We've asked another helpful volunteer to answer a few questions for us, just like Bunty & George in Jamaica. Catherine Dupre is currently volunteering with VSO in Mongolia, and kindly agreed to share some of her experiences with us. If you want to read more about her adventures, check out her personal blog: Monglian Nursing Adventure. She's also supplied us with a gallery of photos that she has taken in Mongolia, which you can view right at the bottom of this article (shortcut). Now, on to the questions!

When and why did you decide to do volunteer work?

I decided last August.  I have a slightly random work/study history.  I am a nurse, but in sept 2006 I began a philosophy degree to try and move away from clinical nursing, and into academia and ethics.  When I started the degree, the economy was fine, and I was confident of being able ot follow the path I wanted when I graduated, however, unfortunately we had that economic downturn/crisis (whatever you call it) and so when I finished the degree, I found myself in a jobless wasteland.

Volunteering is something I always wanted to do, and I figured that I should take the opportunity to do it now, when there was nothing else going on to distract me.  I wanted to do volunteering as I find "proper jobs" constricting and frustrating.  I also felt like a challenge, and could see that going to work in development would be a natural next step for me, and fit in well with the direction I wanted my carreer/life experience or whatever, to go in.

What country did you choose, and why?

I chose to work in Mongolia, just 'because' really.  I could have gone to Malawi, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Cambodia or Mongolia.  As soon as I looked at the list and saw Mongolia, I just knew thats where I wanted to go.  I have always been interested in asia, and have visited Japan and Thailand before.  Also - there was a part of me that felt that Africa is kind of the "obvious choice" for development work, and I wanted to go somewhere totally random and far flung.  When else would I get the chance to go to Mongolia!?

What type of work are you doing, and is it like what you expected it to be?

I am a "nurse trainer" in a hosptial here in UB.  It is kind of what i expected, mainly because i didnt know what to expect, I knew it would be weird...but there are a lot of similarities between their nurses and the Uk nurses that it was quite funny to realise.

I knew that the hospital would be under resourced and the nurses knowledge and practice would be different and limited, but I found the reality of it quite shocking, having been indoctrinate with my western medical education, I found some of the practices almost painful to watch, as I was just thinking "infection control/patient safety/nursing process" etc.

I was unprepared for the practical implications of working with an interpreter, or what it would be like to work in an environment in which I couldnt understand anything anyone said.

However, I enjoy my work, and although I get frustrated and disheartened some days - I find it very exciting sometimes, and I feel strongly about implementing the WHO guidelins, and JHC policies, so that patients have a better chance of avoiding infection and pressure damage.  It is hard to get the information across, and I dont know how sustainable my work is, but I do see a slight shift in the attitude and understanding of the nurses, which is great.

Are you volunteering with a big organisation (where you pay them a fee and they arrange a place to stay and work, transportation, etc) or are you 'flying solo'? If the former, do you think they are a good organisation to volunteer for? Do you feel that you are getting good value for your money? If the latter, did you come across any difficulties or problems that you had not planned for beforehand?

I am working for VSO, who place professionals in jobs in developing countries to share skills.  It is a good organisation, I get a flat, and a living allowance, but i have had some frustration with VSO, and a lot of us here are annoyed about things they didnt make clear to us etc.  I didnt have any problems before I hadnt planned for, as such, I just wish I had been given a clearer idea of what I was going to encounter when I got there, and what kind of things I might have wanted to pack, but that is just hindsight I suppose, no one could have really told me how I was going to find things.

Do you have any general advice for anyone considering to do a volunteer placement similar to your own? Any words of warning or wisdom?

Ummm, I dont know, I wish someone had told me to bring bedding with me, thats about all I can think of!  I would say, just to prepare yourself for things to be a bit chaotic.  Try to go with the flow at first, rest when you can, and dont worry about stuff, things will settle as time goes on - allow yourself time to adjust.

My policy was to say yes to everything, as I knew that I would get shy and reserved if I didnt make myself socialise, and while it was fun, I quickly got very tired!  My advice would be to make the effort to socialise, ask people questions, but also take care of yourself.  It takes a lot of physical and mental energy to adjust to a new place, so be nice to yourself.

How much time did you spend planning and researching before heading out? What, if any, information did you find most important and/or most difficult to find?

I cant really remember, I spent a fair amount of time on the internet, googling "living in mongolia" but I didnt actually get the best impression of what it would be like day to day.

I emailed a couple of people who had lived, and were living in Mongolia, but despite specific questioning, I could not get any objective informtion out of them - and to be honest, now I live out here, I would find it hard to describe what life is like to someone else, it is hard to put across how random it is here!

I had two 3 day "preparing to volunteer" courses with VSO - but that was about working in development, and being a facilitator, it was not country specific, or job specific.

I think that my research wasnt that good, I was quite distracted before I went.  Sorry, its hard to think back now and remember my mind set, and what I found difficult. 

It is different volunteering in mongolia, I think, especially in the city, as this is not so much a developing country, as a re-developing country, 2nd world, rather than 3rd world.

Also, the atmosphere here is very specific, mongolia has only been 'open' since 1990, and as an ex-soviet state, the mind set is kind of weird... There is a distinct ex-pat community, and I try to balance my time between them and my mongolian firends.

The gallery

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