Responses
to August 2004 Hot Topic
In
from the CALD!
by
Peter Heyworth
& Andy
Fryar
Submitted
on August 31st 2004 by Yael Caplin, Volunteer Resource
Development Coordinator, Institute for Research and
Development of Volunteerism in Israel
I
would like to share with you our organisation's experience
within the context of a diverse multi cultural State.
Yad Sarah has branches throughout Israel with a volunteer
base of 6000 strong; it provides an array of services
and equipment to the sick, disabled, elderly and homebound
making home care possible.
Israeli
society is comprised of a number of groups: Jews,
Israeli Arabs, Drouze, Cherkesim and Bedouins. The
greater majority of the population is made up Jews.
Since the State of Israel has only existed for 56
years, it is an immigrant society. Most of the Jews
who came to Israel came for ideological reasons. Those
immigrants who came from the former Soviet Union and
Ethiopia in the 1990's, are still under going a process
of absorption. Therefore, have not been able to look
beyond the needs of their individual communities,
thus almost exclusively volunteering within their
community. Yard Sarah, in an attempt to tap on this
potential source of volunteers, organized workshops
on volunteerism for Former Soviet Union immigrants
who were recent retirees and people in their late
50's who are still working. The immigrants received
a token stipend for their participation. However,
once the workshops were completed, none agreed to
volunteer for Yad Sarah.
During
the 70's 50% of our elderly volunteers were comprised
of immigrants who came in the 1930's and 1940's who
literally contributed to the construction of this
country. These people perceive their volunteer efforts
either as an extension of this ideological movement
or that they are simply felt that they were unsuitable
(or good enough) to take part in the active workforce.
We have found that immigrants from Western Europe
and the Anglo Saxon countries seem to be highly motivated
and willing to make the extra effort to overcome the
language barrier. It appears that volunteerism is
part of their culture as opposed to the Former Soviet
Block were it volunteerism is synonymous with coersion.
In addition, the second generation of almost all immigrants
appears to have integrated into Israeli society and
is more open and willing to volunteer outside their
community. This is prominent amongst the younger generation
who may even have come, as immigrants but perceive
themselves as part of Israeli society.
Only
over the last 6 years have we been successful in opening
up branches amongst the Israeli Arab and Druz settlements
in the North. These branches are a success story both
run by and serve the Arab, Druz and Cherkesim community
in the Galilee area. This maybe attributed to the
change these communities are currently undergoing.
Unfortunately,
we cannot point at any particular efforts made on
the side of Yad Sarah, which have brought about the
absorption of new immigrants. It may be simply attributed
to the natural process any immigrant under goes when
trying to integrate into a new society.
Submitted
on August 26th 2004 by Judith Miralles, Judith Miralles
& Associates , VIC, Australia
You
may be interested to know of the Step into voluntary
work program (funded by the Community Support Fund)
and conducted in Victoria over the past 2 years. The
program has set out to increase the cultural diversity
in the voluntary sector. I have been conducting the
program with the Australian Multicultural Foundation.
At
first we worked with women from ddiverse language
and cultural backgrounds who wished to become involved
but who lacked confidence and a solid understanding
of the sector in Australia. We also wanted to show
that accredited training outcomes were possible if
language and cultural support was available. Instead
of developing our own course we modified units from
the Community Services Training Package. As part of
the training, we found volunteer placements for all
the course participants and mentored them as they
familiarised themselves with being volunteers in Australia.
We have trained over 150 women, over 80% still involved
in the organisations they volunteered with during
their work placement. These organisations are mostly
mainstream agencies across a very broad spectrum -
this did not surprise us, but it does run counter
to some commonly held misconceptions that people from
a language other than English background volunteer
in the main, to work exclusively within their community.
All
along however, we have been adamant that our role
is not to train volunteers. The recruitment and training
of volunteers from diverse language and cultural backgrounds
we believe, needs to be conducted by those who are
responsible for the recruitment and training of all
volunteers.
So
this year we have been working with volunteer coordinators
in Victoria. We are conducting Train-the-Trainer workshops
around the state. So far over 130 participants from
the government and non-government sector have attended
the workshops. We are aiming to pass on our knowledge
so that in future, we do ourselves out of a job. The
sessions aim to provide practical skills and to lead
to organisational change so that culturally appropriate
volunteer management practices become a core activity.
Further
information about this program is available from my
website - www.jm-a.com.au
Submitted
on August 9th 2004 by Greg Colby, Volunteer Services
Manager, UnitingCare Ageing - Hunter, Central Coast
and New England, NSW, Australia
This
is a very interesting area of discussion for volunteering
and volunteerism in Australia. Going on total subjective
personal observation, it would seem, that the greater
majority of volunteers are from white middleclass
English speaking backgrounds. Anecdotal evidence would
seem to support my personal observation as well. However,
as Andy and Peter point out, CALD volunteers do volunteer
within their own communities at a far greater rate
than they do in mainstream volunteer involving organisations.
I think that this limits us, our clients and our volunteers
and our organisations with regard to diverse, enriching
and rewarding experiences. For example (and I point
this out to my own great disappointment) we at UntingCare
Ageing - Hunter, Central Coast and New England, out
of our over 200 volunteers, would only have around
10 CALD volunteers. 2 stand out from the rest in that
they are obviously CALD; Marie is a French lady with
a very heavy French accent who can be very difficult
to understand unless you listen very carefully. Eddie
is an gentleman from Malta who also has a very rich
accent. Both these volunteers are dearly loved by
our residents and staff and bring a wealth of experience,
stemming from their background and culture, into their
volunteering. These are experiences that are not present
in our otherwise seemingly culturally and ethnically
homogenous program.
I would like to see an increase in CALD volunteers
in our program. The Central Coast of NSW is not known
for it's cultural and ethnic diversity, however we
do have some groups of diverse cultures that we could
approach. It seems that we increase the wealth of
experience for all of us when we actively include
volunteers from CALD backgrounds in our programs.
Submitted
on August 3rd 2004 by Margaret Guy, Volunteer Educator,
Sisters of Charity Outreach, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
We
have an increasing number of CALD volunteers.The Volunteer
Training Program covers 7-8 sessions followed by a
3 month probation time.This year we have volunteers
from Laos,Sri Lanka,South America,Malaysia and Germany
[all in their probation time]. All can speak English
well but accents are sometimes hard to understand.
These volunteers have a say in choosing a particular
service so we use them generally in sharing their
culture and skills.
However they are especially helpful re language and
culture at our Refuge for Mothers and Children and
Parent Support Program where clientele are also often
CALD.
It's
not too late ~ let's hear what you think!
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