Drinks? I couldn't possibly.

So it was potentially my last night of drinking red wine for a while and I managed to get a few in. It was a lovely night and a really good turnout. We crammed ourselves into a corner of a balcony at The Cut Bar in Waterloo and slowly overtook the space as various other people left and more friends arrived. I feel like I’ve had a great send off so thanks to all that came.

There's also a YouTube clip now online at www.youtube.com/jenpenwen

Bob Geldof's Lost Daughter

It's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster at times over the last week. Getting a bit stressed, then realising there's not much I actually have left to do. Getting stupidly excited then realising I'll miss friends. Then being ecstatic I'm just about to do something I've always wanted to do since I was Bob Geldof's frustrated lost daughter of the 1980's.

Ok so I'm not doing aid work in Africa nut I've always wanted to something in International Development. I also don't have rose-tinted spectacles on about the patronising 'help' I'm going to be giving. International Development has come on a long since that approach (I should say Bob didn't have that approach either). It's now about partnership, working together and leaving behind a sustainable, long-lasting effect of your work that the organisation will have worked with you on and can continue to develop.

A couple of nights ago I spent half an hour chatting to C, a volunteer in Delhi via Skype. She very generously stayed up until 2am to chat to me. The reason that she had appeared online so late was that she'd had to source some water from her neighbours when there was a problem in her flat. C and I met on one of our prep courses at VSO. She went out in July and my placement offer came a bit later. I've been emailling H too in Orissa who was on the same course. Between the two of them I have tons of info about what life might be like for me over the next year.

Now matter how much I prep I do, I'm not going to be completely prepared. Best advice C gave me? Just let it go...

H's blog has been inspiring. Her life seems very much different from how mine will be. I'll be in a big city where I can get anything (though I won't be able to afford luxury goods like imported food). H and others in the state of Orissa have troubles getting hold of toilet paper. I say hats off to them and any VSO volunteer that is a couple of days from the nearest airport. On the VSO courses you get to meet these amazing people who have spent a few years working with rural tribes in Africa and are back for another stint. Humbling. What hardship will I have to face? No red wine. Big Deal!

I don't denigrate my placement. I'll still find it hard for different reasons. After the already comprehensive support I've received before I even get out there, I know it'll all be fine. So letting it all go now and just enjoying my last 3 weeks.

Subtitling my Placement

Ever since I got the call from VSO offering me a Flip camera I'd been wondering how to make clips accessible for Deaf people. Not just British Deaf people but for Deaf people in India and any that may take an interest in VSO and volunteering.

Obviously this is very important, there are at least two Deaf people in the UK who have volunteered with VSO and one person I know of who works full-time in International Development. There will be many more that have done worldwide. VSO has six main strands of work, one of which is Disability. The others being Secure Livelihoods, HIV & AIDS, Health, Education and Participation & Governance. These are all cross-cutting. Within the programme area of Disability is development work with Deaf people and quite often this work is about organisational development. Introducing new ideas, setting up projects, consolidating work done, strengthening the future work of an organisation have all been done by Deaf people for Deaf people.

The work I'll be doing for a Deaf organisation, The Deaf Way Foundation in India, very much feels like a blip in the ocean. It's been hard to find out the things I really want to know. Some are facts such as how many Deaf people or Interpreters are there in India. But what I really want to know is what is the reality of the levels of access that Deaf people have in their lives? To employment, to socialise with each other, to go to the cinema, to health services or to any information they wish to access. With a Deaf man petitioning the courts last month and finally being able to apply for a driving licence, the situation there looks far from rosy.

The organisation I'll be working for seems progressive, positive and does some fantastic work. I've seen their work on the internet and had contact with my line manager, the Chief Exec. They've been doing YouTube longer than some organisations here. And even though my work will be a blip, it will be a blip all the same. The aims of increasing the numbers of Interpreters and their training, developing the Association of Sign Language Interpreters and assisting to develop the Interpreting profession as a whole are small things that will increase the potential for access to Deaf people in India. Even with Interpreters, they will still come across the types of barriers that society puts up which are sadly still evident in this country. But it's a step in the right direction and I'm really looking forward to meeting my new colleagues. I'm hoping some of them will want to do a few clips. Then I'll have to get good not only at Indian Sign Language but fluent quickly enough to start subtitling them into English.

