How one volunteer helped three people gain the confidence to learn English

By Simon Dalton, Training Coordinator,  ASRC Dandenong.

Last October one of our employment advisers told me that he knew of a young lady who was keen to volunteer at the ASRC. She is passionate about helping refugees and people seeking asylum.

I arranged to meet with Erin. When I did I was immediately struck by Erin’s warmth, directness and intelligence. She is a Biomedicine student at Melbourne University and when she has completed another year of uni wants to move into the brave new world of genetic counselling.

Erin is appalled by our Government’s treatment of people seeking asylum seekers and with a passion for climate change, is especially worried about the numbers of climate change refugees there will be in the years to come.

Erin wanted to do something tangible to help. She went on to tutor a small conversation and literacy group to help the ASRC Dandenong members gain confidence with their English skills, in an comfortable and nurturing space.

Yesterday, Erin tutored her last session as Uni goes back next week.

Her obvious talents are sometimes overlooked because Erin has a congenital spinal chord condition whereby she is confined to wheel chair. Erin knows what it is like to be dismissed on account of judgments made about someone with a disability.

On account of her own struggles to make a success of her life where she has had to battle stereotypical attitudes to her challenges, Erin has a fierce determination for all people to have a right to feel safe and access to opportunities. She feels these are denied to refugees and people seeking asylum. She feels, and we agree, that all they need is a chance.

Three ASRC members have been coming regularly to Erin’s sessions. Fran, another volunteer tutor, has also been involved and will lead on in Erin’s absence.

In Erin’s last class, she gave her childhood story picture books to her students as they have been using a lot of pictures and images to help learn English. What a beautiful gesture.

Erin has inspired our members, in particular three (pictured below) whose English skills have progressed much further than they’d ever thought possible.