‘Pandemic has changed volunteering’

Cloghan woman tells of volunteer challenges

A woman from Offaly has spoken about her volunteering story and the importance of ethical international volunteering as charities and organisations adapt to an ever-changing way of life.

Hazel Daly, from Cloghan, says she always had an interest in volunteering growing up.

“I was always involved at a local level particularly through the GAA, but then as I got older I volunteered with the Simon Community and with Kildare Youth Group when I was in college in Maynooth studying Social Science,” she explains.

Hazel then went to Spain after college to teach English where she learnt Spanish before returning to Ireland to complete a Masters in Development.

“I was advised by a man who at the time was the head of Trócaire, Eamonn Meehan. His advice was to go abroad for a year if I could and to learn what it is to work in a development project on the ground. So I found Viatores Christi, who I now work for as a Support Office, and I saw that they provided volunteer training and focused on long-term volunteer placements rather than just a few weeks.”

Viatores Christi is a faith-based, sustainable development and humanitarian organisation, that specialises in the recruitment, training and deployment of international volunteers. They have sent over 3,000 volunteers abroad since the 1960s.

Hazel completed a training course with Viatores Christi before volunteering in Mexico for one year in July 2017 during which she worked in a home teenagers who were either abandoned or lived in dangerous neighbourhoods and who were in danger of falling in with cartels or gangs.

“The whole experience was incredible, but obviously there were tough times as well. While I was there, an “I was always involved at a local level particularly through the GAA, but then as I got older I volunteered with the Simon Community and with Kildare Youth Group when I was in college in Maynooth studying Social Science,” she explains. earthquake took place in September 2017 which really upset our lives over there.

"Some of the teenagers were from indigenous backgrounds, and where they lived they had no access to education or health services so they lived in the home but were still in contact with their families.

“I worked quite long hours, but that was more in line with the Mexican work life. They really do not complain about working, ever, which is something I learned very quickly! Nobody ever said they were tired at work.”

Viatores Christi not only supports the volunteer going abroad, but also the project they are working on with partners.

“I did my thesis on how host organisations feel about international volunteers, and the thing that came up time and time again is that if you are going for a short period of time, you have to be going with highly skilled work. A surgeon who goes to Haiti for four weeks is incredible because he or she will perform surgeries on people that really need them. But if you’re going to go paint a wall for a month or two weeks – someone locally can do that.

“Viatores Christi’s stance is that as things open up we hope to deploy volunteers again, but we want to deploy skilled volunteers who are willing to do the training and commit their time to a project and who really want to be there. These volunteers will also get to experience a culture in a way that you don’t get to in a week or two. I really got to know my co-workers the locals because I was there for quite a while.”

The pandemic has changed the way volunteering occurs internationally, with some volunteers remaining abroad while others returned home to Ireland.

“We’re taking part in the EU Aid Volunteering Initiative and that has partnered us up with other organisations in Europe and we share best practice with each other. The funding from that has really helped us to survive as an organisation, because not only do we send volunteers, we also support projects in terms of finances and their monitoring and evaluation.

“Some volunteers decided to stay in the field when the lockdowns were called globally, but a lot of them came home or were evacuated and brought home. We haven’t sent any volunteers abroad since, but we have worked with local in-country volunteers.

“For example, a lot of our projects are in Uganda and we have been able to fill some roles with Ugandan people who are more than qualified to fill those roles. That’s probably something that will be more of a balancing act in the future because it might make more sense to have someone local. The only problem was that there were a few months where there was no volunteer on some projects. For example, one needed a physiotherapist and it took a few months to find someone to fill that role.

“Some partners are still crying out for an Irish volunteer, while others have come home but are continuing to work for them in an online capacity. We have one man who stayed in Cambodia, a woman who stayed in Haiti and another who is still in Uganda. They’ve really shown their loyalty and dedication to the work they’re doing over there.”

Hazel encourages anyone who is considering volunteering in the future to start thinking about it now.

“First ask yourself if you have volunteered at home and figure out if it is something that you are really interested in personally. From there consider doing a volunteering training course, because like any new job or role you really should be trained up on it.

“It would be great if people could consider these long-term volunteering options post-Covid and really make an impact,” she finished.