Black vultures? All in a day’s work for Bryan
21 August 2012
Even
at a place where volunteering is actively encouraged, former Oatridge College
student Bryan Deakin from Bonnybridge near Falkirk is building a reputation as
someone out of the ordinary.
The
26 year-old is currently in Greece,
where in the last few months he has worked with several charities as an
international volunteer and has found himself taking on a host of jobs, from
upgrading ancient footpaths to feeding black vultures, caring for sick sea
turtles, producing a video to encourage volunteering, as well as handling
office work.
Bryan,
an ex-pupil of Denny
High School, studied for
a Higher National Certificate in Countryside Management at Oatridge, which is
where his enthusiasm for volunteering was cultured.
Here
at home he works as a volunteer officer for The Conservation Volunteers in Stirling, where he is involved with the Green Gym, which
aims to encourage people to improve their personal fitness by getting involved
in environmental projects. Through the Conservation Volunteers Alliance he
joined an international programme called “La Team”, which in turn led a four
month stint in Greece.
“The
idea of ‘La Team’ is to create opportunities for teams of international
volunteers to work together on environmental projects throughout Europe,” says Bryan.
“I’m working here with volunteers from Italy, Estonia and France and at
the same time volunteers from these countries and Greece are in Scotland, and
so on around Europe.
“I’m
based in Athens
where I have helped with office work and been involved with a number of
projects, but right through July I was on two of the Greek islands, Naxos and Syros, where a
team of international volunteers worked on clearing ancient footpaths to make
them usable again. I’m off to Andros soon to
help at another workcamp and that will be the last of the year.”
While
in Greece Bryan has received a small living allowance from the European Union,
paid through the conservation charity Elix, which is a non-governmental
organisation (NGO) dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage and
promoting international volunteering.
He
is also spent time with two wildlife charities. It was at one, ANIMA, which
looks after sick at injured animal, and it was there that he encountered a host
of animals he never expected to see: “I still can’t believe that I was able to
feed black vultures and storks,” he says. At another, Archelon, he worked with
sea turtles.
Like
other visiting volunteers he has also been getting Greek language lessons: “I’m
probably progressing faster than the others,” he says, “because the Greek
teacher and I are actually close friends.”
Bryan expects to be back in Scotland in October in time for a week-long meeting of all of this year’s “La Team” volunteers.
