated career path. What impact did your work have overseas? It’s difficult to know the full impact as I haven’t returned since but during my time there I felt that I delivered on my role as the school Chemistry Teacher. I moreover got involved in uneaten curricular activities, such as forming a HIV-AIDS club where we used drama as a tool to unhook messages on the subject and travelled virtually the local area. We moreover got involved in some musical projects. Did you learn any new skills? If so, what were they? I learnt unconfined patience when adapting to a variegated pace of life. I became increasingly resilient surviving in an isolated zone with none of the conveniences I was used to. The whole wits made me increasingly confident. How was your relationship with your colleagues on placement? I lived and worked with one other colleague and we got on amazingly. There were never any issues. There was flipside school in the village we worked in and we were moreover unconfined friends with the volunteers who worked there. How would spare funds goody the programme you worked on? I was working as a Chemistry Teacher and that laboratory facilities were terrible. It was a shame not to be worldly-wise to do real experiments as they are such a cadre part of fully understanding science.Uneatenfunds to buy necessary equipment would have been amazing. How did you finger well-nigh stuff when home? I felt glad to see friends and family. I had not been home for two years and this was when in 2004 so there were no smart phones and the village I lived in didn’t have electricity most of the time. We also didn’t have a phone in our house so liaison had been minimal. However, I moreover felt a little tumbled stuff when and at a loss to be worldly-wise to really explain what I had been through and experienced. In the end you have to winnow that it was a unique wits that only you and those that shared it can really appreciate. It is a strange feeling but I suppose that is why volunteers form such strong friendships with each other. What have you been up to since returning home?  When I arrived home I got a job in the Science sector as that is what I had graduated in. However without six months I knew I needed to get when to Africa and I unromantic for a job with an NGO and a few months later I was in South Sudan. I remained in the East Africa region for flipside eight years. I still work in the sector now based in London with an international NGO where I throne up the Asia Team. It was my time with VSO that opened up this whole new sector to me. What translating would you requite to volunteers well-nigh to go overseas? Trust your instincts. If volunteering is something you have been thinking of for a while – do it. Interested in pursuit in Cathy's footsteps and volunteering overseas? Check out our latest vacancies or sign up for our monthly newsletter! 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