Entrada final del blog

So you know it's going to be a big one. Grab your blankie and a hot drink, we might be here for a while folks. If you thought I've been subjecting you to my opinionated jibberish before... you're in for quite a ride.

Volunteering

Less than one year and you're kidding yourself that you'll make any significant change. 6 months was barely enough to even just start making a difference. Many volunteers come wanting to be Mother Teresa for 1 or 2 months and are surprised (and go home jaded) when they realise how little value they have added. If you are spending less than a year, you are just getting in way of people doing real work. The ones who benefit the most come with the knowledge that the experience will change them more than the community. They come searching for the answers to some questions and usually leave with, at the least, a hint or two.

Africa

Before I make big sweeping generalisation and make it sounds like I've lived a lifetime here, I confess that my experience in limited in time only by 6 months and in space only to West Africa, Morocco and Egypt. So most of the stuff I say is probably heavily biased and limited in perspective and in some cases probably just plain stupid. So read "In my humble opinion" before each sentence.

There is a facebook group a volunteer invited me to called "The Africa they never show you" and is worth checking out. The real Africa with it's big smiles, inspiring landscapes, enduring spirit is well shrouded in the war-torn, disease-ridden hell-hole that the media portrays it as. I must confess to my ignorance of this continent and the false conception and prejudice I carried when I arrived here. A few months is enough to fall in love with this continent and it's people. If you don't, there's something seriously wrong with you man...

That been said, Africa is riddled with corrupt leaders, the average person has a biased (but very outspoken) opinion on local and word politics based on third-hand information shared over a shot of Alomo and is often just plain wrong. It's hard to get the truth here. The local newspapers are rubbish (think Herald Sun on a bad day with less sports and more obituaries) and the only good publications are BBC Focus on Africa and The Africa Report which the average person cannot afford. So to know who to believe is tricky and I struggled with it, often referring to wikipedia which is not really the height of objectivity.

And Personally...

Before I left, people would say "This will change you man... you won't be the same". I don't know if it has. It's easy to be anyone and anything when you are away from home and especially if you're travelling alone and no one knew you from before. You can experiment and re-invent yourself without any criticism. I did do that. I thought about plenty of stuff and came to conclusions on a few.

The true test is when you return home so i guess the verdict is still out.

It (by "It" I mean the interesting people I have met as well, not just the experiences) has definitely opened my mind to new concepts, ideas and has revealed abilities and short-comings I didn't know I had.

Thanks

Thanks for tuning in guys. Hope to see you all soon in the next few weeks.