I have wanted to volunteer since I was 14 years old.  In my 20s I applied to the Peace Corp (I am American) and by the time I was accepted, many months later, i had planned a big trip of many months to Europe.  I never did volunteer.  Life happens, career, home etc.  Finally I realized I was healthy, still wanting to volunteer, willing to give up all my work and go.  My blog is called "When I'm Sixty Four" if that tells you anything!  The actual name is: whenimsixtfour.blogspot.com..(it was a typing error)  Anyway, I figured if I was going to give up all my work which included  a private psychotherapy practice, teaching psychiatric nursing students and some consulting with Visiting Nurse Service around patients with emotional as well as physical problems, I needed to get a placement for at least 2 years.  

6 months in placement. 18 to go.

Am I able to say that this volunteering “fancy” of mine has been a good idea at all?

Without a doubt!

Will I change my mind at the end of the whole two years?

Extremely unlikely.

Why so? Well that, for me, is because of the very nature of volunteering. Every volunteer knows from the outset that things are going to be very different from the cosy security of ‘home’, wherever that may be. As a result, they are somewhat shielded from the shock of facing new cultures, new levels of (dis)comfort, new paces of life and new communication barriers. Furthermore, since these are the very new experiences that attract a lot of people to volunteering, they tend to see it more as a challenge... a goal. But then you hear a lot of people saying “I totally didn’t expect it to be SO different!”.

We got in touch with John Callaway a short while back, after having found his blog, and asked him to tell us a bit about himself and his international volunteering journey. As it turns out, he had recently written a great article on the topic for Portsmouth Today, which he kindly offered for us to publish as well. Said and done, here is the complete, unedited, article:

The earthquake that hit Haiti some 6 months ago, on the 12th of January 2010, caught the attention of the entire world. Thousands of images and videos depicting a catastrophe of a near-unbelievable magnitude made up the headlines of nearly every news broadcast and publication. The poorest country in the western hemisphere lay in ruins, and the lack of infrastructure has made for a difficult hindrance to help efforts.

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!

These positions will generally require some form of medical training. A lot of countries have failing, or nonexistent, medical systems and the need for help is great. Millions of people die every year due to inadequate treatment and a lack of available doctors: we have all seen the news segments and charity galas to raise money in aid of the people suffering from these conditions.

While the money contributed to these causes through events such as Red Nose Day is indeed a big step in the right direction - and a very much needed one - there is also a need for volunteers in this area. Volunteers will not only help in the treatment of illnesses and the distribution of medicines and prevention packs, but they are also an important source of information. A big part of what medical volunteers do is train locals so that they can help each other, as well as inform them of the risks and dangers that can be avoided through taking simple measures.

Medical volunteering opportunities can often be found for free (as opposed to, for example, animal care which often costs) and the demand is great.