Klaas and Aafke Woldring are grey nomads who saw and have responded to the recent PWF article ‘Grey nomads’ contributing to outback towns.
(Volunteering Australia has formed a partnership with Professor Jenny Onyx (University of Western Sydney) and Associate Professor Rosemary Leonard with funding from a Commonwealth ARC Grant to carry out a two year national research program to promote the development of Volunteer/skilled trades projects in outback towns for grey nomads.)
Klaas and Aafke totally support the project and have emailed us a report of their 2005 trip to Central Oz. They say they will ‘spread the word’ about the program and though they were on a planned schedule and could not have stopped for long in such towns to do voluntary work, they met many grey nomads who had plenty of time.
Do check out the Woldrings’ report (MS Word doc) and let us know what YOU think of the research program.
1 Comment
I think this is a great idea. Grey Nomads are (usually, I think) older and much experienced people. These skills should not be lost, and can be passed on to other Australians, no matter whether in the city or the country. Volenteering is something that older Australians are very committed to, as many, like me, feel that they owe something back to the country that has given them so much.
I hope to become a grey nomad in a couple of years, and I hope that my schedule will include some volunteering, so the study will be of great interest to me. I have certain skills myself, and my husband Alex is also skilled in many ways. Maybe we can offer something to the study??
Thank you