Estelle Visagie, 35, a consultant from South Africa, is facing layoffs because of the global economic crisis. She left her comfortable life in London, where he had lived for 10 years as a volunteer for a year in a remote corner of one of the world’s poorest countries. He wrote about his experience.

London, England – If you had asked me early last year to Bangladesh on a map, would have fought.

But in April for a year ended up working as a volunteer with VSO international development organization based in a rural community, indigenous to the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The area is near the border with Myanmar, and is predominantly Buddhist, while 80 percent of Bangladeshis are Muslim.

Before I left, I read everything I could find about the indigenous communities of Bangladesh. It was not long, not much is known about the subject.

He had been seriously thinking about volunteering, when the company was working in London began to cut staff due to global recession.

I opted for voluntary departure, and my company had a partnership with VSO for staff to request an unpaid leave of absence. The link was enough for me to know about VSO is a legitimate organization.

Being able to use my professional skills was an important factor. The real hard work in development is not only the construction of physical structures, but the transfer of knowledge and skills.

As one of only three foreigners in Rangamati, I never went anywhere or did anything without everybody knowing about it.

Trying to understand, much less control, the events of an ordinary day was an exercise in futility Many of my years spent in the state of bewildered confusion, and lost in the translation. But the days when only yielded to the madness always best.

Occasionally he traveled to the capital, Dhaka, who gave me a break in some sense, but involved a bumpy, perilous journey with wind of 10 hours on buses are not completely safe.

About three months after his arrival, the initial euphoria and excitement faded, and reality sunk in.

I was not making a difference in question, I sweated my way through the summer unbearable, and many power cuts, could not understand my place within the organization and could not understand how I could help.

We also saw some dirty tactics. The NGO sector is big business in Bangladesh, and many people fill their pockets with foreign aid juicy without worrying about the poor.

Corruption is inherent in all levels of society, which is frustrating.

I kept a blog and had thousands of hits from around the world.

People told me it would make a good guide for people thinking about volunteering, especially in Bangladesh.

I also took photos and posted online.

Setting the pace and culture of working life in Bangladesh took time, patience and often a sense of humor.

A large NGOs often have to pay people to attend the meeting otherwise no one is present.

The higher, higher “fees” they pay you. Once they arrived (always late) at a meeting, sleeping is a common place.

Nobody nudged awake, and no one is ashamed. Culturally there is no shame in this, something that amused me all the meetings I attended.

Although initially felt like I was achieving anything in Rangamati, the fact that I showed up – and stayed – was a great morale booster to the people I worked with.

Knowing that people in the world cared enough to help gave them the confidence and motivation to really begin to address its own problems.

I worked for an organization based education and there was a school within the grounds. A 15-year-old was found dead hanging from a tree about three months into my placement.

There are 1,000 students at the school and apparently all went to see the body before police arrived to deal with him.

The cultural response to suicide was so different from mine, that really shocked me. However, the suicide was brought home to me how universal some issues, and how any community, any religion and culture is not perfect.

As a VSO volunteer to live a “local life, which means toilets, bucket showers and about $ 145 (£ 100) living expenses a month.

Now I’m back, everything seems so predictable. For now I enjoy the predictability of daily life, but hopefully soon I feel a little boring.

If I had known then what I know now, honestly speaking, I do not think I would have subscribed to it.

The old me would have never thought would get through these challenges, the scratch-your-own-eyes-out-heat, and the hit-your-head-against-a-wall-frustrations. But that’s why this trip has been so surprising.

And I’m not exaggerating, I had a lot of tough times out there. I was a girl who loved to companies the right thing.

But this trip has changed me, I’ve become the kind of person who can, and did, to survive.

For those who want to change things, experience different cultures, and hopefully help some people along the way, I recommend it without reservation.

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