BACHELOR OF LAWS / BACHELOR OF COMMERCE
(FINANCE MAJOR)
Deakin University Leadership Hallmark Award 2021
Volunteering
Throughout my degree, I have tried to give back to my community and assist those less fortunate than myself. My desire to help others resulted in me travelling East to assist in the Bushfires which tore through Australia in 2020.
"During this time, I have observed Gili’s true character outside of a university setting. One of the most significant displays of Gili’s drive to help others was during the 2019 Victorian NSW Bushfires. While some individuals would donate money for Gili, this was not enough. He felt it his duty to lend a hand to his fellow Victorians." - Bachelor of Commerce and Laws (Accounting student) - Anirudh Prakash
In January of 2020, myself and a good friend travelled to Warragul, where we cooked lunch for the CFA firefighters who had been travelling 4 more hours East non stop for the past month. It was fantastic to be able to provide some homely support to these heroes. At 4 am the next morning, we woke up and drove to the Warragul RSL, where we cooked breakfast for Operation Veteran Assist. OVA is a fantastic organisation made of veterans that use their military experience to drive to areas affected by natural disasters and assist with all aspects of support. As these veterans left at 6 am, it was necessary to arrive early to ensure that they were all stocked up and ready to go.
We were later joined by a manager from my work who met us at the RSL and joined us for our journey East to Bairnsdale. When we arrived at Bairnsdale, we drove to the local Mitre10, which was turned into a makeshift food distribution centre. We used 6 wheelers to move crates around and helped ensure that the operations ran smoothly. We consoled locals who came to get food and listened to their stories. The centre was made up purely of donations, and any individual who had lost their property and was displaced due to the fires were able to come and grab food for their families.
A short few weeks later and I found myself driving back up with 2 friends to East Gippsland in a Mercedes Sprinter Van, to stay with BlazeAid for almost a week. Over the period at BlazeAid, we camped at the Bruthen Football Ground and spent every day (mainly in the rain), building fences and clearing debrief from properties. Whilst we received training on how to use the equipment, the work was still very tiring and physically exhausting, however, we knew that our work was for a cause greater than ourselves. My fondest memory is seeing the smile on a farmer named Ted's face. Ted was in his 70's and had lost over 10km of fencing in the fires - meaning that all his livestock had run into neighbouring farms. With no fence, he was unable to bring them back. Over the week, BlazeAid replaced more than 5km of fencing, saving Ted more than $50,000. By rebuilding fencing, Ted was able to bring back his livestock, meaning that he could begin living his life again.
Whilst the majority of our time was spent on properties assisting with damage, we spent every evening at the local pub. The Bruthen pub was a meeting point for all the locals, and it was great to see their spirits raised whilst dancing and singing to classics. At the end of the day, not much beats a good Pub Parma and a cold one!
