14.02.2018 - Thoraya Abdul-Rassol was on a one year assignment as Support Officer with the Samoa Association of Sport and National Olympic Committee (SASNOC). She returned to New Zealand in December 2016.
It’s easy to think ‘have I even made a change?’ when on your volunteer placement. This is a question I ask myself in every situation, not just as a volunteer.
At the gym I would ask myself “Have I worked hard enough?” During university, I’d ask myself “Have I done enough work on my assignment today?”, or “Have I written enough notes this lecture?” I would be constantly questioning. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that constant questioning can be detrimental to your continued progress.
I’ve been in Samoa for two months now and the first thing I thought when I realised this was “Have I made a difference yet?” The problem is, this is a really simple question for a situation that isn’t simple at all. I have some advice for those thinking about, or currently, volunteering:
- Two months really isn’t that much time. Keep in mind that you’re in another country and have to spend time getting to know the culture, the people and what’s needed in your partner organisation. Even if you’ve grown up with another culture or have the same culture as your host country, it will be different. No matter how prepared you think you are, you will have to adjust in one way or another. Whether it’s the language, food, customs, or heat.
- Work culture is different all around the world. Don’t expect to go to another country and have the same work ethic as that in New Zealand. Deadlines may not exist where you volunteer and more importance may be placed on family, socialising and maintaining relationships. Give yourself time to get used to this and embrace it. Accepting and practicing your host country’s work culture will allow you to be more productive in a foreign environment.
- Planning and preparation takes longer than implementation. When I first arrived at SASNOC, there was clear direction in terms of what was needed from me: work on SASNOC’s on-line presence and work with staff on their computer skills. My first two weeks here seemed really productive. I looked at SASNOC’s current online presence and made a plan for what could be improved and how to do it. I then sat with each staff member and talked about what they wanted to work on and their unique learning style and I made a plan for SASNOC’s new website, contacting the necessary people to help put it into place. I was so proud of myself! Then things started to slow down and I felt like I wasn’t doing anything.
The reality is that you will need to spend time on planning and preparing your work. In my mind, I had step one as finding out what needed to be done and step two as doing just that. However, in practice, I had actually missed out on 7 steps in-between. In reality I had to:
i. Sit with each staff member and talk about what they wanted to work on.
ii. Assess what level they were already at.
iii. Make a plan of logical steps to teach them things.
iv. Teach myself certain things if I didn’t know them already.
v. Divide lessons into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.
vi. Make lessons from scratch complete with screenshots with every step.
vii. Find a time when I could work with my colleagues (keeping in mind they all have jobs to do).
viii. Give them tasks so they could practice and answer all questions they have.
ix. Become more fluent on the computer (and remember it all).
- Random things will come up that get in your way. You will not be doing undisturbed work for two months straight. You will have holidays, your assistance will be needed elsewhere, you may get sick and have to take time off work and some days you’ll be so tired from the change in your routine and climate that no matter how hard you try you just can’t stay focused.
- You will have still made a change, just not the one you were planning for. If you’re lucky and everything works out in your favour, you’ll be able to achieve your objectives by the end of your placement. Just remember that while you’re focusing on achieving your assignment objectives, don’t go blind to the other achievements you’ll be making. While I was feeling unproductive, I almost overlooked the rise in confidence in one of my work colleagues, who learned some computer skills she never thought she’d remember. Don’t make your task so narrow that you forget to see the positivity happening all around you.
In short: this isn’t just a job, it’s an experience.
