Their Special Spirit Touches Me Deeply

My journey began with a conversation about my plans for the future. Mentioning that I’d like to gain experience overseas a friend recommended “Weltwärts”, the German volunteer service from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Soon I was combing through the marketplace for projects according to my personal preferences. The results were numerous, but actually just from one organization: the Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA). Now just seven months after my spontaneous application, I am myself in charge of a valuable assignment for BORDA.

     Since October 3, 2011 I have been a volunteer for BORDA’s Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Solutions (DEWATS) at the Lao Institute for Renewable Energy (LIRE) in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Related to my background and my strong belief in the high value of effective communication, I’m working as the Marketing and PR Officer. My task is to support BORDA’s local partner with building and fostering relations to all kinds of stakeholders in the regional water, sanitation and hygiene sector. Of course, the target is also to raise the number of implementations of DEWATS plants in order to improve living conditions and to reduce negative health effects caused by environmental pollution by sewage and wastewater. The way to reach this target is to raise awareness about sanitary issues, and also to promote the appropriate as well as sustainable solution of DEWATS.

    Already in the first two months of my commitment in Lao PDR I gained many mind changing experiences. The impressions I collected and still regularly collect are numerous. They all have a great variety and are influencing my mindset in many different ways. It is a delightful pleasure to live in one of the calmest countries on earth where the majority of people are almost always smiling while living a simple but satisfied life. To make a long story short, I’d like to describe two outstanding happenings that occurred just in the last week. From November 25-28, 2011, the annual BORDA Partner Network Meeting took place in Siam Reap, Cambodia.

     In contrast to that stands the celebration of the Hmong New Year in a remote village in Vientiane Province. It is an overwhelming experience to be together with a young Hmong family, sitting on bare soil, watching them preparing rice and chicken over small fire in a simple hut where only one existing light bulb tells me that I haven’ t travelled ages back in time. Still, their special spirit touches me deeply. In between those remarkable occurrences I live my normal, everyday insanity.

     Probably, I speak in behalf of all BORDA-volunteers saying: Thank you BORDA and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development for giving young professionals like me the chance to gain further growth in an intercultural environment.

Tobias R Moller

Marketing and PR Officer for Dewats LIRE- BORDA in Lao PDR

Bachelor of Business Administration (University of Applied science Leipzig, Germany)

Certified Academy Communicator (Saxon Academy for Marketing and Communication Leipzig, Germany)