By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
For someone studying a for a diploma of community services, a week looking after deserving children, many from traumatic backgrounds, could not have been more appropriate.
For North Geelong’s Tanya Matulich, the experience of volunteering at the annual Lions Clubs children’s wilderness adventure camp at Licola was an eye-opener.
“I do some volunteering at Geelong Food Relief Centre but I hadn’t done anything like this before,” the office administrator for TVD Group Builders said.
“I just saw it on the Volunteering Geelong website and decided to inquire. It turned out to be quite a stretch for me.
“I came out a bit different.”
The camp took 139 children, including 20 from families of refugees, from as far afield as Simpson to Little River for five days at the Lions-run camp, a five-hour bus drive past the Mt Baw Baw National Park.
Tanya was one of 33 volunteers on the five-day camp, giving the children an escape and introducing them to a different environment.
“Many never been on a camp before,” Tanya said.
“It was an opportunity to leave their life behind and, you know, there is trauma in many of their lives but they are surprisingly open and trusting despite that.
“You just spend the time to build relationships with the kids; it’s mainly about setting boundaries and role modelling.
“There’s an activity called the Leap of Faith where you climb atop a tall pole in a rope harness, then jump out to touch a suspended ball before being lowered back to earth.
“I screamed my lungs out. I’m not good at heights. But it showed the kids that it’s OK to face your fears.”
The camp was funded by donations from Geelong Community Foundation, APCO Services Foundation, Viva, Howard Glover Foundation and Dawn Wade Foundation.
“It was exhausting emotionally but it was a happy tiredness. I would do it again if I got the chance,” Tanya said.
“Although we could use some more male volunteers,” she added.
