By Michael Newhouse
FOR Taylors Lakes resident Nicolette Zingerle, her two-month trip to the Philippines wasn’t the hedonistic holiday most 22-year old university students dream about as they edge towards the end of their studies.
Living in shanty towns made of boxes and wood, befriending and talking to some of the poorest, most disaffected people in the world doesn’t sound like everybody’s ideal getaway, but for Ms Zingerle it was perfect.
“This sounds so cliched, but it was one of those life changing experiences,” she said told Star last week.
As a youth volunteer with Australian Volunteers International (AVI), Ms Zingerle travelled to South-East Asia over the summer break to try and give something back but found she got just as much as she gave.
“I feel so naive now that I’ve come back,” she said, describing how before she left she would have worried about small things we all worry about like how many clothes to pack, what to wear and all sorts of other things she described as comparatively insignificant.
“The most I got out of this was an absolute passion for living,” Ms Zingerle, now 23, said of her experience living with poor and homeless youths in the Philippines.
“Australians are finding a place in the world that needs their skills, knowledge and experience as part of collaborative projects that are benefiting communities in developing countries,” the CEO of AVI, Dimity Fifer, said. The organisation has more than 6000 volunteers on its books.
And with this year’s International Volunteer Day on 5 December, Ms Zingerle is encouraging others to go out into the community and volunteer their time, even if it is only for a couple of hours a week and even if it’s just down the street.
“It’s so important that you look in your own backyard,” she said, saying that she now sees homelessness and poverty everywhere around Melbourne, where once it would have been invisible to her.
International Volunteer Day is a UN initiative aimed at celebrating and advertising the important role that volunteers play in our every day lives.
Now she’s back in Melbourne, Ms Zingerle is still helping raise funds for Bahay Tuluyan – the organisation she worked for while in the Philippines – saying it helps the transition and helps her keep links with what she experienced overseas.
“I know it sounds a little altruistic, but it makes you feel good too,” she said about her time spent helping others overseas.
