Behind the Photos of A Volunteer: Volunteer’s Life is like a Nepali Dhal Bhat

The Nepali dhal bhat tharkari

They hate you Juanito! exclaimed one of my closest friends. You live a life that they envy and asked if do you work?  This is one of the things that I always frequently hear after posting some of the   landscape photos in my social media account. Some became curious of what it is to be a volunteer. Almost everybody believes that a volunteer is a hero, others believe that volunteers are stupid, others think we are martyrs but   most forget that first of all we are still earthlings, ordinary earthlings like you.

Children in the southern part of Lake  Tanganyika

Traffic in Katawi  National Park

Sumbawanga Airport in Western  Central Tanzania

In every photos posted in my social media account, there is always a story behind it. Some are stories that makes us laugh, others make us cry, upset and just simply awed. The photos that I posted, others were encouraged to be a volunteer to fulfil their dreams. To fulfil those dreams is to have a photos of children behind us  in tattered clothes, women carrying   a huge and heavy loads, and with men behind bars or with arms shouting “fight for freedom” or carrying a placards to fight stigma against people afflicted with HIV. Hmmp, wrong motivation maybe. Many of us and  I even asked myself why, I am doing these things that I have to wake up early and worked for hours not mentioning all those  terrible roads, bad access to transportations that I have to climb mountains twice higher than the mountains that we have back in the Philippines, missed out communications, or simply celebrating Christmases and New Years alone after posting a photos of  Masais and with me chatting and  dancing, or simply  hiking in a snow-capped Himalayas behind a Gurung village or visiting and having coffee with a Pemban friend in front of the Indian Ocean.

         

My prize of walking to visit and worked in my  project areas, hematoma.

Many times I was asked the reason why I left my country and profession when  in fact I'm needed more back home. This I even asked myself. Others asked me your country is poor but you’re here? Or simply you will be scorned for being a volunteer by some volunteers that they believe only Europeans or Americans have the “rights” to volunteer.  In one of my placement, I was told that  they should not accept me because I am an Asian. They prefer “whites” but  obliged to take me because they will lose the funding from  the organization that sent me. Only to find out later, that having a “white” volunteer is a status symbol in their communities.

Re-fuelling during the monsoon @ Songea Airport

Place where we sleep in  the Masai Villages

          Not only that, we will hear also the “ Miss Beauty Pageant” wannabees that we do volunteering because we have to be like  Angelina Jolie or  feeling like George  Clooney, and post those photos  with captions, "I feel like an angel  or feeling  a salvador del mundo!  The  funny thing we emphasized that we hate the colours of the organization that we represent but will tell or command others to take pictures of us only when we wear the uniform or vest, after the pictorials we will just remove it. But wear it as a badge of status with pride and gusto because  we are happy to be there as a part of the community.

 Natural water heater in Tandala, Tanzania

          If you think that we can change the world by coming to the field as an expert and have all the innovations and sophisticated designs for development, think twice. The people that we might be working with in the field have better academic and experiential portfolio than we thought.  Sometimes we  are double standard, to make a Mother Theresa  appeal, we will introduced themselves ,  I am not an expert but when we signed the log books which is a common thing in some countries, we will write in big letters, IVE – International Volunteer Expert!  Our part as volunteers is to facilitate or simply be a helping hand to recognize the concerns that the  community is facing and how can we help realize to find a solution for it. We have to remember, that their situation is much better than us but only the question is who will guide them to lead in making a solution to their concerns. This made me remember the YouTube clip, on “who wants to be a volunteer” or an article, WE DO NOT WANT A DUMB VOLUNTEER IN AFRICA. 

 Many lives perished in  car accidents in Africa.

Most believe also that being a volunteer, we are receiving heaps of money. Some even think that we are in their country to take their money and their opportunities for employment. Sadly, I say no. In some circumstances, we have to subsidize our volunteer living allowances. So, if we are thinking that there is money in volunteering think twice before coming. Others also believe that as a volunteer we are the ambassador of WORLD BANK – IMF and that we are mucho dinero and throw money in the air! They failed to know that not everything is money and we do not come as funders and if we think so, we will be frustrated.

         

Millets growing in the terraces 

And again,   some of our co-volunteers especially think that we come to volunteer for the allowance because we cannot find work at home. Some questions our credibility, and even academic qualifications on how and why we are accepted as volunteers, thinking again that since they come from “developed” countries they are much better especially if you came from “south to south” volunteering countries.  All must realize that in volunteering, we need not to be very smart nor to be gorgeous but not to be a dumb too. What matters most is our intentions of doing our work with passion and commitment and on how we can integrates in the community dynamics in order for us to be a better partner to development.

Dam for hydroelectric plant in Lamjung

          But as volunteers, we learn a lot things to share and celebrate with the community,  the cultures of accountability, transparency, and  sustainability are the best thing that we can offer but  requires a lot of humility,  commitment,  and passion, always. Like any other vocation and profession, things will come out best if it comes from the heart.

         

With the monks inside Patan Square

The reason why I post only nice if not beautiful photos, it is because I would like that each one of us will look forward to things that will inspires us more to do what is better for children to be better global citizens to make the world a better place to live rather than having better world for the children to be live better. A place that everyone will be respected and appreciated.  We do not have to post photos   to gained sympathy, we do not have to prostitute issues to gain attention or simply to ask an appeal.  I tried to post more photos that will inspire us more and that is the reason why I love to do what I do now. We  do not have to be a full pledge volunteer always, even in our little ways we can do something better, what if all of us will volunteer for a wrong reason or all of us are volunteers?   Think twice  about the photos, it is not only simply beautiful, think that behind those scenes are stories of  triumphs, desperation, betrayals and celebrations  that will make us appreciate better life, like the Nepali dhal bhat, it contains everything to appreciate and savour the flavour, that is a volunteer’s life!

Blackie and me during tihar in Kathmandu

Curried chicken with Raksi, the local wine made from millet

Children waiting for the turn for kerosine ration

Sunrise from my flat in Besishahar

My  Gurung hosts in Karapu Village