EIL Intercultural Learning

Oisin Brogan, volunteered in Nigeria for 5 months. As part of an article titled "The Great Escape" on the Monday 19th October edition of the "Irish Independent" he was interviewd about his experience. A excerpt of which follows:

Eighteen-year-old Oisin Brogan's parents were certainly concerned when he announced his travel plans last year. The now first year Trinity College engineering student told them he wanted to volunteer in Nigeria after his Leaving Cert.

"My parents were a bit nervous about me going there. Mom got so worried that she very nearly decided that I shouldn't go," explains Oisin.

"Going to Nigeria did come with some heavy warnings. Africa isn't the safest of places all the time. I was pretty sure I was going to be safe and my parents were convinced in the end because I wasn't going into a war zone," says the young Kerryman.

"I went with EIL (an Irish not-for-profit group) for six months. I did a lot of searching over the internet and they were the closest to what I wanted to do," he adds.

In preparation, EIL did a specific workshop for Oisin's trip but he feels that common sense is as important.

"If anything went wrong, like losing a plane ticket or passport, I had to go to the family I was staying with first. If they couldn't sort it out then I had to go to the EIL representative in Nigeria.

"Emails were up and down because the electricity supply was not reliable but mobile phones were easily accessible. The last thing you should do is contact your parents because they will only panic and there is nothing they can do being so far away," he says.

Everything didn't go according to plan and he did experience some health difficulties.

"While I had all of my vaccinations I ended up getting malaria while I was there. Over a six-month period the anti-malaria tablets don't work all the time. Most people end up getting it; it's pretty hard to avoid."

Even though Oisin's parents had concerns about him going to Africa, they encouraged him to take a year out to travel. The footloose teenager began his odyssey in South America.

"I started my gap year with three months backpacking in South America. I organised it over the internet and went with a group of Americans around the same age as me. The organisation I travelled with arranged the schedule and the flights but it was up to us what we did when we got there.

"When we would arrive in a city they would let us off to find accommodation ourselves but if we couldn't get anything they would have a back-up plan," says Oisin.

The one piece of advice Oisin offers prospective volunteers is to anticipate having their expectations broken. This is something Ann Reilly, manager of the Comhlaibh Volunteering Programme, agrees with.