VSO’s tentative Twitter steps

Okay, so the good news is…VSO has joined the Twitter social media revolution.

It’s very early days – what with the first tweet being around three hours old.

However…

Firstly that first Tweet:

“VSO is getting ready for an open evening at The Council House in Bristol tomorrow at 7.”

Not exactly a big entrance but okay.  A link for more information would have been nice.

But look to see who VSO are following and it gets a bit odd.  They are following @Bristol_Editor and @MyBristolJobs.

Which is a little strange.  Considering that the tweet was Bristol related – did VSO think that this was the best way to get this news into the local press?  And if they did.  Why no link?

Maybe they thought that either of those two Bristol related tweeters may retweet? But then they’d still need to include more details.

We move on – the bio is:

VSO is an international development charity. VSO isn’t just about volunteering overseas! We’re also about helping individuals make a difference in the UK.

Fine but unforgivably there is no link back to their wesbite.

In the time since that first tweet, I have managed to drum up nine followers for them.  None of which are yet to be followed back.

The only two followers I can’t claim credit for are Meg and Halima Brewer.

Seeing as they were both their at the outset – it does suggest that they are both VSO employees – or at least close to VSO.

Could Meg be the Meg who emailed recently as party of the Campaigns Team to ask me to blog their UN Women’s Unit Campaign?  It seems a reasonable explanation.

In which case it is slightly worrying that Meg’s one and only tweet to date is:

I don’t really know what to do with this thing.

I did message both Halima and Meg but neither have replied.

VSO head of media and info @Catherine Raynor – did start tweeting on February 14th but stopped five days later.  Since then she also hasn’t answered Twitter messages.

While VSO deserve some credit for the fact that they are up and running on the Tweet front so far they really do seem to be stumbling.

In the past I have often said to people – just make the step – start Tweeting – but you do have to get some of the basics right.

Finally, if any of the assumptions made here are incorrect then I’ll gladly change them if someone from VSO would like to get in touch.

I did try to message you.

Update: Since this post I’ve been continuing to try and drum up some followers for the new @VSOUK Twitter feed.  The fun part has been getting people to join without VSO actually noticing – it’s kind of like hiding in the dark and waiting to jump out at them.

As at 16.20 VSO time – we’ve pushed the total up to 30 followers – but still no more tweets, no returned messages and non of the new followers being followed in return. It seems that no one is staffing the Twitter feed.

Of interest though is this – it’s a third party organisation but finally we are seeing tweeted VSO volunteer positions.  I smell progress.

Update 2: Just before 10pm VSO time – @VSOUK followed me back.  I guess someone checked the email – they’ve also started following all the other followers – we’d got it up to 44.  Not bad for a first day on Twitter.

Condoms and VSO

Not sure this is one of the worthiest arguments I have ever got wrapped up in or one of the silliest.

It’s all about condoms – which, unfortunately I actually have currently no use for what so ever.

But there is a point. I think.

Firstly, as far as I have always been made aware, VSO provides free condoms for volunteers.  In Hanoi that meant a sizeable handful with your free first aid kit when you arrive and then a bowl of them in the HQ toilets which you could help yourself to at any time.

This appears to be the VSO line internationally and unless I am very much mistaken that is what VSO promises all its volunteers.

And so to Cameroon.

We received our first aid kids when we first got to Bamenda but a later inspection and… no condoms.

We grumbled about it for a while and then later when it was overlooked by the volunteer’s forum I emailed my thoughts on the matter to VSO HQ.

No reply.

It has been argued, however, by VSO staff that condoms are freely available – in the head office – eight hours away by bus – in Yaounde.  Which suggests  the amusing situation of meeting a girl and saying…just wait there I’ll be right back…

I think, in the meantime, the moment might well have passed.

Also of the (I’m guessing here) 40 or so volunteers in Cameroon only two are in Yaounde.  Some are as far as two and a half days away.

On the very next trip into town by VSO representatives I again raised the matter.

Again they reiterated that there were plenty of condoms in Yaounde – but no, they hadn’t brought any with them.

I persisted and pointed out that, fairly recently but before our posting, there had been an unplanned volunteer pregnancy and apparently it wasn’t the first time.  A child was a very positive outcome considering, putting it bluntly, it could have been AIDS.

They countered that, with condoms costing pennies here there is nothing to stop volunteers buying their own and of course they are right.  Taking a risk is stupid and you can’t blame that entirely on VSO.

But…is it me?  Shouldn’t VSO as a matter of course make condoms readily available?  Surely by giving them out they are further lessening the chances of the worst case scenario.

To be fair there was the vaguest of acknowledgements that a mistake had been made and they’d look into it – but that was a week ago and again – we’ve heard nothing.

This seems all the more ironic considering that most volunteers here in the North West are working in the HIV/AIDS programme. We are all well aware of the size of the problem here.

Now, of course, I turned up with my own pitifully untouched supply and I am sure every other volunteer also brought their own.  You’d be crazy to go to Africa without taking such precautions.

But surely it’s equally crazy to pack off volunteers to HIV/AIDS hotspots without first taking some responsibility of providing protection against HIV/AIDS.

Or am I wrong?