LLOYD Williams has always had a desire to help those in need. The father of four, 59, has spent his career working as a special-needs teacher in the west and, for the past six months, as a volunteer mentor with the Helping Hand Project.
The community-based organisation aims to provide young refugees with supportive mentors to help them realise their dreams.
As a mentor to Burmese brothers Van Baw Lian, 15, and Van Lian Hu, 13, Mr Williams visits the family home once a week to help them with their schoolwork and teach them in a nearby park about popular Australian sports.
The brothers moved to Braybrook with their grandparents 18 months ago after being separated from their family and living in a refugee camp in India for almost six years. They were reunited with their mother in Australia last week.
Van Baw Lian says he and his brother would not have settled in without the help of their mentor.
“We like Mr Lloyd, he’s very nice to us and always teaching us new things and playing sport with us.”
On weekends, Mr Williams takes the boys to visit the sights of Melbourne, watch sport and sample different cuisines.
“I’m an amateur historian at heart,” Mr Williams says. “The way I see it is that my ancestors came to Australia in the 1850s from England as refugees and they were no different to the refugees arriving now.”
“People often have this perception that refugees are a burden on society, when really these newly arrived people have so much potential and so much to contribute to society and are an extremely positive force if they are given the right support.”
Helping Hand is looking for new mentors in the west.
It will hold an information night at the New Hope Foundation, Footscray Refugee Resource Centre, at 7.30pm on Tuesday, March 12.
More details: 8060 3440 or helpinghandproject.org.au
