More than 100,000 Australians lent a hand to a developing community last year. Melissa Cunningham reports on volunteers in the Third World.JULIE Capper was amazed during her first trip to Sri Lanka in 2006. The suffering she found in the war-torn country woke something inside of her.
“I realised the people had little opportunity of improving their lives,” she says. “That experience profoundly changed my life. I arrived home feeling very fortunate and grateful for the safe and good life I have in Australia. I decided I could do something to help some of the people in Sri Lanka.”
After hearing of the enchanting beauty of the country from her Sri Lankan friends in Melbourne, Ms Capper, 53, was inspired to see the majestic place for herself. She booked a 17-day tour with a local guide named Raja Gunasekara.
The Langwarrin resident, now in Sri Lanka on her 10th visit, has become a regular volunteer. Every year she visits the Indian ocean island and has established the In My Heart Serendib Foundation to formalise the work she does.
Projects Abroad director Will Pashley says Ms Capper is one of a growing number of people loading their backpacks and heading to faraway places in search of personal discovery and cultural enlightenment. Last year, more than 10,000 Australians made such a trek.
‘‘You always get more out than you put in,’’ Mr Pashley says. ‘‘You experience life in a developing Third World country that has different cultural practices to your own. You make connections with local people that you would not if you just, say, went on a safari in Africa or a travel tour.’’
During her first trip Ms Capper felt uneasy and afraid. It was a place of war and destruction and the threat of suicide bombers always lingered.
“We would be driving and have to stop beside a red bus. I was always nervous a suicide bomber would be on board and set off a bomb. Thankfully, that never happened.”
Ms Capper and her guide Mr Gunasekara remain close friends. They keep in regular contact and she stays with his family during her extended trips.
On this trip she will spend 10 weeks in Sri Lanka and plans to visit eight schools, two orphanages and an education and welfare centre. When she arrives she won’t be a stranger to the locals.
“When I arrive at the schools, the children come running calling ‘sudu aunty’, meaning ‘white lady is here’. They are bursting with excitement and instantly I’m surrounded and have 40 little hands wanting to hold mine. I love this part.”
After her first visit, Ms Capper came home and spent more than eight months collecting supplies and funds. By the time she flew back, she had to have three chest-sized boxes shipped with her. She also had enough money to purchase 100 pairs of shoes for local children.
Ms Capper says her work has a ‘trickle’ effect. Without the burden of having to buy school supplies, families can spend their saved money on food. Some of the families can afford just two meals a day, mostly of rice.
Ms Capper says she will continue to visit the land which has become like a second home to her but Mr Pashley warns that volunteering abroad isn’t everybody’s idea of a dream getaway.
‘‘Its not for everyone,’’ he says. ‘‘We offer briefings and give cultural advice, how to be respectful of certain cultures and most importantly where to go if you need help.’’
While some dream of grand gestures or curing poverty during their trip, Mr Pashley says more realistic expectations are needed for a week or month-long visit. ‘‘If you help one or two people it’s a success,’’ Mr Pashley says.
Robert Latimer read an article about yachtsmen taking volunteer medics to Vanuatu and immediately knew he wanted to do the same. Although the 50-year-old financial planner didn’t own a boat and knew little about Vanuatu or medicine, the idea kept coming up.
“I’d meet doctors who had come back from volunteering there or friends would go on vacation there. I kept running into Vanuatu.”
And soon enough, he bought a boat and went there himself. He spent six months in 2009 and 2010 sailing shiploads of medics to the remote and regional islands aboard his 1984, 16metre steel cutter.
He went with dentist Tony Burke, doctor Graeme Duke, his brother Andrew and his 24-year-old son Matt.
They made walking frames for the elderly and ovens for women. Although small differences, they made big differences in the lives of the people, freeing them of a bedridden or smoke-filled existence.
“You always get more out than your put in volunteering,” Mr Latimer says. “You experience first-hand life in a developing third-world country that has different cultural practices to your own.”
Like Ms Capper and Sri Lanka, Michelle McGann, 40, was instinctively drawn to Botswana in Africa. The avid animal lover spent a month working for a Projects Abroad conservation project with her cousin Sam Cole-Surjan.
‘‘I watched a documentary on television about releasing orangutans into the wild,’’ she says. ‘‘I just wanted to be a part of it and to in some way make a difference.’’
After marrying and having children young, Ms McGann wanted an experience that was solely her own. She undertook a range of duties at the wildlife reserve including monitoring and observation of animals, tracking migration habits, repairing roads and building water holes.
The Narre Warren mother of three completely immersed herself in the culture.
‘‘It was the most rewarding thing I have ever done,’’ she says. ‘‘Every single moment there was the experience of a lifetime. Every day I couldn’t wait to wake up and see what the day had in store. I burst into tears on my last day there. I’d love to go back, but this time I’d love to take the kids.’’
Thinking of volunteering? These organisations can help you get started:
Projects Abroad:
projects-abroad.com.au or call
1300 132 831
Conservation Volunteers Australia:
realgap.com.au
Taking a gap year:
youthcentral.vic.gov.au
Volunteers Abroad Australia:
volunteers-abroa d.com or call
0845 130 4775
UNICEF Australia:
unicef.org.au
02 9261 2811
OXFAM Australia:
oxfam.org.au or call 1800 088 110
WLS International, volunteer and gap year in Asia:
australia.gapyearinasia.co m
I to I Volunteering:
i-to-i.com or call 1300 881 590
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