Glenys Davies, Lebanon
26 August 2010
Retirement left Glenys Davies restless and in need of a challenge. She owned a home in Perth, her children were grown and independent, and she had both energy and a set of useful skills honed over her career. Just as she had at the start of her career, Glenys Davies went looking for a challenge.
Left: AVI volunteer Glenys Davies (left) at Nahr el Bared camp with Zahra (right), an adult physiotherapy client. Image courtesy Glenys Davies.
In the early 1960s, Glenys followed the custom of the day and sailed to Europe for a working holiday. Returning to Australia months later, she found herself looking down from the window of the plane and saw India passing below. She'd traveled through Greece and volunteered at an Austrian hostel for Hungarian refugee women, but she realised that, for all she had done, she had missed a huge part of the world.
Back in Australia, Glenys continued working as a physiotherapist, but she stayed inspired to see the world and share her physiotherapy skills where possible. In 1966, she heard about AVA, as AVI was then known, and took up a position with the Red Cross at the Handicapped Children's Clinic in Port Moresby.
Glenys' experiences as a young woman stayed with her. Through 40 years of work, she remained interested in volunteering and working with and for others.
While Glenys has worked for social justice, peace, and environmental issues, it wasn't until she retired that she found another opportunity to work farther afield than Tasmania, where she had worked for two years before retirement.
Glenys started looking for opportunities to volunteer and applied to a position in Lebanon working with Palestinian refugees, and in particular the elderly and children with disabilities. She had only recently become aware of the situation of Palestinian refugees in the region, and Glenys took up an assignment for the chance to work with communities with few resources and little support.
Her initial assignment in Lebanon challenged her in new ways, in particular learning to manage her director's expectations, a lack of resources, and speaking Arabic.
After only 8 weeks of finding her feet, tensions between Lebanon and Israel came to a head and all ten AVI volunteers working in the country were evacuated.
Glenys was committed to returning and waited nine months to return to a similar position, where she stayed for a year.
During her time in Lebanon, Glenys worked in refugee camps throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, near Tripoli in the north, in the South near Tyre, and in the Bekka Valley.
She worked in adult and youth care centres, rehabilitation programs, elderly support and kindergartens supporting a range of partner organizations wherever possible.
After finishing her assignment, the call to Lebanon remained strong, and Glenys has returned a number of times to continue her work. Most recently, she returned to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley to continue working with a Spanish NGO, Movement for Peace, that supports children with disabilities and their families through home visits with the community-based rehabilitation workers employed by the Lebanese Physically Handicapped Union.
The Bekaa Valley is a long fertile valley separated from Beirut and the coast by a mountain range and from Syria and the Golan Heights by another. The valley has, since the time of the Romans, provided the region with produce and wine. For all the history and agriculture, however, the Bekaa Valley is also relatively cut off from centralized services in Beirut. The trip by mini van or car is not long but for families with restricted work, little money, and no vehicle, it is prohibitive even without travelling with children with special needs.
In this setting, Glenys worked with Movement for Peace and other non-government organisations to improve inclusion of children in their communities, empower families and provide more opportunities for young people to be as independent as possible. Glenys has been fortunate to be able to return for short periods to see the benefits of the program in the Bekaa.
While Glenys and the Movement for Peace staff members continue to build on their earlier work, they are also aware that funding levels are precarious. Their visits are welcomed and successes and difficulties can be discussed - usually over a cup of Arab coffee - but they rely on continued support. Funding is necessary for salaries and access to resources such as home modifications, hoists, new wheelchairs and walking frames as children grow.
After balancing a rewarding career in physiotherapy and volunteer assignments, Glenys's 'retirement' experiences have brought a rich dimension to her life. She considers her involvement a privilege and hopes that the programs will continue to make life easier and more rewarding for these disadvantaged people.
Glenys hopes to be able to continue her visits to this fascinating and complex part of the world.