Excerpt from the diary of a Regional Organiser

MONDAY

Received a new student application from the HOST office. Marisa from Bolivia – sounds like an interesting guest for one of my hosts. Wrote to Marisa telling her she’s been allocated to my region, and asking her to confirm that all the dates she gave HOST are still free for a visit.

TUESDAY

Marisa turns out to be a nice responsive student. She has replied with an appreciative message, and she has asked to change one of her dates. No time to do more RO work today.

WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY

Went through my list of hosts and identified 2 or 3 who haven’t hosted recently, who might like to welcome Marisa for a weekend. Started contacting them. Had to eliminate the first one, though, because they replied they  have just acquired a cat, and Marisa has requested no cats.  I amended the host’s details on the database, to record the fact that they now have a cat.

The second host replied that she has broken her hip – had to mark her down as unavailable for the next 6 months.

The third one, Bertha,  I called, as she rarely replies to emails. She was interested in meeting Marisa and said she would get back to me when she had checked the diary with her husband.

SUNDAY

Not heard back from Bertha yet.  Called again, and she offered to take Marisa on a date not on her list! Wrote to Marisa, asking if she could manage this date.

MONDAY

Marisa replied that she can do it. Hurray! All I have to do now is set this up on the database, and then Marisa and Bertha will receive each other’s contact details and be able to start planning for the weekend.  Must remember to advise Marisa to try calling Bertha if she gets no reply to email.

A visit I had previously arranged for Tian and Yi should have taken place at the weekend, so I signed it off on the database and look forward to reading the feedback from the students and their host.

WEDNESDAY

Email from the host due to meet student Jess on Friday this week. Jess has still not told the host the time of her train. Groan! Emailed and texted Jess asking her to contact her host immediately.

Tian and Yi have sent their feedback. Seems they had a great time. I dropped a line to their hosts to thank them, and copied Tian’s heart-warming comments into the message for the hosts to see. This is what makes my volunteering worthwhile!