Preparing for Coming Home

Remember when you were preparing to go overseas?  Remember the thought, research, and training that you underwent to prepare for your assignment overseas?  You were most likely thoroughly familiar with what was happening in the country you were going to and could have picked it as your chosen subject on Mastermind you were so prepared.  It's a well known fact that the front end of working overseas as an international development worker is, by and large, well thought out with the majority of sending organisations providing their own pre-departure training or availing of DTalk's week long Initial Preparation training course.  Efforts are even made to meet returned development workers and connections are made prior to ever stepping foot overseas.  However, it appears that there is not the same degree of attention or preparation made for the coming home part of the process.  Given the trend towards shorter periods overseas most international development workers will return home at some stage so planning and preparation in advance is important.

So, what can you do from overseas to prepare you for coming home? 

There are a number of practical and personal steps that you can take whilst overseas to help make the transition home as smooth as possible for you.  For example, in the last few weeks before coming home there may be time available to update your CV and request a statement of service and/or a reference prior to departing from the organisation you've been working with and any partner organisations if appropriate - check out your organisational policy on this in advance.  For referees, try and come home with contact details for any potential future employer who may wish to make contact.

Also it is advisable to think about coming home whilst you are still overseas; ideally several months in advance.  It’s useful to plan and prepare for your coming home in much the same way that you prepared and planned for going overseas. Sometimes encountering one’s own culture after a period of working overseas can be more daunting and unsettling than the experience of encountering a totally different culture.  The following suggestions can be useful in preparing you for coming home, such as: 

• Plan for saying goodbye whilst still overseas – identify personal and professional loose ends and tie them up.  A good departure can set you up on the right footing for returning home.  Remember they’re can be no new beginning without an appropriate ending.  It may be useful to think of coming home as the next stage in life’s adventure.
• It is realistic to expect some readjustment upon coming home; transitions from one place to another are gradual affairs so remember the number one rule of managing transitions is to look after yourself.
• If you are contemplating further studies inform yourself well in advance of closing dates for applications.  Also check if you're entitled to a Further Education Grant from either the city or county councils.  Comhlamh can provide assistance in applying for this grant and applications forms for 2007 are available in June from the city or county council closest to where you intend to study. Closing dates for applications are usually at the end of August.
• Contact stuart@comhlamh.org for further information and updates or if you require documentary support for the habitual residency condition.

What helps in coming home?

• Returning home in good health – physically and mentally
• Consider your financial support – budgeting for coming home whilst overseas or better still prior to departure if possible/practical, having adequate financial resources to get you through the first couple of months home or until the next pay cheque arrives, low debt, supportive partner/family member who can offer financial support
• Look at the emotional support available to you from family, friends, if someone visited you overseas, other RDWs (attend one of our Coming Home Weekends)
• A supportive work environment – high respect/low control
• Contact with home whilst overseas so that you are at least somewhat familiar with societal changes, the job market, etc.
• Scheduling a Debriefing with your organisation or with Comhlamh in advance of coming home - Importance of debriefing/unpacking your experience overseas – operational, personal, Critical Incidence Debriefing, exit interview http://www.peopleinaid.org/ “Information Note - Effective Debriefing”

Upon arrival home 

• N.B.    Upon arrival home it is important to sign on at your local social welfare office so as to keep your record up to date.  For claims or information about social welfare benefits, contact your local social welfare office. 
• N.B.    If you have availed of the VDW Scheme it is important to let Comhlámh know that you are home so your PRSI record can be updated and thus avoid any delays in accessing short-term benefits.  Also in any dealings with your local SWO you should identify yourself as a returned VDW who has availed of the VDW PRSI Scheme.  Comhlámh will assist RDWs with any queries, etc. in relation to this scheme.
• N.B.    If you have availed of the Public Service Pension Scheme inform Comhlámh of your return date so pension payments can be checked accordingly.
• Contact Deirdre, the Project Officers for Returned Development Workers at 086-3367683 who can provide assistance with any aspect of the return process and introduce you to the services available to RDWS.
• Avail of your FREE membership of Comhlamh courtesy of Irish Aid.  Membership entitles you to access the full range of services available to RDWs - careers, counselling, coming home weekends for RDWs, social events, explore ways of continuing to be a development worker from Ireland, network with other RDWs and others interested in development issues, etc.

Bringing It All Back Home

On your return to Ireland, continuous engagement is the key to getting the most out of your time overseas. By drawing on the experience and learning you have gained, your input and perspective are invaluable to others and to yourself, whether you go on to study in a related discipline or get involved in campaigning or development education. As one volunteer remarked, "Commitment doesn't end at the airport."

Comhlámh (which means "Link Hands" or "Solidarity") provides an invaluable conduit for studying, campaigning, activism, and lobbying for change. What makes it unique, and imbues it with a specific understanding of volunteers, is that it was set up in 1975 by Irish returned development workers, who defined the organisation's principle objective as, "to enable persons who have rendered services overseas in developing countries upon their return to Ireland to bring to bear their own particular experience in order to further international development co-operation."

It now has activist groups and initiatives made up of volunteers from the public in the areas of Trade Justice, Anti-Racism, Focus magazine, Audio Visual Productions, and Options and Issues in Development, and it runs regular courses and training workshops for the public, volunteers and development workers alike.

Comhlámh members and supporters have always seen overseas development work as part of a broader commitment to global development and solidarity. Many of the causes of global inequality, poverty and oppression have their origin in the industrialised countries and can be addressed by education and campaigning.

People of all ages are joining Comhlámh and they believe that being a member and supporter of an organisation like Comhlámh is more important then ever in the ‘new' post-Celtic Tiger Ireland and an increasingly troubled and unequal world.

Right now, human rights, social justice and global development were never so important.

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