Email: info@vlm.ie

087 139 7069

Impact On Volunteers

Volunteering overseas is a uniquely personal journey and impacts on all volunteers differently. Volunteers are placed in unfamiliar situations. You may be running an IT class and no one has turned up; the electricity has gone off; life moves at a different, slower pace. There can be culture shock, language barriers, loneliness. It is also a chance to challenge yourself and be challenged, to adapt, to slow down and to learn about yourself and about others. Volunteering with VLM is about journeying in solidarity, friendship, and mutual respect. Your experience will be as unique as you are. Below are some testimonies from previous volunteers about their volunteering experience.

Dymphna's Story

I wanted to volunteer In Africa since long before I retired - Dymphna Cullen

Fintan's Story

In August 2019, through the Vincentian Lay Missionaries (VLM) I visited the Vincentian Mission in Ambo.

Kathleen's Story

When I went with VLM to Ethiopia in 2008 I never planned to go back there. I did go back a second time and that was a fatal decision. I got caught!

Luke's Story

In June 2022, Grainne Malone and I were the first volunteers with VLM in Songea in the south of Tanzania.

Margarets's Story

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained – Margaret Rooney Returns to Ethiopia

Sorcha's Story

“In this life, we cannot always do great things, but we can do small things with great love”- Mother Theresa.