After working hard over the course of their professional careers, Alan and Lydia Sorflaten made the decision to retire early.
Like other retired couples, travelling was definitely in the plans, but instead of hitting all the vacation hotspots like Florida or the Dominican, they’ve been stepping off a plane in places like Cameroon, Guyana and Rome as volunteers with the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO).
“Retirement presented both of us with an opportunity at an age where we were still both anxious to continue giving,” said Lydia. “I was 53 when I retired and shortly thereafter, I took a sheet of paper and wrote down the things I wanted to do. Now that I look back on that, what I thought I wanted to do is nothing compared to becoming a CESO volunteer.”
According to CESO’s website, its mission is to strengthen economic and social well-being in Canada and abroad through the engagement of skilled and experienced Canadian volunteers who work co-operatively with partners and clients to create solutions that foster long-term economic growth and self-reliance.
Lydia believes the organization has also given retired people like her and Alan a chance to help people living in under-developed countries.
“We have all these unused resources in our country in the form of retired professionals who were without a true direction in terms of channeling their experience and doing something good in the world from a development point of view,” she said. “For Alan and me, it fit exactly with what we were looking to accomplish.”
The Sorflaten’s first trip was to Tobago where they were assigned to the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute. The facility trains people to work in the tourism industry and is located on a fairly large piece of land, which was one of the reasons volunteers were required.
Alan says the clients were looking to explore the feasibility of turning that acreage into a farm project that would supply food for the program as well as serving as an income generator. He says the goals of the trip were accomplished and as an added bonus, they met many wonderful people.
Since then, the Shortts Lake couple has made 15 trips as CESO volunteers to different parts of the world and are preparing to make their 16th this year.
“Our personal experiences in the developing world through CESO have been mostly in the Caribbean, Guyana and Rome. Our latest trip was to Africa and this year, we’re heading to the Philippines,” said Alan. “One of the things that attracted us to CESO was the term. Other similar organizations were looking for commitment and we really weren’t interested in dropping our lives here and going off for several years. CESO projects are usually six weeks on average.”
In order to become a volunteer advisor with CESO, interested parties complete a thorough application form. In doing so, a potential volunteer also enters key words that prompt recruiters to look at their file. Allan’s background is in agriculture, economics and marketing while Lydia’s background is in education and nutrition.
Because many of the projects involve agriculture, Allan is usually flagged first. Once he’s found a fit, it doesn’t take Lydia long to find out where she can have the most influence.
Although it’s a terrific way to see the world, the Sorflaten’s aren’t always travelling to the safest destinations. The projects they work on can be in somewhat dangerous places, so being aware of their surroundings at all times is important. CESO covers the cost of their flights and international travel health requirements, but not much else is covered.
“We have second thoughts pretty much every time we go somewhere,” said Lydia. “We often ask ourselves what we are doing, but after working directly with these people on projects they’ve defined before we get there, then seeing them evolve while we are there and knowing they are key to their progress pretty much answers that question for us. Some places obviously present more of a threat than others so it’s important we meet our country rep, who we meet as soon as we arrive. We have some contact with them before we arrive, so we have most of the important information before we leave. But we’ve seen the soldiers with all their riot gears on and guns and that type of thing.”
“We’re supposed to have things like food and lodging covered, but it doesn’t always work out that way,” Lydia continued. “The truth is, poor is poor. We try to allow for the culture shock and even though you have these preconceived notions, nothing really prepares you for some of the places we go.”
Their recent trip to Cameroon was a perfect example. The Sorflatens prepared all their own food and took extra precautions after purchasing it from local markets. Lydia says they refused to eat meat that had been sitting out all day and combined with the fact there was no running water, washing the food they purchased was of the utmost importance.
“When you bring your food home, you wash it again yourself because you don’t know if the water the vendors used was contaminated or not,” she said.
“Another issue in Cameroon was buying bread. It was tough to find. There is also no processed food industry so everything you get, it’s coming from the market. There are a couple of small stores in the area, but what you get one day, you may never see again. We did have a refrigerator and we can bring some items from home, which definitely helps. One item we took was our bag shower, which allowed us to have hot showers in the morning. They did have showers, but they really don’t have heated water.”
If contacted by CESO, the Sorflaten’s aren’t required to go. Each project is optional and they can also search for projects that interest them. Once they’ve chosen a spot, some preliminary work is done surrounding their task, and then they hit the sky.
“Each trip has its own merits,” said Allan. “It’s tough to pick a favourite one when you stack them all up together. There has always been a positive side to what we’re doing. I think our trip to Guyana was one of the more memorable ones. We delivered a series of workshops we were responsible for to 19 small to medium size businesses. After providing this information, we got to go out to each of these operations and provided them with documentation that included our thoughts and ideas. It was very successful.”
At this point the Sorflatens have no interest in slowing down. They feel the current balance they have is allowing them to lead rich and full lives.
They also say they will never travel in an uncommitted way again.
“Once you start this type of work, it changes everything,” said Lydia.
“It’s almost unexplainable. The biggest thing is getting over what we call our creature comforts as human beings. Make no mistake about it, this is not for everyone. We have friends who simply tell us they could never do it. We see it as more of an adventure or challenge. The creature comforts for us go away. We land with a purpose and a goal. We become totally immersed with the people and the fact you’re on the ground running and immediately making a difference captures us every time.”