Nic

Name	Volunteer Year	Placement	Country
Nic	2011	Don Bosco Technical School, Phnom Penh	Cambodia

Describe the work you did during your placement:

I planned and conducted leadership/spiritual camps for students, supported the introduction of the new Bosch sponsored training facility and training course. I was also involved in the installation of equipment and the training of teachers. I ran lunchtime additional English classes and night activities including English classes for the Besucco boys, who are boarders at the school.

Describe some of the best and most challenging aspects of your placement:

Culture was an obvious difficulty but my biggest challenge was working with the teachers at the school. The language wasn't as big a difficultly as I expected. I was surprised at how good students were at speaking and their willingness to speak with me. The students are fantastic and really willing to listen and learn. Seeing this beautiful country, learning about its culture and the devastation of its past was also a real privilege. Living within a community of people from a wide range of backgrounds was something I enjoyed.

Explain how your volunteer experience impacts your life today:

Deciding to volunteer was one of the best decisions of my life. It wasn’t easy or a holiday as some people back home may have thought, but to be able to immerse yourself into a different culture, spend time with people less fortunate than myself, to help them study and also have fun was an amazing experience and I had a blast being there. During my volunteering placement I was able to develop my own leadership skills. I have never done anything like this before and I was definitely outside my comfort zone, but by doing this I learnt a lot about my weaknesses and begin to work on developing skills that help me during in my current job as a project engineer for Boeing.