United we stand - International volunteers continue to make crucial impact on Douglas Shire, Daintree farms post Jasper

DISASTER RECOVERY

Byron Filmer

Junior Reporter

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The BlazeAid Daintree team outside their camp in the Daintree Village. Image Credits: BlazeAid Daintree

Since the flooding event following Cyclone Jasper left many farms in and around Daintree in ruins, BlazeAid has been hard at work helping locals get back on their feet. Volunteers from all around the world have come to work with Blazeaid to help with the recovery efforts.

Operating out of the Daintree Village Community Hall, the BlazeAid Daintree team have been hard at work, planting trees and rebuilding fences for our local farmers. Reaching up to 23 volunteers the team has hosted over eight different nationalities including volunteers from the US, Sweden, Italy, and many others.

Newsport spoke to some of the volunteers to find out a little bit more about them and why they chose to work with Blazeaid.

Marco – Italy

“This is my second time volunteering with BlazeAid, I worked with them during the 2019/20 bushfires in New South Wales and Victoria… It is an amazing experience, very joyful for the soul," Marco said

“Getting to explore the nature and see all the rare animals is definitely the most exciting thing about this experience… Definitely the rainiest place I’ve ever been."

Ashley – USA

“I was looking for a job to complete my 88 days and came across Blazeaid… I figured getting to help people is much better than working on some random farm fruit picking," Ashley said.

“The best part of this experience has definitely been the family feel, the people are all really great."

Cody – USA

“I’ve done some volunteer work before and this seemed right up my alley and sounded like a good experience," Cody said.

“It’s been great getting to know the people in the area, the farmers are all really nice… It feels good to visit somewhere and leave something positive behind."

It is clear that the efforts made to allow volunteer work to go towards working visas has made a huge difference in numbers for the BlazeAid Daintree team. This has allowed for more work to be done to rebuild properties in the Daintree area.

Additionally, it is great to see the amount of diversity within the team and to see the volunteers become apart of the local community while they stay.

The Blazeaid Daintree team can often be seen playing cricket on the Daintree Oval after a hard day’s work or winding down at the local pub for a well-deserved drink.

While there is still much work to be done in our area, BlazeAid Daintree continue to kick goals, one fence post at a time!

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