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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday February 24, 2007 - 3 Soul mates travel to Third World By Karen Alton SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER T en years ago when Barbara Schejbal started volunteering through CESO (Canadian Executive Service Organization), she was 50, newly divorced, and pretty much burnt out from a stressful job in the corporate world. She desperately needed to re-balance her life and re-focus her priorities. Fast forward to today and the 60-yearold Glen Abbey grandmother seems to have sorted herself out rather well. Over the past decade she has been on CESO assignments in Russia, Poland on two occasions, Nicaragua, Kyrgyzstan, and, most recently, the Philippines working in two different locations. As a volunteer adviser (VA) in small business practices her travel costs were covered by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency), while lodging and food was provided by the host clients. Nice work, if you can get it? The short answer is yes, said the volunteer. "We come back from these assignments much humbler, after seeing the conditions these people live and work in. They have so little and yet they seem happy. It makes you examine your own life. It is a growth experience for us, no question, we get back as much as we give." Of equal significance in her re-balancing act, Schejbal has been with her 40something soul mate, Mark Smith (a marketing professor at Humber College) for almost 10 years and together they have forged a partnership combining home ­ which includes two Nova Scotia Duck Tollers, (retrievers), Merlot and Shiraz -- volunteer work and personal travel. In their spare time they hike, bike, canoe and gather mushrooms together. The Oakville woman laughed as she told a story about their recent assignment in Tuguegarao City, in the Philippines. The couple was sent there last summer for three weeks to advise seven small businesses, made up mostly of women, involved in food processing ventures. "They just loved Mark. They thought he looked like Vince Vaughn. When we were interviewed on the local radio station they announced it to the whole country. We thought it was funny. They are such happy, friendly people. They have a real awareness of American LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER ON THE ROAD: Barbara Schejbal with her partner Mark Smith and a mask they brought back from the Phillipines. She has done several CESO trips -- professionals volunteering to help with projects in Third World countries. movies. At first we didn't know who Vince Vaughn was. We had to look him up on the Internet." ( The 2006 assignment was the first time Schejbal and Smith had officially worked together for CESO. In 2004 Smith went along with Schejbal to Panay Island also in the Philippines as a spouse/companion but he had to pay his own way. "It's not difficult to get involved with CESO," Schejbal explained. "You simply go to the website www.ceso-saco.com and send in a resume. If your skills and experience match up with the requirements of an assignment, you will be asked to go through an orientation interview and background check. If everything checks out you are added to the roster." There seem to be lots of opportunities for good people who have the time and the skills, and who really want to make a difference in Canada and around the world. So, is this the perfect fit for retired executives who want to volunteer? "That depends," Smith pointed out. "You do have to be pretty adaptable. I imagine there are retired senior executives who are used to their creature comforts, who might not be able to handle the culture shock of a developing country. It's nothing like staying in a five-star hotel. Usually on these assignments you are living among the people and eating what they eat." "We were fortunate in Tuguegarao (a city of 120,000)," Schejbal explained. "When you go on assignment you never know how you will be billeted; you could be living with a client who has no running water or electricity. In our case we stayed in a small hotel owned by the Mayor, Randolph Ting's father. He is of Chinese extraction so the food was amazing, every day authentic oriental dishes, and so fresh." "Excellent fish," Smith added. Schejbal continued, "One morning at breakfast - it was during the rainy season so the rice fields were teeming with frogs - someone brought this assortment of live frogs strung up on a wire for us to see. `Would you like these for dinner?' Oh See Aid page 5 · Wood & Vinyl Shutters, Supplied & Installed · High Quality at Affordable Prices · Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed · Serving Oakville with Shop at Home Service Authorized Vinylbilt Dealer www.shuttersetc.ca Shop at Home Service FREE