The Experiences of a Community Welfare Volunteer in Disaster Stricken Solomon Islands
The idea of having volunteers in the Solomon Islands Division of Social Welfare had been in the pipeline for sometime. However, it was never implemented due to constraints faced by the Division. It was not until April 2007, after the Western and Choiseul Provinces in the islands were stricken by the double disaster of an earthquake and a tsunami that the Division of Social Welfare was able to have dialogue with UNICEF for the possibility of introducing such a project. UNICEF, in its response, acted promptly in funding the project. The first training for volunteers was conducted from the 7th to 11th of May 2007 in the Western Provincial Headquarters in Gizo. This training resulted in 60 Community Welfare Volunteers being trained and deployed back to their communities. Judy Basi, was one such volunteer from the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, here’s her story….
The focus then was placed on volunteers to be better equipped to assist communities to build resilience in getting back to their daily routines and normal lives. The volunteers faced great difficulty in creating awareness in areas like child abuse and the convention of the rights of a child (CRC). The victims of the natural disaster, who were suffering, had other worries to attend to at the time. People’s attention was diverted and it was extremely hard for me and my colleagues to get through to them. After some thought, we decided on conducting recreational activities to capture the minds of the children. After school the volunteers organized activities to engage the children and this made it easier for the volunteers to raise the awareness on important children’s issues as the children were more willing to play and learn at the same time. These activities made the children accept the volunteers in a positive approach. All of a sudden volunteers were seen as friendly and supportive to children. It certainly made my work a lot easier to be accepted by them. My work as a volunteer took me to many communities. In one of the communities I visited, children told me they celebrated International Children’s Day in style. I was so happy to hear that. For me it meant that not only do the children and the community recognize the day, but that they also see the importance of children to the community. This also illustrated that the Community Welfare Volunteer programme had achieved its outcomes and had educated the local community on the important of child protection. The children were elated with their volunteer as it was the first of its kind celebrations for them and it was the volunteer who had made in an unforgettable day for them. But it’s not all fun and games for us volunteers. As part of my community welfare work I have to make referrals to the Social Welfare Office on matters relating to child protection, marital issues, maintenance issues and other related matters. Some of the maintenance cases end up in court with positive results, like getting fathers of these children to pay child support. In such cases, I as a volunteer feel that some justice has been done to the child. However, in some cases involving abuse of children, the results are not so good. Only some of the referral cases end up in court and a lot of these cases are dropped for lack for evidence. These are real instances when I feel that I still have a lot more work to do within my community. There were two serious cases of sexual abuse referred by community volunteers that have put the perpetrators behind bars. The concern in this situation is of protection and safety in the community once these perpetrators are released from jail. They will be back in the same communities. Despite all the hurdles faced by the Community Welfare Volunteers, the overall success of this programme has been more than average. However, there are areas that can be improved upon. Volunteers at times need support which is not always available. Without this support some volunteers have not been able to do anything with their training. I feel there needs to be some understanding by the Social Welfare Division of the community strengths that already exists within communities. This would make it easier to focus on the weaknesses. Additionally, if more funds were available, assessments of concerned areas would be less difficult through monitoring and evaluation. Communication has played a critical role in harmonizing the volunteers work. A specific time has been set for communicating with the volunteers by two way radio twice a week to keep in tune with what’s happening at their community level. There is also a newsletter called NIUS BITS where volunteers present their views and opinions about certain issues. Information about future training and interest or concerns is also highlighted in this publication. The UNICEF/ Social Welfare Division training held in Honiara from the 13 to 16th May, 2008 has been a timely boost for the volunteers. It has allowed the Community Welfare Volunteers not only to up skill themselves, but address some of the challenges earlier mentioned. It is my hope that more of these workshops can happen to facilitate the enhancement of the links the Social Welfare Officers have with their community counterparts. Thank You UNICEF and thank you Solomon Islands Social Welfare Division.
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