Volunteer: Michele
My father, Hector Waddell, introduced me to Community First Development (formerly ICV) when working on the Wilderness project in WA. He inspired me to register with Community First Development as a volunteer. As it happened, it was the start of a great partnership and Aboriginal communities across Australia.
I find it difficult to express how much this volunteering has genuinely affected me. It humbles me. It is a privilege when the communities choose me to support them. And it is enriching when the projects are successful in achieving their goals.
I have been volunteering with Community First Development for over ten years. During this time, I operated an accounting practice with my husband. We were an innovative and growing firm, and my time was very precious. Yet, I made time to be available as much as possible when Community First Development contacted me.
Working for clients was a paid job and kept food on the table but supporting others with no expectation of reward was much more fulfilling, but it was more than just transferring my skills to another person. It was the relationship I developed and will never forget.
On two of the projects, I was involved in, I have returned to the community to see how things were going. One was the Esperance Aboriginal Housing Group, where I volunteered to support the administration staff on payroll and other administration issues. I revisited the group some years later while driving across Australia from Sydney with my husband and granddaughter. It was lovely to catch up to see how they were going.
The other project that I revisited was the group on Stradbroke Island. Again, It was such a privilege to be involved and to have a relationship with the community.
In all the projects I have been involved in so far, I have applied my professional skills as an accountant and tax agent. However, the projects have taken me out of my comfort zone as I was a quiet, withdrawn person who found it difficult to make friends. It is so easy to be caught up in our self that we tend to forget about others.
Volunteering gives you a different perspective on life and especially on Aboriginal communities.