Ankali needs your help

The Ankali Project is looking for volunteers -” and it’s looking to the community to help fill the vacancies.

The project, which provides emotional and social support to people living with HIV and AIDS, trains and supports volunteers to carry out this very rewarding work, with about half coming from within the ranks of the gay and lesbian community.

[We are] currently recruiting new volunteers to undertake their next training in late July and early August. The project is currently undergoing an increase in need from people living with HIV and AIDS, and simply does not have enough volunteers to meet demand, project manager Michael Buggy told Sydney Star Observer.

People out there sometimes think the need for the kind of support Ankali provides is no longer as necessary as it once was, but the reality is that some members of the HIV-positive community still need emotional and social support as a result of living with the disease, and Ankali volunteers play an essential part in addressing these needs.

In addition to the support the volunteers give to people living with HIV/AIDS, there is a strong focus on the support the volunteers themselves need in order to perform the work they commit to.

Ensuring the volunteers are looked after means they are properly equipped to deal with the problems their clients are looking for assistance with, Buggy said.

Volunteers receive comp-rehensive support and supervision by attending peer support groups on a weekly basis, and also individually from staff members when necessary.

Buggy said there was no right sort of person to do this kind of volunteer work. Current volunteers come from a very diverse background of interests, employment and life experiences.

The project attracts volunteers from right across the wider community, who are interested in this type of work, but the largest proportion of people still come from the gay and lesbian community, and we are always trying to attract more, he said.

This melting pot of different volunteers is what makes Ankali work -“ we don’t want volunteers to be angels or saints, just ordinary people with the willingness to give, and who want to try and make a difference in somebody else’s life.

The next Ankali volunteer training will be taking place over two weekends -“ 26 and 27 July and 2 and 3 August. To volunteer phone 9332 9742.