Page updated:
Friday, 7 September 2007

PEOPLE making a difference - Holly Shiach...

Travel and adventure assists others

“I lived on an unpatrolled Columbian border crossing”, explains Holly Shiach, “ …which meant there was a lot of drug trade and there was a lot of arms. Everyone had weapons.”

Holly Shiach

With her quiet manner and soft voice, Holly doesn’t seem the type to be comfortable around guns, but getting used to their presence is just one of the adaptations she made to working in Ecuador. There were many other accommodations, some of which Holly was quite uncomfortable with.

“Travelling alone at night you come across a lot of military checkpoints. I ended up in a situation with ten men with guns going through my luggage and I was on my own… there are risks like that… there is a tension.

“I was very conscious of my safety, but what I found was that once the community knew who I was, they were amazing about looking out for me and they gave me tips about everything. Some people would scoff but I think you’ve got to listen to local knowledge… they’re telling you that for a reason, so take it seriously.

“In retrospect, I took a lot more risks that I really needed to, but because I had adapted to my environment, the risks seemed reasonable.”

First exposure

In South America, Holly was a traveller with a purpose, a self-organised aid worker who attached herself to projects where her skills would be of use.

“I’d already done some travelling in Central America. The first time I went there I woofed around and came across an organic community gardening project where they were doing a community supported agriculture scheme. When we arrived, it was the kind of like… oh, why don’t you stay for a day?. So we pitched our tent in a field and stayed for a day. Oh, why don’t you stay for the week? So we slept out in the field for a week. We ended up staying for nearly a year. I had just such an amazing time and was able to help out and contribute with the organic agriculture training programme that they ran for young people in the village as well as setting up composting toilets and solar ovens and all kinds of stuff.

“It was some years later that I decided I wanted to do some more work overseas. I had read an article about an education centre in coastal Ecuador and I was pretty keen to go there… so I got in touch with people and the Rainforest Information Centre and said… hey… this is me… can I be useful? Around the same time, a woman who was working in Ecuador was interested in setting up some kind of seed project over there… so it all just came together, really.

“In the place where I went to work and live… it was in a town and it was quite isolated and on the Columbian border… there was just an incredibly rich scene in music and dance and that was just the most unexpectedly high buzz… it was fantastic. There was joy in life… dancing in the streets… yeah… unreal.”

Starting out

The Seed Savers’ Network’s Byron Bay centre is a jungle-like patch of edible trees and shrubs. Situated on the edge of the popular tourist town, the sound of cicadas drones through the hot, languid summer days. It is a long way from Ecuador but it is here that Holly gained the experience that would take her to that town on the Ecuador/Columbia border.

“I trained with Seed Savers and with a local woman called Dee Kempston, who is a biodynamic seed banker, and I did Permaculture training with Robyn Clayfield. I think woofing formed most of my education. Woofing [ed: Willing Workers on Organic Farms, a volunteer placement scheme] is a fan-tas-tic training opportunity for people of any age. It’s really hands-on education in agriculture, in food processing, land management or building… the fact that’s it’s hands-on gives you practical experience, and you can’t do better than that. I also had support from the Rainforest Information Centre.”

“Yeah… I’ve been very passionate about plants and gardening since I was a kid. I worked in environmental education but I kind of got to a point in my life where… I felt quite… um… concerned about what was happening at a global level and I just really wanted to do something to help on that side of things.”

It was Ecuador that gave Holly that opportunity.

Tempering good with bad

Adjusting to life in communities outside their own culture can pose significant challenges to people who stay on to help in development projects. Behaviour that is unacceptable in their home country can be normal. Holly soon discovered that the joy of life in town was balanced by practices that were not so inviting.

“There were things that were really hard. There was quite a bit of violence… visible violence… in the town that I lived in. There’s a lot of violence in Australia as well, but a lot of it’s behind close doors though that doesn’t make it any better. But in Ecuador you really see it out in the streets and you hear it. It’s domestic violence between men and women, parents and children.

“It was very challenging for me to witness that and to live amongst it in a place where there are so many problems… they are Afro-Ecuadorian and have a lot of issues around racism, poverty, lack of clean water, food… the whole works. You see a lot of things that you are powerless to do something about and you’ve just got to focus on what you can do.”

Preparing for aid work

To engage in the sort of impromptu aid work that Holly undertook calls for a little self knowledge. Does Holly think it worthwhile that prospective aid workers understand their values and motivations before they go?

“Yeah, definitely, absolutely”, she responds without hesitation. “Everyone’s got different reasons for getting into that sort of work and I know what a lot of people who go overseas to work find is that it is actually really bloody hard. So, if you go there wanting to do the big hero effort, as most of us do, there’s going to be challenges. Things take lot longer to get done, a lot longer than you think it’s going to take… you are going to come up against challenged you didn’t expect. In the West we’ve got a lot of opinions about everything under the sun but be prepared to have those challenged even if you think you’re right.”

Self-knowledge might be valuable, but should people planning to enter aid work gain formal qualifications in what they plan to do?

“I think it’s great that people further their studies in those areas”, responds Holly. “ …but I don’t think by any means that it’s essential. People have farmed and gardened successfully for thousands of years without a university degree and… it’s something you learn by doing, really, and by observation… and you’re not going to observe while you’re sitting in a university theatre. If you want to learn agriculture, get out in the field, get your hands dirty, watch what’s going on… that’s how you learn.”

Holly says that the practical approach also applies to language.

“The better a grip you’ve got on the language the better quality of experience you are going to have, the more effective you’re going to be able to be in your work and the better the relationship you are going to be able to build with the community. So, language cannot be underestimated. Get a basis in Australia or go there and give yourself time straight up front… don’t go there planning to start work immediately… give yourself a month or whatever you think you will need and do intensive classes.”

And other characteristics that will prepare people for the work?

“Um… health… number one. Make sure you are in really good health before you go away and be clear about how are going to look after yourself. I made a commitment to myself, and so did other people… Australians that I worked with overseas… that no matter what, we were always going to put our health above everything. So, be prepared to get away and put the work down for awhile if you’re not feeling one hundred per cent… and have whatever sort of remedies you need at hand. We found homeopathic medicines awesome. The medical stuff in number one.

“I think that openness can’t be underestimated. You really need to be open about moving into another culture and doing things a little differently, listening to other people’s point of view and being prepared to shift… you know… some of the prejudices you might not have thought you had.

“For women, you have to develop eyes in the back of your head and really look out for yourself and have other people look out for you. Take people’s advice about safety issues… things like don’t go off alone at night… a really obvious thing which sounds so simple. Where I was, it gets to a point in the night where everyone is drunk and violence and crime rise radically. After about twelve o’clock at night it’s not really worth being on the streets because the risk just goes up.

The rewards

What I found was… it might take a little while… people suss you out, you suss them out… but when they figure out what you’re about they appreciate it so much that somebody actually cares enough to go to the other side of the world to lend a hand.

“You don’t have to have all the skills or experience in the world. Just being there, being in solidarity is a huge act in itself. Be involved, let local people lead, do whatever work there is to be done. If you’ve got special skills that you can help with or train people with, that’s an added bonus. But it’s really worthwhile, I feel it’s really enriched my life.

“There’s a million things”, Holly speculates. “The cultural learning is huge for me and for me it’s been a real human education… learning how people live… and learning how people live together. I learned a lot about community in Ecuador. I think people in Third World communities, where they still have a strong sense of community, do have a lot to teach us in that regard. It’s the relationships I’ve formed and what I learned from those relationships and how I’ve grown… I would say that’s a real bonus.