The satisfaction in my role comes in the knowledge that I am able to use my past experience to carry out administrative work in the office, thus enabling the CMPC staff to spend more of their time in assisting the various communities. It has given me the opportunity to speak to a diverse group of people from various cultures and backgrounds and understand some of the difficulties that migrant and refugee families experience when they come to Australia.
What brought me to CMPC?
When I retired in mid-2004, after working as an Administrator for 21 years in the legal industry, it gave me the time to become a volunteer and to assist the community in some small way in areas that had always been of particular interest to me. One of these areas was to contribute to multicultural Australia through assistance to migrants and particularly refugees.
After searching the Volunteering Queensland website, I came across the notice that the Centre for Multicultural Pastoral Care was looking for a volunteer to assist with clerical work in their Paddington office. I remember the day in February 2005 when I came to the office for an interview and was welcomed at the door by a warm, smiling gentleman named Jose Zepeda, who it turned out was shortly leaving his position as Director of CMPC to move to Vietnam and work with Always People. Mary Gavin, who was taking on the role of Director, interviewed me and we agreed that I would work one day per week. I was then immediately invited to attend Jose’s farewell party the following week. What a wonderful way to be introduced to an organization!
What do I like about being a volunteer at CMPC?
The satisfaction in my role comes in the knowledge that I am able to use my past experience to carry out administrative work in the office, thus enabling the CMPC staff to spend more of their time in assisting the various communities. It has given me the opportunity to speak to a diverse group of people from various cultures and backgrounds and understand some of the difficulties that migrant and refugee families experience when they come to Australia.
The joy in the job comes from the contact with such dedicated and caring staff have all introduced me to their varied cultures and have opened their arms to welcome me to various cultural celebrations from their countries. For this I thank them.
Tricia Dakin
Volunteer (Tuesdays)
[Tricia has been a volunteer at CMPC since 2005. Tricia comes on Tuesdays each week to sort through and catalogue hundreds of Catholic Immigration Office files for ease of access and for future archiving.]
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