Els Van DerRoest

Since high-school, I already wanted to ‘do something’ but I did not have the feeling I was capable of adding something to the world why I wasn’t living by myself yet. 4 years and a bachelor in Chemistry later I decided that the time had come. Because I believe that using your knowledge is the best way in which you can give a contribution, I wanted to use my knowledge of Chemistry. It wasn’t easy to find a project that suited me.
 
Fortunately, after a few months of surfing the internet I bumped into VIN as I sent an email to Bhupi and he responded telling me he was in the Netherlands for a few days. How lucky I was! So, over a cup of tea in a café we ‘created’ my project. We decided it could be really useful to do water quality research in Taluwa, Okhaldhunga, the new area VIN is starting to work in.
 
The preparations took months for me, as I had to bring a lab kit with me, which is very expensive. But finally, I got it funded (many thanks to Krommenie!) and my work could start.
 
Living as the first volunteers in such a remote area as Taluwa is a special experience for sure. I knew life in Taluwa would be ‘hard’ in some ways. Of course it takes some time to get used to the squatting toilets, dhal bhaat in the morning, really really hard beds, no shower, hours of walking & another culture. But for me, this was all part of a great experience and I’m surprised how fast people are able to adapt their selves to new situations. The first month I was living together with another volunteer in a nice host family. We helped cooking, laughed a lot, milked a buffalo, made a sort of yoghurt drink and drunk a lot of tea with Bhupi’s lovely parents.
 
My project went well. I conducted the research on chemicals as well as bacteria, I interviewed people on water & sanitation, I developed a water filter and gave workshops about them. I was working together with a translator and sometimes walked in the middle of the jungle with the monkeys around us. In the end, I organized two meetings with ‘coordinators’ in the area to talk about the biggest risks that can effect the water quality and which improvements are needed. This things I communicate with VIN for follow up projects. Altogether, I have the feeling that I’ve really been able to achieve something.
 
I had a lot of freedom to use my time the way I wanted it. I think that for future volunteers, it is good to know that you have a huge responsibility to make something out of your own project. Be prepared for that, than it will be a much better experience. For me, having so much freedom was like heaven.
 
Personally, I had some problems with feeling extremely lonely after one month. This was mainly because I was there with another group of volunteers who did not speak good English but were instead speaking Spanish/Italian (their own languages) all the time. They did not really care about me so this was really hard, especially when I got sick. So when you think of doing a project, make sure you are not alone in a group of people from similar or the same countries/country, especially not in such a remote area where it is important to have some support from others.