Volunteer story by Sambath My

Sambath My

Volunteer of the Month, March 2019

I am more confident in working on hepatitis issues. Working on hepatitis issues allows me to do more research on health or nutritional issues.

• What inspired me to become a Hepatitis Victoria volunteer?

My experience in development work in Cambodia has made who I am today. This development work inspired me to be willing to give back to the society as the whole, especially the Cambodian community in Melbourne when I am here for my study.

Whenever there is an opportunity and I have time, I take it. For instance, I was elected to be the president of a registered student association in Melbourne, called Cambodian Australian Network of Student at the end of 2017.

Prior to a volunteer work with Hepatitis Victoria, my father-in-law just passed away because of hepatitis in Cambodia. While grieving his death, it also inspired me to do something for Cambodian people to avoid this problem.

• My favorite Hepatitis Victoria sessions or moments.

I am pleased with any piece of work for Hepatitis Victoria. Attending a HepVic event on Lunar New Year Festival at Springvale may be a favorite moment because staff members and volunteers work together for a good cause for the society.

• What tips do I have for new volunteers?

A few things that we need to pay more attention are as follows:

• Cooperation with stakeholders: we as volunteers need to be more patient and persistent in communicating with different stakeholders; otherwise, we may not get any result.
• We as volunteers need to be alert to any event around us so that we take the opportunity to spread our messages.
• Communication with community people: we need to be more patient; otherwise, we lose hope in our work. Just receiving key messages from us does not guarantee that community people will got to get a blood test or talk to their GP about hepatitis issue.