On the move again!

We are on the move again! Volunteering this time. As many of you know we had our first experience of volunteering back in 2003. Since returning from that first four-month foray in Peru, we knew that this was something we both wanted to do more of, so it is with that in mind that we are on the move again.

Our experience in northern Peru was really great and we learned a lot from it. First and foremost that teaching was not the way to go for us. Secondly, we wanted more time to achieve sustainable results, and thirdly we knew we wanted to get involved in a volunteer project where we could use more of our skills, experiences or whatever you call the things we felt we could offer!

Volunteer Services Abroad

And so it was that back in February this year, after a fair few hours of researching on the internet, we came up with the idea of registering our interest with Volunteer Services Abroad (VSA) based in Wellington.

Anyway to cut a long story a wee bit shorter, there were a couple of tourism related jobs up for grabs so Sharon applied for both. One in the Solomon Islands, and the other in South Africa.

In May VSA invited us both to Wellington for the interview process, but only for the job in SA.

Our first reaction was disappointment as we had an idyllic, romantic notion of working and living in a Pacific Island where everything would be new and exotic to both of us. On second thoughts perhaps living on a very small remote island with limited running water, and a sporadic electricity supply for 2 years may become ‘old hat’ after a while!

All of this was in comparison to going to South Africa, a country we have both been to before, and primarily think of as being developed, but facing a different set of challenges.

Although Dave did not apply for a specific role, he did have to join Sharon throughout the lengthy and thorough interview, selection, recruitment and preparation processes. Bearing in mind that he had not had an interview in almost 20 years, that experience was a little nerve-wracking to say the least! (A special note of thanks here to those people, you know who you are, who provided the very detailed references for us – we didn’t recognise ourselves when we read them!).

South Africa it is!

Suffice to say we got through it all, including extensive medical and dental examinations, and Sharon has accepted the role of Tourism Development Advisor for Fair Trade Tourism South Africa. We are on the move again!

Dave is officially going as an ‘accompanying partner’. Although he claims he is going to spend the next two years paragliding, golfing (very loose term), and learning to surf, he is actually going to find volunteer work when we settle in to our new location, a city called East London on the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

It is 15 years since Sharon first lived in SA, and it was nine years ago when we both had a short holiday there. No doubt we will notice changes, but we have a vague idea of what to expect in terms of climate, geography, landscape and lifestyles. Let’s hope we can adapt and fit in to our new community.

We have just received our visas and are waiting on final flight confirmations. All being well we should arrive in SA by the end of September, either way we are moving out of our house this weekend because we have tenants moving in on Sunday!

Because the volunteer assignment does not start until January, we are going to travel around SA for 3 months or so, and experience the tourism industry first hand! And by way of this blog we will try and keep you up to date with what’s going on in our lives, but meanwhile should you want to contact us please do so on: schindlersinsa@gmail.com

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