By Luke Voogt
Congolese refugee Rachel Bakulikira hopes volunteering for children with disabilities can help her land a job as a nurse or a paramedic.
The 17-year-old joined volunteers running riverside school holiday activities at the Barwon Heads earlier this month.
“Doing something that you’ve never done before gives you great experience for the range of people you will work with,” she said.
“I think this will help me with my career.“
Rachel said she loved getting to know the kids.
“I wasn’t sure how they would be with me, how they would react. I really enjoyed their company, the bonding is very good.”
The sunny day at the beach was a far cry from the compound where she lived in Kenya, before coming to Australia seven years ago.
“My father said ‘I brought you here so you can have a good education and study,” she said.
Myanmarese refugee Ei Zaw joined Rachel at the beach.
“The kids were very lovely,” she said.
“They take my hand. They say, you stay with me, you come with me. We encouraged them to participate in every activity.”
The Karen woman hoped to one day work with children with a disability, after migrating to Australia 18 months ago.
“I have a little sister at home so I love working with kids,” she said.
Ei Zaw was a child herself when her village was destroyed.
“We moved from village to village and we finally ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand,” she said.
Gateways Support Services and Diversitat ran the school holiday activities jointly, explained Diversitat project worker Neema Wright.
Gateways had a high demand for volunteers, particularly for children with intellectual disabilities and autism, while Diversitat needed work experience opportunities, she said.
“They go through training and the process of being interviewed, exactly as they would have to do when going for a job.”
