Celebrating the human face of development
31 October 2011
Australian Volunteers International (AVI), with its returned volunteers and partner network in Perth, celebrated 60 years of international volunteering at the Royal Perth Yacht club with federal members, the Hon Richard Marles and the Hon Julie Bishop on 24 October.
The backdrop of sailing boats was a reminder of the first Australian volunteers who set sail from Port Melbourne to experience what was then considered the radical idea of international volunteering.
The audience, consisting of returned volunteers, WA politicians, Commonwealth People’s Forum participants and AVI supporters, listened to the Hon Richard Marles MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, share his views on the importance of international volunteering and people to people links.
He talked of the opportunities he has had to meet Australian volunteers in his role in the Pacific, and he believed that, “volunteers were ordinary Australians doing extraordinary things around the world.”
The event took place in the electorate of Curtin, the electorate of the Hon Julie Bishop, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, at the beginning of the week of CHOGM.
Ms Bishop articulated that it was fitting for AVI to hold its 60th celebration in Perth during the week of CHOGM because Australian volunteers work in a large number of the 54 commonwealth countries.
Ms Bishop spoke on the immense value of volunteers, the human face of the aid program, who are spreading goodwill in our region and bringing hope for a brighter future for thousands of developing communities.
“[Volunteers] are like stars twinkling in a dark sky,” Ms Bishop said.
Returned Australian volunteers, Sylvia and John Griffith spoke with good humour and pride about their five AVI volunteer assignments over the past 10 years in PNG, Maldives and Namibia and the impact of volunteering on their life post retirement.
Peter Creighton reflected on the lessons he learnt in cross-cultural communication and the skills he gained from his counterpart during his volunteer assignment as a Human Rights Adviser.
Like many returned volunteers, Peter maintains an ongoing relationship with his host organisation, Pacific Regional Human Rights Education Resource Team (RRRT) a prominent human rights organisation based in Fiji but works all around the Pacific, as he continues to do work with them.
The next Australian 60th celebration takes place on 14 November in Sydney.
Photo (L to R): Dimity Fifer (AVI CEO), Hon Julie Bishop and Greg Thompson (AVI Board)
See how you can get involved in upcoming celebrations
For more information on other Australian 60th celebrations
Read about 60th celebrations in Kiribati and Fiji