Harborne Hall I

From 8th-11th this month I've been on a 'Training Skills' course at Harborne Hall in Birmingham. VSO in the UK has two main offices - one in London, where everyone goes for their initial interview and assessment, and Harborne Hall in Birmingham where all the training takes place after selection.

I had no idea what to expect. Drove up there on Saturday 8th. Course was starting at 7pm, but they said dinner would be an hour before and I wanted time to settle in. I arrived about 5pm and pulled into the car park at exactly the same time as someone else. We got out of our cars and I heard "Don't I know you?" Looking round I saw Tom, a guy who was on the same selection day in London as me!

He's a Banker/Finance Manager going to do a three month development project. He'd already been on a course at HH so it was good to see a familiar face and someone to show me where everything was. It's like a rabbit warren in there, big old building with a huge new extension and plenty of room to get lost! Harborne itself is a bit bizarre as it's incredibly close to the centre of Birmingham, but feels like a small rural village: old tumble-down pub, church with bell ringers practicing most nights, bowling green... Being in the hall itself you feel completely removed from the world. It's totally self-sustaining with a canteen, bar and shop. The days are long, so volunteers usually don't venture out much.

I was staying in the main building - the old part - on the third floor. The picture above is looking up from the main reception area. Very impressive. My room (#63) was a twin which I shared with Rosa, a Spanish Management Skills lady who's heading to Africa about the same time I am.

After dropping my stuff off in the room, I went for a walkabout. The building is huge, with many training rooms, large grounds, and a large 24-hour resource library. Made friends with Brona, a lady from Dublin who is heading out next month. It's been quite tough for her. She's been on three courses, and has to fly over and back each time as there's no training centre in Ireland.

We went to get lunch about 6:00pm and met a few others on our course. There are courses going on all the time there - hundreds of people passing through. Then they rent out rooms for conferences etc. On the last day a huge international Oxfam conference was taking place.

It was really brilliant to meet so many other volunteers. Really great to get the opportunity to chat and share information. It was also a strange dynamic. As one person said, regarding the way VSO volunteers are regarded by people they know: "You're either a nutter or Mother Teresa" - which made me laugh, because when you say you're going to Rwanda or Ethiopia or somewhere, you often do get one of two reactions: "Oh my God, you're so brave" or "That's so good of you!" Neither is entirely true. It's a job, often a similar job to what you've already been doing, you're just doing it somewhere else. It's a mutual give/take - skills for an experience. You don't see yourself as a hero or a saint, and it was nice to relax with other people in the same headspace. 

It's difficult to know how to feel about it. For most of the people at HH, that was their last course and they're leaving next month for their placements. So, for them, it's feeling a lot more real than for myself and those leaving in November. There's just so much to be done between now and then, it's impossible to be on a permanent buzz because you're just thinking one process at a time.

The course began at 7pm until about 9:15, then we adjourned to the bar. Next day began at 9am, but I was in the shower at 7:30 as there are a lot of people at HH and not so many showers. You have to get up early, which was hard for me as, since finishing my MA, I've been relatively nocturnal. You also have to get breakfast. 'Institutionalised' was the most used descriptive term of the stay - especially from those who had been to boarding school. HH itself has a real feel of a Youth Hostel about it, but it's such a rigorous regime of sleep, shower, eat, learn, bar, sleep, shower... that it does feel very school-ish. You're also under continual assessment, as the trainers report back to VSO, which adds an extra dimension of stress at first until you relax into it. The building used to be a nunnery but VSO rent it from them now, so perhaps a little of the spirit of the place still imposes itself.

The training is frequently long, from about 9am-8pm, with lunch in the middle. Was intense but although we worked hard, we played hard too, making the most of the bar and, after the Oxfam invasion, the local pub. Not always a strategic move, but thankfully both closed in plenty of time for us to get our heads down. I managed to keep it up for three days, but I think when I go for the longer courses I'll take a book and get some shut-eye. Not always easy there, though. Few people sleep well as it's an old plumbing system and the walls are quite thin. All adds to the 'other world' feeling. You're living in a different reality, outside the realms of the 'real' world.

This course was all about building skills for training adults. All of us on it would be required, in placement, to run training courses. It was hard work, but really brilliant. We each had to run two sessions: one 15 minutes and one 30 minutes. The range of subjects people chose were so varied. We worked in two groups of five. 

In our group, I learned how to put someone in the recovery position and give CPR, protect my computer against viruses and fraud abroad, use Skype, set the blade on a wood plane, identify drill bits and screws for different jobs, improve feedback and appraisal skills in management, and make a Spanish omelette! I know the other group covered things as diverse as knot-tying to Scottish dancing :)

It was a lot of fun because everyone's from such different backgrounds. Helen was a nurse (quite a few on the course), Eddie's a carpenter, Kari's an IT guru, and Rosa was a project manager. In return, I taught idiolect for my first session, which was about catching criminals by working out what makes the way we use language unique to us, then I ran a sign language session for my second one. The first one was good, but got a bit complicated - good learning points though. The second was a straight ten-out-of-ten lol I was so pleased with that session. Everyone seemed to have improved the second time around because we'd learned from the first. We'd also gelled really well as a group so confidence was up.

All in all, a fantastic if utterly shattering experience. I dropped Kari off at Birmingham station and was grateful I only had to get back to Cardiff. Others, like Brona and Eddie, had flights back to Dublin and Sweden! I got through the door and fell fast asleep for a couple of hours.

Got about another week before my next course starts, but I’m running out of time fast. Feeling a little stressed with everything I have to get done. Dad and Marilyn are coming over Sunday to help pack, then I’m driving some stuff to Mum's, but have to come back Monday for my last Hep. B. injection on Tuesday morning. Also, have to book the dentist to get a form filled out and sent to the health department. Then moving out of Cardiff ASAP. 

It's only a small attic, and I’ve managed to Freecycle tons, but it still feels like it's crammed with junk!

In addition, I’ve taken the decision, after having a bit of a collective rant with others on the course, to remove myself from Facebook. It was getting a bit much. It was really useful for finding some of my old friends again, who it was genuinely nice to hear from and catch up with, but it got to the point of having about 112 'friends', most of whom I didn't really know all that well, and getting lots of messages which I seriously just don't have enough time to reply to. Rather than feeling rude for not responding, I've decided I’d rather ditch it. Though it doesn't delete your account completely, just puts it on hold in case you ever want to use it again, which is nice.

So, for now, those who know me and care enough can keep up-to-date on the blog. x