With this accessibility in mind, I spent most of yesterday finding out how to subtitle a clip. I've thought about the clips quite a bit. Do I sign and subtitle them in English? Do I speak and subtitle them whilst trying to provide a signed version? Should I look into Hindi subtitles? Do I just film, leave it dependent on the situation and make the access as suitable as I possibly can afterwards? Moreover, will anyone actually watch them?

My first clip is up (you get the subtitles up by clicking the options box in the bottom right hand corner of the clip box and clicking the box with subtitle lines on it). It's been fun trying to work out how to do this even if it is a little time consuming typing out the words and checking the timings and readability (and I'm already sick of the sound of my own voice - it'll be much better when I can start to film other people and places). But I know the clips are worth subtitling even if it is my lovely Ma and Pa and Aunty Jean that might want to watch them!

VSO, Web 2.0 and the Social Media Revolution

I set up a Twitter account before I left for Asia as I thought this would help me keep in touch whilst I was away either in Asia or later with VSO. With the Chinese Great Firewall in operation it never really got off the ground. That is, until I got back.

It takes a couple of days to get your head round the point of it as it's often described as Facebook status updates. This is too simple and misses the point. For someone who doesn't work in IT, media or anything to do with the web, I love it and can see how it is essential for those that do. I won't explain it's uses further. Wiki and plenty of blogs have done that for me.

Most charities too now have Twitter IDs and are jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon to publicise themselves. The reason why I mention this here is I had a phone call from the VSO Comms department a couple of weeks ago asking if I'd be interested in being given a Flip camera and setting up my own You Tube channel as part of a pilot project with five volunteers. A self-confessed geek in training, I jumped at the chance. So as well as tweeting and blogging I'll now be vLogging. I've been tweeting away and google-ing how to subtitle video clips ever since so I can increase access to the clips. That is, afterall, my job as a Sign Language Interpreter.

Today I got the confirmation that I will be posted out a camera. Honestly, the excitement was more than that of a 5-year-old peeling back the Xmas present paper to reveal the latest marketed must-have. So my You Tube channel is now set up, I've already subscribed to DanandHelen in Zambia's Channel and eagerly await by my laptop to see who the other three volunteers with cameras are and where they are headed.

3-5 working days for delivery apparently. That would be about enough time to prepare for my first few clips.

VSO is go

I applied to do VSO after I saw an advert go out on an Interpreter's e-group. The minute I saw it I knew it was something I'd always wanted to do. It took me a month or so of soul-searching and a change in circumstances before I'd decided to go for it. One or two years out of the country isn't an easy decision to take.

I got offered a post in Kenya starting in July but this fell through due to miscommunication on the part of the charity. I was gutted. I'd been told one in ten placements fall through and it was something I was prepared for although obviously not happy about. With only 4 weeks before my flight had been due to leave I was itching to go somewhere so I booked a flight to Beijing and decided to take a jaunt round Asia.

It wasn't that long before I got two more placement offers: Indonesia and India. There was a hoohah over visas and some deliberation on my part but eventually I did some form filling whilst in Cambodia. By the time I'd got half way round Thailand I had a confirmation through from the employer in India.

This came at exactly the right time as I'd spent a week in Chiang Mai and had met up with two volunteers starting their placements. It was insightful to hear their stories and it only served to renew my enthusiasm and my commitment. How great then to have my confirmation only a few days later. My VSO placement adviser, John, had been amazing. He'd known of my previous disappointment and all communication whilst I was away was happily done by email with offer of a Skype conversation if I could tear myself away from having fun. He'd even offered to help with some of the form filling and chasing up of details from other members of staff.

So I returned to the UK at the start of September knowing I had a mere nine weeks to prepare. And now the story starts...