“Volunteering doesn’t have to change your career path…it’s about sharing your knowledge and skills.” UCD Architecture student Naoimh O’Neill talks about her experiences volunteering with UCDVO
Name: Naoimh O’Neill
UCDVO Project location & years: South India 2013 & 2014
UCD Degree: B.Sc. Architecture
Current position: Professional, currently on a year-long internship intending to complete my masters in Architecture in September 2019.
Tell us a little bit about where you are now and what your role involves:
This summer after completing my studies at UCD, myself and one other architecture student packed our bags and went on a trip that surpassed all our expectations. With our graduation looming in September, and internships succeeding, I was quite confused on what summer would bring, as I longed to use my architecture skills, and working part time for little or no wage didn’t excite me as I knew September would bring just that! When this opportunity arose I jumped at the chance. – The chance as a newly stage 1 qualified architect to design our own building, which in this case turned out to be 13 buildings!
On route to Tanzania, Roisin and I were quite nervous, we were not 100% sure on what exactly the role involved but we knew we would be staying at The Olive Branch for Children. An organisation set up to help remote communities assess their primary needs and establish programmes that target the most vulnerable. Our aim was to help them design a volunteer centre on their new site.
As everyone hears there are hundreds of colourful, authentic tribes in Africa. Our project involved an immersion in the lives of some of these tribes in order to arrive at an understanding of their habitation requirements, along with their traditions, their cultures and building techniques, essentially everything unique to them. We were to design a structure that volunteers in the future will stay in, a structure that represents each of these tribes.
Currently we are finalising the project, the designs & the drawings which will be sent out to Tanzania in the coming weeks to be reviewed, as it is an ongoing construction project, and building is to commence shortly.
Volunteers and children painting a mural at Care & Share India, UCDVO 2013
How do you see your role as a volunteer contributing to international development work?
I was only seven when I first saw my mother travel to India leading an Irish Student Immersion Project. Back then I struggled to understand why she was “going to educate children both Irish and Indian about their differing cultures”. It was only when she returned with pictures, drawings and stories of the children that I began to understand the attraction of her interest in this and why she kept returning. I met the volunteers she prepared and brought to India with her and listened to their stories, this is when I knew I wanted to experience this life, this culture, this colourfulness my mother spoke so highly about. From then on I began to develop an interest in the different countries of the world, – people’s cultures, beliefs and backgrounds.
I think the first step to contributing to international development work is awareness, and it is here where my awareness began. I did projects in secondary school and joined organisations such as St Vincent de Paul and volunteered locally in a variety of community support organisations.
Over the years I think my role as a volunteer, contributing to international development, has taken on a momentum of its own. Beginning with an awareness of myself and my place in society, spreading that awareness, raising funds for various causes, having first hands on experience in India and Africa as a volunteer, going back as a student leader and now using my career and skills I’ve learned to create something that will hopefully be sustainable for years to come.
Volunteers taking part in an awareness rally on child trafficking in India, UCDVO 2014
One thing I have learnt through my number of experiences as a volunteer is that I have come to realise that your time and attention are more valuable than your money. Volunteering doesn’t mean throwing money at a problem. More than anything else I have learned that the best outcomes from volunteering come from giving time to a person or a cause that genuinely needs your focused attention.
Tell us a little bit about how your experience with UCDVO contributed to your current role or influenced you in any way.
I applied to volunteer with UCDVO at the time I commenced college, not many of my friends had heard of the society, but I was strong in my convictions even if a little naïve and signed up in the Freshers’ tent immediately. Having heard so much about it already, and remembering my mother’s experiences, I decided to apply. I felt as though I needed to explore the wider world and I felt passionate about helping people. I didn’t know much about sustainable development but I had a genuine interest and definitely an eagerness to learn.
While I was unlucky to convince other contemporaries to join with me, I can say with complete conviction that this was one the best decisions I have ever made. I was offered a place on the South India project and couldn’t have been happier. South India was my first ‘hands on’ experience of overseas development work. Immediately I was struck by the people, the vibrancy, the rush. I was so excited to be there, the country I heard so much about. I was placed with 12 others in Butterfly Hill, a home run by the organisation Care & Share. I was to teach Kindergarten. Our job as volunteers was to engage with the children, in school, in the home, where ever they may be.
Teaching in the classroom made me realise that, as a volunteer, one needs to be adaptable and open to change quickly. From our first day in class we had children at very differing intellectual levels, and as a volunteer one needs to be able to adapt one’s learning plan to suit the needs of all. This was a skill that definitely helped me during my time in Tanzania, when plans were changing and people were working at different paces.
Both my summers in South India made me realise how intelligent developments to a home can have such a positive effect on a person’s life. Children not only have a place to work or study, but a place to play and enjoy. A door that locks provides security and a place for one to recharge peacefully, this again was reiterated to me in Tanzania.
Volunteering in South India, and again as Student Leader, helped prepare me and give me skills I needed throughout my time at The Olive Branch, skills such as leadership, teamwork and many more. Their mission is extremely similar to that of Care & Share, in that they believe every child deserves to be loved, deserves an education, food and a place that is safe. I hope that this summer I have worked to contribute to their needs in providing them with a new volunteer centre for future volunteers; a space for them to be safe, to enjoy and help them thrive.
What are your plans for the future in relation to volunteering and development work?
I have just returned from Tanzania and during the next few weeks we hope to finalise our drawings and designs from Dublin and send them on to the construction team in Tanzania so that they can commence building very shortly, which is so exciting. This coming year I have an internship lined up in New York, where I will work as an architect (unfortunately not in the volunteering field), commencing my studies again in September to complete my degree in its entirety.
In the future I really really would love and can see myself working in developing countries, whether it be full time or part time. From my early days with UCDVO, it taught me so much about the developing world, what a treasure it is. I found it extremely refreshing this summer designing a method of construction using only local supplies, local traditions; it was amazing to see what can be done with so little to make it extraordinarily exciting and very real. I really hope to keep ties with my love for development and this summer especially because I worried at the start of my degree that pursuing a career in architecture might close doors in international development as I thought there wasn’t a need or a want in developing regions for architects, but in fact I was wrong. Architects Without Borders is definitely something I will look into, as it definitely would be something I think I’d love to pursue as it brings together both my love for architecture and development.
I don’t think volunteering has to change your career path. It’s about giving, sharing your knowledge and skills and opening your mind and others’ minds to create something sustainable no matter how big or small an impact you have.
