By Casey Neill
Volunteering at Keysborough CFA is changing Philip Yuan’s life.
He and partner Shally Liu migrated to Australia from China in March last year.
“Now we are studying English at Chisholm TAFE in Dandenong,” he said.
It was there they first heard about the CFA. They live a 10-minute walk from the station and were looking for volunteering opportunities.
The Journal met the couple and other new volunteers to the brigade in the lead-up to National Volunteer Week, which runs from 21 to 27 May.
The crew needs more responders available during the day, like retirees Mr Yuan and Ms Liu.
He said they worried they were too old at age 60 but they were welcomed into the fold.
They’re soaking up as much experience as they can to better understand the Australian way of life, and practicing their English skills.
Mr Yuan wrote poems in his homeland and wants to translate them into English.
He said other people in their class questioned why they signed up for the brigade without a pay packet on the table.
“The money is yesterday,” he said.
“Today is the volunteer.
“The future is my writing a novel or a lot of poems.
“This is my life.”
Lei Xu is another brigade member with a multi-cultural background.
She recently transferred over from the Hampton Park crew when she moved house to Keysborough.
The 24-year-old was surprised at the variety in the CFA and finds the unpredictability of the role exciting.
Dandenong girl Zeynep Guven is in Year 12 at neighbouring Sirius College.
“I love helping ad this was the perfect opportunity to join and help as much as I can,” she said.
She’s in a non-operational role, helping with fund-raising and community awareness, but is now considering becoming a career firefighter.
Kayly Ho, from Keysborough, joined the non-operational team after her husband signed up as a volunteer firefighter.
“I wanted to help out so the volunteer firefighters could spend more time with their family,” she said.
“People forget that it’s volunteer.
“These people have full-time jobs and a family to feed.
“They put that all aside if someone needs help.
“We do a lot of barbecues to fundraise.
“We also let the community know who we are as an organisation and build that face-to-face rapport.”
She said the brigade was part of the community and even a couple of hours was a huge help.
“There’s many different charities out there wanting our help, but why look afar when something so close is in need,” she said.
Visit www.facebook.com/KeysboroughCFA or email volunteer@keysboroughfirebrigade.com to get involved.
