Woden Community Services Inc.

Dear Volunteers,

Thank you to Emma for being a contact for volunteers during the month of April, whilst I was enjoying my holiday in New Zealand - a land of spectacular scenery (see Milford Sound photo). It was good to be on holiday … and it was also good to come home after a month on the road.

It was great to catch up with so many volunteers during National Volunteer Week (10 – 16 May)… I know that many volunteers enjoyed the various events celebrating this week with WCS staff.

Hope everyone will stay safe and warm during the next few months and thank you for your
volunteering work during the winter months in Canberra.

Regards,
Geoff Hayes
Volunteer Co-ordinator

In this month's issue of the WCS Volunteer Newsletter:

Staff Profile: Susan Henderson

(Manager, Children’s Services)

My family emigrated from the UK in the 1960s and we settled in Sydney. It was the best move my parents could have made. The lifestyle, opportunities, choices and weather easily compensate for the lack of family.

As an immigrant, I am very aware of the circumstances of those who also are newly arrived in Australia today. Fortunately Australia is a more open society today, more accepting of differences than when I arrived in 1966.

I became an early childhood teacher, doing my training in Wagga which was my first experience of living in a country town. I loved it - the ease of getting around and pace of life, the neighbourliness of the community, the access to and choice of local organisations.

I moved from school teaching to the early childhood education field. During the 1970s the women's movement had made big advances, particularly in the area of services for working women. I was part of the groundswell of support for giving women more choices in their lives - combining family and work, if they chose.

Australia being such a large immigrant nation, a lot of families had no support available to them, unless they made neighbourhood friends or were part of an accessible cultural group they could feed into. Childcare became central to helping families settle into Australian society, learning the mores and values of the local community, and giving families a choice to have two incomes if they wanted.

I have developed an abiding interest in cross cultural learning - sharing the values, customs and celebrations of the rich and diverse cultures Australia is fortunate to have. I worked closely with the local indigenous community in an inner city suburb and started my engagement in the issues of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities wherever I am living. In my private life I had the privilege to meet Fred Hollows and he inspired me to get involved in whatever way I could, to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than myself.

I married and had a family in the 1990s, and was lucky that my job was flexible enough to accommodate the needs of family and work. As a family we have travelled overseas to developing countries - Vietnam, Thailand, South Africa, and at home have been lucky to visit the Northern Territory several times, including going to the Garma and Barunga festivals. These trips have fuelled my passion for other cultures and provided resources for my work and thinking.

We moved to Canberra in 2004 and enjoy the quieter lifestyle and different focus it offers. I joined Woden Community Service in July 2009 and like the work and my colleagues. When I am not at work - it is a 3 day a week position - I walk our dog Oscar, swim, read and keep in touch with my friends far and near.

Welcome to new volunteers

PUZZLED?

The first two correct responses from WCS volunteers to reach me (by either phone or email) with the correct answer to the following puzzle will receive two Dendy Cinema tickets.

If 2+3=10
7+2=63
6+5=66
8+4=96

Then … what does 9+7 equal?

Focus on Community Development

In each edition of the Volunteer Newsletter we focus on a different program – to inform volunteers about the work and staffing of WCS as a context for your work as volunteers. For this issue the focus is on Community Development.

Community development, like the words empowerment, inclusion, consultation, participation and sustainability have become more and more widespread in both government and non-government sectors– but what does it actually mean?

As the name suggests community development (CD) is about working with people who share a sense of identity (a community) to identify their own needs and/or wants and work collectively to take responsibility and control of their own social, economic, political, cultural and environmental development.

CD is about those opportunities where people and groups can get involved in the life of their community. Whether that community is your suburb, neighbourhood or local sporting group – it is about identifying with people who share in a common interest, passion and/or belief. This could be anything from a group of neighbours starting up a walking group, to lobbying government on a proposed planning development or becoming involved in a community celebration.

It is about working with individuals, small groups, communities and even societies to work towards all members having a sense of place and connection.

Because CD is so broad and means so many things to different people the major principle that we all try to uphold is about how things are achieved. CD has a strong focus on the process rather than concentrating purely on the outcome. This means that time is taken to engage a variety of people, find out who is doing what and how can we make it sustainable.

It is not about an outside “expert” coming in and telling people how to do things and then leave. The skills, resources and strengths lie within the communities themselves and the role of the CD worker is to help facilitate a process of finding them and building confidence and support for people to get involved.

“Go to the people, live among them, learn from them, start with what they know, build on what they have, but of the best leaders, when their task is accomplished, their work is done, the people all remark “we have done it ourselves” (Lao Tse)

So how does CD happen at Woden Community Service? To encourage our own community development across the many programs here at WCS, we have a team that consists of a variety of programs to explore ways of how we can put into practice the values of CD.

The team, Community Links and Directions (affectionally known as CLAD) is made up of:

This team is taking a leading role in looking at who we are working with, how and who else is “not at the table”.

As such we are always keen to hear any ideas on how you may like to get involved in your local community. If you would like to have a conversation about these ideas or about community development in general, please do not hesitate to contact me on 6234 6820 or email: emma.walter@wcs.org.au

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Open Monday - Friday, 7am til Close
Next to Woden Library
Phone 0409 609 074

Volunteer Profile: Janet Werner

I have been involved with the English language classes run by the Woden Community Service for about three years. For a number of years I had been interested in teaching English as a second language, but it wasn’t until I retired that I had the time to undertake a course. Soon after I had completed the course my friend Sue introduced me to the WCS classes, and we have both been teaching there ever since.

During that time a number of other volunteers have assisted with the classes, so we are able to give the students a chance to experience a variety of styles and accents.

We meet every Monday morning during the school terms at the premises of St Albans church in Lyons. The classes start at 9.30am and run for 2 hours, by the end of which time both the students and the teachers are beginning to flag because of the concentration required.

As there is such a wide range of abilities of the students, from those who can only speak a few words of English to those who can engage in quite sophisticated conversation, we divide the students into 2 groups. For the group of less advanced students it is useful to have more than one teacher, as some students may need individual help.

While the main focus is on conversation, we also practice reading short passages and doing written exercises to help the students with sentence structure, vocabulary and pronunciation. Many of them lack confidence in their own ability, especially where they have children who are fluent in English and can act as translators.

The class gives the students an opportunity to practice speaking to others who are also struggling with the complexities of the English language. I didn’t realise how difficult the English language was until I tried to explain to others why we say things in a certain way!

One of the most interesting aspects of being involved with the classes is that I have met people from around the world. Current students come from Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and Cambodia, as well as from France, Algeria and Iran. Past students have come from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Afghanistan and South America.

Often the students do not have a common first language so the only way they can communicate with each other is in English. Many of them are only in Australia for a limited time, because their spouse is working or studying here, but some are, or hope to become, permanent residents.

I find teaching English both challenging and rewarding and one day I hope to extend my
experience by teaching overseas.

Woden Community Service Inc. Volunteer Newsletter - June 2010