By Eleanor Wilson
For Casey’s Senior Citizen of the Year, Peter Cahill, language is power.
“If you’re in a society and you can speak in the language and write and communicate in the language, that gives you power,” he said.
“And it’s that power that opens up possibilities.”
The former school teacher has been volunteering as an English tutor for over 17 years, navigating classes through the constraints of the Covid pandemic to give his students the best support possible.
Earlier this year, he was selected as the 2023 Casey Senior Citizen of the Year for his “star volunteer” work.
It began with a call to the Adult Migrant English Service (AMES) almost two decades ago, where the long-time Berwick resident enquired about volunteering his teaching services.
“I just thought, this country has been taking in so many migrants and refugees in the last 20 or 25 years and the call came out for people to assist in helping them with English and English language and I thought these folks really do need a bit of extra help,” Mr Cahill said.
“I tried to imagine myself in their situation, because without being able to speak English in this society, it’s hard, it must be terribly hard, in terms of a job, in terms of school, in terms of communicating with the doctor, with your bank, you know, on the phone, so I thought okay, what can I do?
“I just thought with my background in English and teaching English, I could help in some capacity.”
Since then, the grandfather of seven has worked closely with students at both AMES and Melbourne Polytechnic, offering hours of his time each week to help migrants improve their English language skills.
“It’s very rewarding and the students always appreciate the help – they are always really nice people to work with.
“I do a lot of work with the Afghan community and I’ve built up some nice relationships over the years.
“They sometimes invite me to their home for a meal, or just to meet them with their family.”
When face-to-face learning became impractical during the Covid pandemic, Mr Cahill remained determined to help his students on their English language journey, pivoting classes to Facetime and Zoom.
“I try to use my skills and creativity to meet them where they’re at in terms of language and build on basic knowledge they have.
“If you can establish a good relationship with the student that’s really important and that’s what I’ve always tried to do.
“The teaching from there flows quite nicely.”
He said being crowned Casey Senior Citizen of the Year at the Casey Community Awards in late January this year came as a complete surprise.
“My wife couldn’t go to the awards ceremony…but she said to me several times ‘I think you’ll get this award’, and I said, ‘I don’t know why you’re so sure!’
“She said, ‘I just know’. She’s very intuitive, my wife.
“When we came home and walked in the door with the award she said, ‘I told you so’!”
While Mr Cahill said he doesn’t volunteer for the praise, it was nice to be recognised in the awards.
“It’s a real honour, it’s a surprise. I think it’s good to acknowledge what people do in terms of community service and volunteering.
“I do know there are many people who do as much if not more than me, I know this because I’ve seen it… people just work so hard.”
In addition to his work with AMES and Melbourne Polytechnic, Mr Cahill has spent over 25 years volunteering with the St Vincent de Paul Conference (Vinnies), predominantly working with community soup vans and assisting families in need.
Late last year, he was elected as the president of Vinnies Berwick.
He also runs a Literature circle group at U3A Casey.
“I’ve always been interesting in language and communication… I love books, I love writing and I love reading.”
The decision to dedicate so much of his time to the benefit of others was always a natural choice.
“I’ve got the energy and I’ve got the time and I suppose I’ve got quite a compassionate nature.
“I enjoy it, it’s very fulfilling. I think most volunteers would say they enjoy what they do, otherwise they just wouldn’t do it.
“Mother Teresa said a person who gives their time gets so much out of it, you know, almost as much as the person they’re offering your help to.”
