Sarah Chan

Sarah Chan joined the Malaysia 2007 expedition as a finance manager.

I was a Financial Controller at Fujitsu services ltd, and decided to take time out because I was looking at a possible career change. My options were to leave my job or look at other voluntary organisations to take time out.

The country options to visit and the fact that it was an established organisation are really what attracted me to Raleigh over other organisations that I found on the internet.

I thought the induction phase prepared me very well for the project phase. There was a good balance between learning practical skills for jungle life and soft skills to deal with participants.

My key responsibilities at field base were managing cash book accounting spreadsheet, dealing with shop and forex and recording transactions of cash, on the project phase they were empowering participants, identifying their development needs and keeping them in line with Raleigh rules.

The hard skills I have brought with me are my spreadsheet skills to improve those in place at the moment, and basic accounting skills have been used a small amount. As far as soft skills, listening to participants and getting them to open up.

A typical day on the project site was wake up early and prepare breakfast, meet rangers to get day's work schedule ie clearing trails, redundant building etc.  Return to camp after work and cook dinner, and catch up with participants in evening to see how they were feeling and how the day went.

The programme has developed me as a person, my confidence has improved, as has the belief in myself and ability to get people to open up and identify with them. I would recommend joining Raleigh as a volunteer manager to others.

 

 

 

 

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