Indigenous Community Volunteers

Meg Tudor - University Student

My Background:

I'm passionate about people, cultures, education and the value of community involvement.  A wish to better understand Australia's Indigenous communities, their challenges, their hopes and their daily lives, has continued to motivate my desire to contribute in some way to the Australian Indigenous community in the future.

I completed a Bachelor of Arts Majoring in English and History (with Honours) at The University of Melbourne (with a focus on Australian Indigenous studies), and a Diploma of Modern Language in Japanese.

I am currently undertaking a Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary).

Why I volunteered:

My desire to learn and understand Australian Indigenous cultures and peoples strongly influenced my decision to volunteer with ICV. I also hoped to use the skills that I'd been privileged to learn at school and university, and share them with those who’ve been unable to have such opportunity. Finally, the philosophy of ICV, one that encourages skills transfer, enables communities to be in control of their own projects which is integral to a community’s involvement and ownership of an initiative; this I recognized as unique to ICV.

My project:

I volunteered in the Iama community twice, in June and September, 2004. During that time my role was to liaise with the Sports and Recreation Officers to achieve the following:

  • Funding for Sport and Recreation Department
  • Creation of seasonal sport competition
  • Assistance with applications for funding, design and establishment of a community Youth Centre.
  • Computer literacy skills for the Sport and Recreation Department
Project successes:

Throughout the June visit we worked to develop an adults’ season sports competition, completed applications for funding through Tropic Sports (Qld), restored the sports office and sporting equipment storage area, and established a year-long co-curricular sport program for Iama Primary School, introducing new sports and skills.

In September I continued to provide support for the up and running Season Sport Competition. Also, together with the S&R Officers we designed an application for the planned Youth Centre including funding budget, quotes and a building assessment.  As this visit fell during the School holidays, we organized a hockey/softball program.  The funding from our June application had been successful thus we were able to enjoy ordering the required sporting equipment.

The Council initiative for a Youth Centre was timed well with my second visit to the community.  Together with the Council and S&R Officers the funding application and letters of request to various organisations to gain support for the new Council initiative were collated, completed and sent off to the Torres Strait Council before I left the island in September.

I would suggest that future volunteers map out before each day, their plans or goals.  It is both useful to be able to follow what work has been set and rewarding for those involved who can tick completed tasks off the list!

How I feel about the experience/my highlights:

Undoubtedly, watching the community, as spectators and participators, engaged and involved in the Season Sports Competition when I returned to the community in September was one of the most rewarding experiences.

The hard work of Head of Sport, Marie, after I'd left the island in June, had ensured that by September, the whole community was involved in some capacity.

Friendships grew very strong by my second visit to the island, which enabled us to work more efficiently, and thus we achieved much more. I'm thrilled to be in touch with a number of friends that were made during this time, over a year and a half down the track.

What I learnt:

It's very hard to know where to begin. I was continually astounded as to how welcoming and open the community was to sharing their history and culture. They involved me in so many capacities - in their church community, social events, and traditional ceremonies.

What I learned through these experiences only reinforced my desire to continue to strive towards returning and working with or in Indigenous communities again in the future. There is no doubt that doing such a project alone allows you to be more reflective and learn more about yourself - both of these trips to Iama Island were no exception. The opportunity to visit the community twice only reinforce the importance of relationship building. As well as this, understanding the genuine needs and wants of the community, I learnt, can only come from listening.

My message to would be volunteers:

"It is something that has to come from your heart. You will make many treasured memories, learn unforgettable things about the community and it's culture and achieve important big and small goals."

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