Re-entry

There are a number of important issues to consider on your return. These include:

Health

When you get home, there are a number of things you should prioritise to ensure that you are mentally and physically fit after your experience overseas. Firstly you need to get yourself checked out medically to ensure that your health has not been affected by the different living conditions which you may have experienced while abroad. With the excitement of returning home and the pressures of getting back to college, work or searching for a job, a medical check-up may be low on your list of priorities. However, getting used to being back home will be easier if you are in good physical health. It’s important to get a check-up as soon as possible after you return.

A visit to your family doctor is not usually adequate: you need to visit clinics that have specialist experience as well as the facilities needed for lab tests. A medical examination usually provides reassuring confirmation that you are in good health. However, it may occasionally reveal an unsuspected problem which would otherwise lie dormant for quite a while. Some people may be carrying unusual conditions like unerupted infectious diarrhoea, amoebiasis, giardiasis or intestinal worms. Remember that Hepatitis-A takes 3 to 5 weeks to appear, and Hepatitis-B as much as 6 to 25 weeks. You may also be deficient in micro-nutrients, e.g. calcium, iron or a vitamin. If you have returned from a malarial area, you should normally be taking your pills for some weeks after departing the country, or in accordance with the manufacturer’s or doctor’s instructions.

HIV / AIDS

AIDS knows no social or geographical boundaries, and so it’s important to be aware that you might have been exposed to HIV while overseas. Modes of transmission are through practising unsafe sex, by receiving untested blood into your bloodstream, or by being injected with an unsterilised needle. Although no cure as yet has been found for AIDS, treatment can help to stall the onset of the disease and people can now live healthy lives for years with HIV. If you feel you may have been exposed to HIV, you may want to have your blood tested for the presence of HIV antibodies. There are numerous centres which provide a fully confidential service, offering blood testing facilities, information and advice. Don’t allow yourself to be tested before considering the implications of the result with your doctor or a trained HIV counsellor. If you do test positive, be assured that treatment and support are on hand.

Mental and emotional health

Not only must you look out for your physical health, you also need to care for your mental and emotional well-being. Firstly, you should receive some form of debriefing from your sending organisation, preferably in-country and on return home. Debriefing gives you the opportunity to provide feedback on the project, and allows the agency to hear constructive comments and acknowledge the individual’s role. Items that should be covered in de-briefing are project feedback, local conditions, suggestions for improvement of the project, dealing with or handing over unfinished business, and last but not least, saying goodbye.

Processing your experiences

On returning, you may need time to process your experiences and to readjust to life at home. If you’ve only been overseas for a few weeks, you’ll probably find it much easier to readjust. However, if you were abroad for a longer term, were working in a rural community, a particularly deprived shanty town, or perhaps in a disaster zone, or on sensitive human rights issues, you might need more time to readjust. Also, people who are sensitive to poverty and injustice might need to think through the affect volunteering overseas has had on them. For some, getting stuck into a job or studies immediately is an effective way to achieve this. However, for others it might be best to talk things through.

Contact Comhlámh’s Services Officer to arrange meeting up with other returnees. Comhlámh facilitates “Coming Home” weekends where returned volunteers can meet to talk through their time overseas and think about their plans for the future. Think about having counselling if necessary. Comhlámh can put you in touch with trained counsellors accustomed to dealing with returnees, and can help out with costs if you’ve volunteered overseas for longer than three months.

Creating a supportive environment

It’s also important that you create a supportive environment for yourself. Maintain or begin friendships with other returnees, especially ones who have been to the country or region where you lived. Participate in classes related to the culture of that region: the language, the dances, the food. Ireland is becoming increasingly multicultural, giving you many more choices in terms of ethnic restaurants where you can eat out with friends and shops where you can buy produce to prepare at home. Keep in touch with friends back in your placement country – either by email, letter or phone. If you stay involved with the organisation that sent you abroad, as well as meeting other returnees, you can also meet future volunteers who can bring letters and photos to deliver to your friends overseas.

Additionally, you could use your experience to help train others before they go abroad. Make friends with people living in your area who come from the region or country you volunteered in. Volunteer locally; either in organisations that deal with the issues and the region you worked in or ones that support people living in Ireland who come from that area. Furthermore, you may have noticed that many of the problems and issues you learnt about overseas are also present at home. These include poverty, marginalisation, and discrimination. Volunteering locally is an opportunity to contribute to development in the local sense of the word as well.

Sharing your experiences

Share your stories with others to help you reflect on and continue to learn from your experiences. However, be prepared for the fact that family and friends might not be endlessly interested in hearing about your overseas experiences! Keep your eyes open for lectures, seminars or conferences that focus on the region or issue most prevalent in your volunteer experience, or those which examine development, inequality and interculturalism. This may give you a taste for more extensive education in order to start a career in international development. You may also wish to take more direct action against global poverty and inequality.  Read more about how you can use your experiences on your return home.