Chronic Volunteer

Despite of what I went through in Mozambique, I decided to re-volunteer with VSO. I felt triumphant in my volunteering stint in Mozambique. I felt I conquered the world. In the deepest recesses of my being, there is a craving to be overseas again and telling me that there is more to volunteering. I need to discover this. I didn’t realize this would be the start of my “chronic” volunteering – a term coined by volunteers for those who are making volunteering as a career (LOL).

Nigeria is situated in West Africa. It is bounded in the West by Republic of Benin, Chad and Cameroon on the East, Niger Republic on the North and Gulf of Guinea in the South. In all honesty, I was not fascinated with Nigeria. But I was attracted and excited to live and work in a predominantly Muslim turf. I thought it would greatly enrich my HIV experience and I would be able to confront my biases and prejudices towards Muslims who are widely misunderstood. From experience of fellow volunteers, they described Nigeria as a “litmus test” for volunteers. Meaning, the conditions are harsh and will require resiliency and stamina to survive. Despite, the reservations I had, I accepted the placement in the Northern part of Nigeria, which is close to Sahara desert. I am sweating now while I’m writing this article, promise (LOL).

On my way to Nigeria, I was with other five (5) “pinoy” volunteers. Omens (bad) were persistent which at one point gave me a fearful feeling. Our travel was delayed for almost 2 weeks as visa could not come out on time. The other “pinoy” volunteers I am going with were also interesting as they display different personalities and attitude. It was an exciting mix. All six of us with only one rose look like a teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bionic Men or X-men when we departed from the Philippines as each one us was tugged along with our “helmets”. Helmet was a serious matter and policy for VSO Nigeria as the country has the highest motorcycle road accidents in the world. Mind you, if you are found riding a motorcycle without a helmet, you can have your volunteer status reviewed or worst you can be deported. Imagine us in the NAIA with our hand carried luggage and the helmet (LOL). The bad signs won’t leave us as we have difficulty going through the immigration. We were pounced with questions one after the other. We almost missed our flight. We have to run to catch our plane. The journey from Manila – Bangkok – Frankfurt – Lagos – Abuja was a real fun. There was a drunkard who siphoned all alcoholic beverage of the plane like plain water. Arriving in Abuja was a real shock, we were greeted with “heat” I said oh my god, the airport doesn’t have an air conditioning system. I was sweating on my way out of the airport. The outside temperature is the same as inside the airport. With this scenario, I started to ask myself, “Will I survive Nigeria with this kind of environment?” A question I myself could not answer at that very moment.
After the short and quickie In-Country Training with brief pidgin language lessons, it’s time to get to work. The first night in Kano was the real test. After around 6-hours drive from the Capital City, I was directly sent to the office and got the chance to meet the “who’s who” and see how the office looks like. After an abbreviated chit chat – time to rest as it was already five (5) in the afternoon. Darkness started its shift. The driver left after I was thrown out in a place unfamiliar to me. I was starving to death I don’t know what to do. I was given a single room with few basic furnishings. Inside the room is a bed and beside it is the fridge, then a monolithic table, and a chair. A gas stove on the other side. The room was dusty which looks like it was not inhabited for quite sometime but there was a trace of human invasion (LOL). The toilet was common and it is not water-sealed, all you have to do when the nature calls is squat – no water needed. It was getting darker and darker and I just realize – “black-out”. Gosh! I started to cry in all honesty and started to ask what am I doing here? This accommodation is definitely way below VSO standard. I started to compare my accommodation in Mozambique which is considered posh by volunteer standard. I have hot and cold water, a bathtub, a spacious bathroom, a 3 bed-room flat, a living room and well furnished kitchen. I was told that electricity and water is erratic in the city. Let me re-phrase it you can expect electricity running once in a while – the most normal thing. I survived the night in a candlelit dinner with bread and I was sweating hard. It was an excruciating long evening. Oh I forgot to mention the running water is not running (LOL). It’s a “now you see and now you don’t” thing. The water is a bit brownish due to dust. It was a real survival of the fittest and elimination of the unfit. You have to learn to sway your move according to local beat. I have to survive I told myself. I learned some technique. The water comes around in the morning just in time to go to the office, goes out, comes back in the afternoon, goes out, and comes back around 12 midnight. The electricity comes back at around 8:30 in the evening and then gets some rest and then goes back to work at around 12 midnight sometimes a bit tardy and then gets off and gets back in the morning sometime takes AWOL (LOL). Also you can imagine this – you can wash your clothes at around 9 in the evening and by around 11 or 12 midnight you can iron it in time when the electricity comes – fabulous, isn’t it? (LOL). Although I really did not survive Nigeria for medical and environmental reason, It’s fun to look back how I survive each day. The evening is usually hot. I am basically naked all night long. I have to sleep using wet towel just to ease the heat. And one of the techniques I developed and proud to say a truly Filipino ingenuity for survival – I slept on the floor in front of the refrigerator and leave the fridge open and ON so that when electricity comes – I have a cool and fresh air from the fridge (LOL). How about that? After 3 months in placement, finally the rain came heavy. It was a big celebration on my part. Each drop of the rain that touches my body was a real celebration of joy and thanksgiving. I soaked myself wet, danced, sung, shouted for joy, lay on earth to embrace the gift of life. Never mind the brownish color of the rain due to dust (LOL).

Although my placement in Nigeria was cut short, I Indeed realized many things. I feel completely safe working in a predominantly Muslim area and organization. I was able to develop real good friends and meaningful relationship with local people who showed concerns of my being a foreigner. Despite of what I went through I am proud to say, I was able to deliver what I was supposed to share which was appreciated and they showed it to me when it was time to pack my things up and bid goodbye. My Nigeria account is the real experience in volunteering that makes life so unpredictable that will truly test your resiliency and creativity all in the name of development.