Coll Enterprises Present: 'Volunteers'

by Lavinia Maclean-Bristol of Project Trust
 
'Volunteer' has a special meaning on Coll. Anybody wandering along the roads or over the hills during the winter and early spring has seen one of these strange creatures. They are normally to be found in large groups, toiling manfully on the rough ground building lazy beds in the pouring rain, or surveying ruins on the hill. Occasional glimpses may be seen of them in places like the pub on a Thursday night or peering out of the befogged windows of a minibus.

Some islanders actually welcome these creatures. They let them into their homes, feed them enormous meals and patiently, week after week, answer questions on the island and their way of life.

At the end of April these rare birds have flown, and Coll will not see them back until the following December. Organised by the hard working Project Trust staff at Bousd they fly to more exotic countries where warmth, a different culture and hard work occupies them for a year.

But why Coll? What on earth can be the connection between a small island in the Inner Hebrides and these strange third world countries to which the volunteers go?

The answer lies largely in Coll's history. Two hundred years ago it could be compared with a twentieth century under-developed country with a host of financial and social problems. The solutions which Alexander Maclean of Coll tried, failed. Enormous emigration followed and the population dropped from 1500 down to the current 155. Volunteers read and discuss the problems, and research and survey the crofts around Ballyhough. They then give a presentation on what they have found out about croft life.

Selecting the right volunteer for the right project overseas is Project's main work over the long winter months. We need young people with imagination, enquiring minds and a curiosity about the world around them. Most are interested in Coll's past as well as its present and the imaginative can produce sensitive well thought out ideas on life on a croft in the early nineteenth century.

Study of the past is a part of selection, but there are many other aspects. Lazybed digging brings out leadership qualities, indicates the idle, shows up the weak, separates the practical volunteers from the impractical ones, and shows how determined the individual volunteer is.

Not every project overseas needs a tough, physical person. The lazybed stragglers can show they have the ability to speak in public when they give a short lecture on their home community. Finally the dexterous can show off their ability to pick up new skills when the course ends on a Friday night with a real party at Breacachadh Castle.

Since Project moved its headquarters from London to Coll in 1972 a large number of islanders have participated in Project's work in one way or another. Several families have settled on Coll as a result of Project's headquarters being here, and many more are involved as host families for the volunteers or part time workers. Volunteers help with some of the jobs which might be done by younger members of the community if there were enough of them, like shifting coal and digging gardens for the old age pensioners. There is the spin off effect of crisps and Mars Bars being bought in the shops and lemonades and lager in the pub. Above all, perhaps, volunteers impinge on islanders' lives by being around in the cold, dark winter months, when they provide an interest, a speculation and a new subject for gossip when little else of interest is going on. 'Volunteer' may have an official dictionary definition, but here it has a special Coll meaning.

Project sends 140 volunteers every year to 15 different countries. All applicants must be in full time education at the time of applying, should be between 17 and 19 years old and taking A levels or Scottish Highers. Applications should be in by 1st January for the following September, and should be sent to the Director, The Project Trust, Isle of Coll, Argyll.