Volunteer Services
Volunteers can play a significant role in welcoming and helping refugees to resettle in this country. They extend the role of paid staff by providing companionship, assistance and support.
All activities are negotiated between the client, volunteer, Case Coordinators and the Volunteer Service and volunteers are supervised and supported throughout their involvement with clients.
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Volunteer RolesVolunteers assist a few hours per week or fortnight with following activities:
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The Volunteer Service offers
- Interesting opportunities and experiences for people keen to assist in the refugee and multicultural sector.
- Flexible hours, supervision, support, information through regular meetings and contact via the phone and email.
The aim of the program is to offer a warm welcome to refugees and help them settle into their homes and community. Volunteers are placed with a family and then visit on a regular basis, perhaps once per week, for a period of around six months.
Other activities for volunteers include administrative tasks, project work, and community development activities, under the supervision of and with the support of staff.
How to become a volunteer?
Prospective volunteers are required to:
- Participate in a one day Volunteer Training Program which is run on a Saturday from 10am until 4pm. Please contact Volunteering Services to discuss the next available training session.
Topics include:
a. Practical aspects of volunteering.
b. Cultural awareness.
c. Legal and organisational responsibilities for volunteering.
2. Apply for a ‘working with children check’ (Blue Card) through MDA.
3. Provide the names and contact details of two referees.
4. Be able to donate a few hours per week or fortnight for a minimum of six months.
Volunteer activity is available according to:
- Demand for volunteer assistance;
- Needs and requirements of clients;
- Experience, skills, geographic location and availability of volunteers.
MDA works in partnership with other agencies and people to provide special skills, services and expertise to clients.
Click here to download the application form.
Please email/ post or fax your volunteer application to
Email: vco@mdabne.org.au
Fax: 07 3337 5444
Postal address: 512 Stanley Street South Brisbane QLD 4101
For more information contact Volunteer Services:
Volunteer Coordinator
Tel: (07) 3337 5428
Fax: (07) 3337 5444
Email: vco@mdabne.org.au
mda
Volunteer Stories
Francis
Francis is from Sudan where he worked for the Ministry of Culture and Information as director of a television station supervising news and general broadcasting. Becoming increasingly fearful for his life because of his outspoken views on the misuse of broadcasting for the use of propaganda, Francis fled to the countryside in 1998. For the next few years he was able to link in with the United Nations helping with project work which eventually took him to Kenya and Egypt. Realising the turmoil in his country was on-going and that he and his family would continue to be unsafe, he applied to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to emigrate to Australia where he had an uncle. He arrived in Brisbane in 2004.
Francis has found Australians friendly and helpful. He obtained a Diploma in Community Development and Welfare and is currently studying a Bachelor of Human Services at Griffith University.
Francis joined the MDA volunteer service to provide the same support to newly arrived refugees that he received when he arrived in Brisbane.
Pooshana and Shirabdi
Mother and daughter Pooshana and Shirabdi have participated with the MDA Volunteer Service since its inception in 2006.
Both were involved in the settlement of refugees prior to MDA establishing its Volunteer Service. Pooshana is a mother and grandmother, and with her husband, been a fervent supporter of refugees and asylum seekers for over 10 years. Shirabdi, a social worker and mother of two, and her husband, joined her parents in the support of refugees in 2003.
Pooshana and Shirabdi, upon hearing about the MDA Volunteer Program, offered their services, and during the years the Program has been operating, have been instrumental in helping needy families settle in Brisbane. They find sharing in their journey a truly rewarding experience.
David and Kirsten
David and Kirsten are volunteers with MDA. David works in the Multimedia division of The University of Queensland Library and Kirsten works in administration at the UQ School of Social Work and Human Services.
Kirsten has tertiary qualifications in anthropology and it was her interest in culture and service to the community that lead her to undertake the MDA Volunteer Training Program in 2006. Since then Kirsten has participated in client support, festival activities and various administrative tasks at MDA.
Seeing how much fun Kirsten was having with the MDA program (and wondering where she was spending her spare time!) David offered his services as a volunteer photographer, on call to take photos at various MDA functions and events. David has been an active photographer for over 20 years; and his contribution provides MDA with a photographic account of the Association’s work in progress.
Both David and Kirsten are currently involved in providing support to a refugee client and find the work both challenging yet equally rewarding.