Without doubt Ben Corrigan is a man with vision. This September he will be heading to The Philippines for a year-long VSO project to gather data for Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC), a Jesuit institute working in the country. Unlike most people who give up a year of their time to work overseas, Ben will not be taking up bricks and mortar as part of a construction or regeneration programme. Instead, Ben will be drawing on his academic background as a Geographer and his extensive international work as a volunteer.
It was this experience and his interest in international development lead to Ben being matched to the post in the Philippines, rather than a specific request or desire to work in the country.
All VSO applicants' skills are matched to the areas of greatest need, so that those who have an interest in dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic would be most likely to be assigned a post in Africa.
Although when we met, he claimed not to know too much about The Philippines, it was clear from the sensitivity and engagement in the way he spoke about his home for the next year that Ben had definitely been hitting the books to glean everything he could.
Ben has also been fundraising to reach his VSO target of 拢700 prior to setting off in September. Earlier in the summer he held a successful Asian theme night BBQ and hopes to plan one or two more events before he leaves.
Once he arrives in The Philippines, Ben's work will involve setting out to meet with local communities at grass roots to discuss their social and economic situations whilst also gathering information about population, climate, crops and agricultural methodology for ESSC. Ateneo de Manila University is home to ESSC, where Ben will be based for much of his stay. ESSC uses the data they collect both to study the process of change in the country and to provide the means to manage it in the future. In the long-term their aim is to "stabilise livelihood sources through the integration of effective resource management." With such a worthy and detailed task ahead of him, you might wonder if there would be any time for Ben to see a little of the country for himself , but it seems that he will be mainly working from Monday to Friday with plenty of time to explore the thousands of islands that make up The Philippines.
After his VSO year Ben is hoping to further explore south-east Asia before continuing his education by signing up for a Masters programme.
During his year away, Ben will be sending us regular reports from The Philippines with news of his adventures and his observations about Filipino life, so be sure to click back to keep up with his progress.
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