CSSC member inspired by volunteering

Sue Houlihan

Having never done any volunteering before, The Games 2009 was Sue's first official volunteering assignment although she had 'helped out' at a few other events. She showed up, prepared to do whatever job was given to her. She started out on the registration desk and found that most of the members arriving to register knew more than she did which was a little intimidating to start with, but everyone was very patient and Sue found it a great way to meet people.

On the second day, Sue and another girl, Caroline, were told that they would be the 'lunch provider' team which meant that all the food had to be organised first thing in the morning with the campus chef, loaded onto a van and taken around to all the competitors at lunch time. This is a mammoth task to manage as the sports are all spread out over a wide area, some competitors have special requirements and numbers had to be exact for each sport and, of course, everyone wants it at the same time!

Sue and Caroline came away with muscles they didn't know they had and bruises to prove it! But with Paul, their team leader, and Gary, the university driver, they succeeded and had a laugh the whole way round. Sue wanted to thank Paul for his wit and patience; even when she found out afterwards that this job was considered the worst one of the day! Sue told me that she certainly didn't think it was the worst job and that given the opportunity and the same people, she would love to do it all again!

Having enjoyed herself so much at The Games, Sue started to actively seek out volunteering positions inside the organisation, but in the meantime she had decided that the time was right to take the trip around the world that she had been hankering after for many years. As she was going on her own, and as she had enjoyed the volunteering so much, Sue thought she might try some on her trip.

Sue's love of animals brought her to Widecast who organises research into the leatherback turtle. She is currently part of a team volunteering for Widecast for several weeks at a turtle research centre in Gandoca in Costa Rica on the Caribbean coast. The research centre is totally out of contact with the rest of the world, with hardly any electricity except for a few hours per day of solar power. When I emailed her for information about her trip, she eventually emailed me back, when, on her day off, she had ventured into a town two hours from the research centre and found an area with Wi-fi! Her lodgings at the research centre are shared dormitories, and she says that she is, by far (Sue's words!), the oldest person there as most of the volunteers are in their university gap year!

Most of the work is done at night as that is the time the turtles lay their eggs. Sue and the other members of her team collect the eggs, count them and then relocate them to safer places or to a hatchery where they can be protected from poachers and predators. The shifts are from 8pm to midnight and midnight to 4am, so sleep patterns are all over the place. Whilst working, the volunteers are in the total darkness with only a red torchlight to be used when recording the data. It has all been worth it (even the vicious mosquito bites - no insect repellent allowed!) and Sue is having the time of her life and all for a good cause too.

Well done Sue! Have fun, but don't stay away too long!

If you have a volunteering story you would like to share with our other volunteers, just drop me a quick email (louisa.richards@cssc.co.uk) or a letter to the address at the end of V News.