Check out their web site at www.vso.org.uk and all will be revealed. If you want to know more from a recent volunteer's perspective i.e. mine just drop me a line (see Contact Keri for details)

I was feeling increasingly unhappy with my job and was lucky enough to be offered a good redundancy package that gave me the financial security I needed to take time to think. I started applying to various consulting firms, but the more I thought about it the less I wanted to work in that sort of environment. In the end it was my Mum who suggested looking at VSO and the more I found out and the more people I met the more sense it made.
To put it simply, my placement with VSO offers me the opportunity to continue doing the job I love (organisational analysis and change consulting) in a more challenging environment while contributing something more meaningful to people's lives. Those 3 things together made it a compelling option.
As to why Bangladesh, the answer lies in VSO's approach to disadvantage. Basically, each VSO Country office chooses 2-3 priority areas to concentrate on from VSO's 6 focus points i.e. Education, HIV/AIDS, Disability, Health & Social Well-being, Secure Livelihoods and Participation & Governance. Bangladesh has an amazing number of NGO's so requires professionals with management and organisational development experience to help them become more effective. In other words, once I'd chosen to go to Asia rather than Africa I was almost certain of being offered a placement in Bangladesh!

For information about my job etc. go to "Keri's placement" then "Placement Outline etc." and "On-going projects etc."

I worked 6 day weeks (oh yeah) so for starters I only had 1 day off a week. That's fairly common for Bangladesh, though 5-day weeks are becoming more commonplace. As a result, unless I took time off to travel or go back to Dhaka for some R&R at the BAGHA club, I generally read a lot or just relaxed watching DVD's, did some exercises with my dumb bells and custom-made exercise mat (I kid you not). Actually, the days there weren't too intense so you don't feel the need to really unwind for 2 days as you do back home. Finally, I did have 30 days holiday a year to do with as I will...

In Dhaka not a great deal, though I did play some touch rugby when I was in town on Friday afternoons. Up in my placement during the winter my options were limited to working out with my dumb bells in my room or and jogging. The sight of me running did arose considerable attention but was bearable. In the summer it was just too damn hot and humid to do much, but I played football with some lads in a village 7km away. It was pretty good fun, and helped me do some exercise without thinking too much about the sweating. I could also go cycling as I had a bike but I never felt the urge.

The VSO office had air-con but everywhere else apart from flash shopping centres it was fans or nothing. The heat wasn't too bad (See BBC Weather site for details) as you dress light, do less and more slowly and shower several times a day. In winter temperatures can drop to 5 degrees or less which may not sound very low but is when you consider I didn't have heating or hot water. Things start warming up considerable in March and can rise to 40+ degrees. Temperatures will remain more the same until October/November but the humidity will rise steadily, reaching its peak around July/August.

Generally speaking it's pretty cool for us guys as we just have to wear trousers and short sleeves. The labourers wear what is called a lungi which is basically like a sarong and are I'm told much cooler. Shorts could be OK but would attract attention so I didn't outside of the campus. In actual fact some training participants complained about seeing me in shorts! Obviously, when the mossies come out you want to be as covered as poss anyway so you wear light cotton clothes and slow down. Women on the other hand have to dress reasonably traditionally, especially outside Dhaka. This means wearing a shalwar kameez comprising baggy trousers, a long-ish dress shirt and a scarf. The basic principle is to cover your arse and chest as much as possible i.e. hide anything feminine

Our flat in Dhaka had a western style toilet and I was relieved to find my placement flat similarly equipped (though after changing rooms I got an eastern squat toilet and it killed my knees). The shower was basically in the bathroom and the water ran out through a hole in the floor. It was perfectly acceptable, and all the water was cold or warmed by the sun which was fine for the summer but was rather bracing in winter in the North. There were times when there was no water, so you kept a bucket filled with water in the bathroom just in case. In BRIF the water is pumped up from a well, so when there's no electricity (which is often) there is no water once whatever had been pumped up has run out.

Several upset tums but we ate a lot of fruit and veg. Everything came with rice, and the meat and fish was pretty good though they use a lot of oil and chilis. Pasta was available and quite cheap, though vegetables and salad stuff was limited. I suppose the big difference was our dependence on the seasons for what's available, unlike supermarkets back home that source their goods worldwide all year round. During winter there weren't many fruits available but that changed around March.

I got bitten obviously, but they really become a nuisance in the hot season starting March and at the end in October. Malaria is only really now an issue in South-East Bangladesh (Chittagong Hill Tracts) but Dhaka suffers from outbreaks of Dengue fever quite regularly after the rains. Apart from that there were a few small yellow lizards that lived on the walls in my flat (geckoes) that feed off ants and small insects so I let them get on with the job!