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Our volunteers > Kevin O'Rourke

Kevin travelled to Nigeria to work as Information and Communication Technology coordinator for the National Teachers' Institute.

Whereabouts in Nigeria are you based?

Kaduna city, the capital of Kaduna state and former capital of Northern Nigeria.

What does your partner organisation do?

The National Teachers' Institute does teacher training by distance learning methods. They are also very involved in the in-service training aspects of the Universal Basic Education programme.

What was your initial impression of Nigeria upon arrival?

We arrived in the new capital city of Abuja very early in the morning, so my initial impressions were of this big, clean, concrete city with relatively few people.

Has that impression changed a lot?

Most of Nigeria is completely unlike Abuja! It's much dirtier, noisier and more crowded but also livelier, friendlier and easier to live in.

Did you know anything about Nigeria prior to your arrival?

Very little, mostly old press reports about the troubles in the Niger delta and riots in the north. It's difficult to find current information about the country, plenty about the Abacha (past head of state/dictator) days but little about Obasanjo (current president).

What is your past job/experience, had you volunteered previously?

My first job after graduation was with the British Antarctic Survey, working at Halley Research Station in Antarctica for two years. I then spent four years working for a small electronics design consultancy near Cambridge.

What is your role?

I am the Information and Communication Technology coordinator. This is a mixture of being in charge of computer-related activities at NTI, writing software for the organisation and training staff. I've also been working closely with the library here.

Who are the beneficiaries of your work out there?

The ultimate beneficiaries will be Nigerian schoolchildren, via their teachers who have been trained or retrained by NTI. I hope my work is improving NTI's capability to deliver their courses effectively and in particular speeding up the release of exam results to students.

Where you anxious about anything before arrival?

All the press coverage of Nigeria emphasises violence and crime, so I was a bit worried about day-to-day security.

What do you think a placement in Nigeria offers that is unique?

An opportunity to live and work in a country that most people would never visit otherwise.

Is there anything in particular that you miss from home?

Cheese. Dairy products in general here are only available in the expensive supermarkets and are beyond a volunteer budget.

Is there anything that you don't miss?

Television and the weather.

How do you think that you are contributing to the communities in which you are working?

As my placement is in a national organisation the community in which I'm working is the whole of Nigeria. I hope that I'm contributing skills and knowledge that my colleagues will go on to use to improve education in Nigeria.

What benefit do you feel you are getting from volunteering in Nigeria?

I'm gaining experience in new areas of work, learning how to be more demanding in order to get things done and being more proactive in my work.

Describe life outside work in Nigeria.

Life is fairly quiet in Kaduna. Once or twice a week I'll meet up with some other volunteers or some of my colleagues and go out to a bar or restaurant. Most evenings I stay in my house and read. You definitely have less free time as a volunteer, simple household tasks like moving water around, shopping, cooking and cleaning all take longer here.