Diego sees volunteering as his way to give back
National Volunteer Week (18-24 May) celebrates the contributions of millions of volunteers across Australia. The theme for 2026 is ‘Your Year to Volunteer.’ We sat down with CMY volunteer Diego to learn more about what he does, and why.
Diego is a volunteer with Ucan2. Ucan2 is a program that provides additional support for young people (16 – 25) who have recently arrived in Australia. Volunteers assist young people settle into Australia by engaging them in group activities and one-on-one support. Doing important work like this weekly, Diego sees volunteering as his way to give back.
Hailing from Colombia, Diego has been living in Australia for three and a half years on a student visa. He is studying counselling and works as a barista. Between studying, working and volunteering, Diego doesn’t have much spare time but tries to spend it seeing friends.
Diego was an avid volunteer back in Colombia and was actively looking for volunteering opportunities to practice his English and work closely with young people.
“I always try to work with people, especially youth,” says Diego.
“All of my volunteering background has been working with youth.”
A friend of Diego’s recommended he sign up for Ucan2 last year and he has already been closely involved with the program, attending the twice a year Big Day Out event. This usually involves an excursion where young Ucan2 participants can interact with others and learn more about Melbourne. This year’s event was held at ACMI. After the hustle and bustle of the city, the Big Day Out usually ends in a picnic where young participants can chat, play games and exchange culturally.
“The most important moment was when we were in the park, where we can meet the other volunteers, where the students can meet the other students. They can share, they can play,” says Diego.
“I think it was really, really interesting and amazing that everybody was just together, you know, like I think it’s really nice.”
Whether it is for Ucan2 or volunteering back home, Diego strongly believes that volunteering with young people is important and impactful.
“For me, volunteering is like paying back,” Diego says.
“[Volunteering is] to be thankful for everything that I have achieved, that I’ve done. Because it’s not only me.”
Diego has been experiencing this kind of reciprocity in the Ucan2 program. Through giving his time to young people, he learns more about the world and himself. He recently observed a cultural presentation activity where participants spoke to the group about their own culture.
“Most of them were really happy talking about their culture,” Diego says.
“It was really, really good, actually. When they empower themselves to talk about what they know and what they like, it’s really nice.”
Diego thinks that cultural exchanges like this should be standard for those who want to work or volunteer with multicultural young people. To Diego, face-to-face interactions and on-the-job learning beat studying and theory ten times out of ten.
“When everybody was talking about their countries, I realised that ‘oh my God, they’re totally different!’ even if they’re coming from the same country,” says Diego.
“One thing is to study there in the classroom, you know, and maybe in social work, community service, everybody studies this kind of stuff. But the other thing is to work with them.”
Ucan2 is a partnership between CMY and Foundation House, and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs.