Sailability

In my overseas program through Indiana University I am required to complete a service learning project. This project is to promote the development of active learners seeking to increase their own knowledge as they undertake realistic tasks that serve the community. The project requires my ability to make strong personal reflections about my interactions within the community as reciprocal exchange between myself and others is to occur. The project is also to be arranged and completed outside of school and I was not allowed to work with students who attended St. Patrick's. This does not seem like that difficult of a task to organize as one would think that there are countless charitable organizations that would love the helping hands of volunteers, especially young ones with a passion for helping others. My first week here I began excitedly contacting numerous organization but quickly became discouraged as several of them never returned my phone calls or emails, or simply said they have no use for me as a volunteer given my timing willing to help right before the holiday season. This seemed bizarre, for in the States usually organizations need the most volunteers around the holidays.

It wasn't until I attended the Gosford Sailing Club with Michael and Cherie one night that I saw a little flyer with bold letters printed on it, "VOLUNTEERS WANTED FOR SAILABILITY GOSFORD... WE NEED HELP!" The add had me immediately after reading "VOLUNTEERS WANTED," and I had not the slightest clue what Sailability was but I figured I may as well try this organization! After making a few phone calls and awaiting a few email replies, I learned that Sailability Gosford is a non-profit volunteer-based organization that provides sailing opportunities to people with any type of disability, the elderly, and the financially and socially disadvantaged of the Gosford community. I did some of my own personal research to learn that Sailability is a world-wide organization that originated in Great Britain during the 1980's and came to Australia in 1991 and has spread like wildfire along the Central Coast. Sailability can be found only in Florida, Idaho, and in New Jersey in the United States. So, I explained to the two secretaries of the group, Jane and Ruth, a little bit about myself including my passion for helping others learn and my experience working with a variety of abilities in educational environments. I also shared with the ladies that I come from a long line of family members who devoted most of their lives to serving, teaching, and helping those with varying abilities discover their talents in order to live lives of inclusion. (I thank Gramps and Grams for passing along this talent to me!) The ladies were thrilled to have me help on board even though I have never sailed a day in my life!

Today was the first day volunteering with Sailability. The community center of Gosford has organized weekly activities for seniors and individuals with special needs. This week 8 individuals ranging from about 19 to early 30's came to sail. I arrived at 9:30 a.m. where Ruth and Jane gave me the background information about the participants as well as any special precautions I may need to take working with some of the friends. I appreciated this communication as I know how important it is to not accidentally cross certain limits while working with special needs individuals. Since I have had no actual sailing experience, the team members of Sailability quickly started to show me the ropes about transporting the small access dinghies that allow disabled people to sail in comfort and safety. A trained sailor and one participant can be held in the boat at a time. I assisted in assembling the sail boats, helping the participants in and out of the boats, and entertaining them on shore with their community care takers as they waited for their turn to sail.

I was pleased by how many of the participants came up to me and took an interest in wanting to know who the unfamiliar face was. I found it easy to talk with most of the individuals except for one gentleman who I quickly learned from a caretaker that they did NOT like girls and could act out physically against them if they felt threatened. One girl about my age had an infatuation with asking what street I lived on and telling me what street she lived on, only I realized it was a game once she started changing every street name to do something with fish: fish guts ave, fish bone road, fish head cove, and would roll with laughter. We then invented silly names for fish and it did not matter whether it made sense, for her smile was incredibly contagious and I had such a good time making up nonsense sayings for about an hour on shore. Once again, I helped with a barbie for the participants, and then helped the team put the dinghies away. I will be helping out again next Tuesday with the same group of participants and cannot wait to continue to see how therapeutic this program can be for individuals.

My personal moral note of the story: even though it was so very frustrating initially trying to find a volunteer project, good things come to those who wait. Sailability is a beautiful program.