Volunteer: Bruce
“My Community First Development experience has been, for me, like another university degree. It has taught me so much about our Indigenous citizens and the vast range of difficulties they face in remote locations.”
I got involved with Community First Development in 2001 through an advertisement in the newspaper looking for volunteers. I became involved because I had recently retired and I believed that people, not money, solve problems. I have partnered with communities on a dozen projects all over Australia. My projects are not one-offs as I generally go back to the community several times, for a week to 10 days each time. In the intervening period, I work on the project from home.
My first Community First Development project was on Murray Island in the Torres Strait. It is not possible to say what has been the most rewarding project for me because they are all so different in their scope and nature. Generally, the project I am currently working on is the most rewarding.
I find out about the projects I have been involved in through wonderful Community First Development employees who contact me, brief me, and ask if it would suit my range of skills. If so, and they generally do, I then discuss the project with the community member in charge…. and we take it from there.
One project completed in 2013 was on Palm Island (off the coast of Townsville). The tangible result was that the project team has, and is able to use, a reporting system (which is not complicated or time consuming) to demonstrate to the Queensland Government (which is funding the project) that they are fulfilling the essential conditions in the service agreement for the project. The team members have more confidence and understand better the wider ramifications of justifying funding. They are, at the same time, developing programs which will benefit the whole community. From this project I have learnt that, as is generally the case, the local community know the problem and the solution. An outsider can often bring the players together and assist them to implement their solution.
Volunteer Bruce with Mervyn, Aaron, Bec and Bev, Ngalla Maya WA. Bruce supported Ngalla Maya with their Reintegration Program.