“The expectation is to see young people – 22, 25, 30 years old – going around the world,” says Agyros. “When they see a 54-year-old guy with a grey beard, there is always the question, ‘What’s wrong with you? Have you had a divorce? Were you pushed away from Australia for some reason?’”
The truth is that Agyros is happily married with three adult children and has always wanted to take time out to volunteer. It was only once his children were in their 20s and when his Sydney accountancy practice could be left for 12 months that Agyros followed his dream.
“There is a time for everything,” he says. “But if you leave something too long, you become too old. Who knows what issues with health or other issues will come later on?”
Agyros is working with the Red Cross as part of AusAID’s Australian Volunteers for International Development program. He has been placed with Noah, a community group that helps some of the 3.7 million children estimated to have been orphaned in South Africa.
“Most of them have lost their parents from HIV or TB or other related or unrelated illnesses,” says Agyros. “We look after them – they come in every day.”
The children are provided with meals, support and after-school care. They’re desperately poor and for some, the food they receive at Noah is their only meal of the day.
When Agyros first arrived in South Africa, his role was to provide basic bookkeeping and financial training to volunteers. Now, his work has shifted to helping community groups develop businesses so that the groups that care for the children can become self-sustaining.
Agyros has helped establish two enterprises – a business that repacks bulk orders of biscuits and sells them in smaller quantities, and a dried-meat-making venture that only requires a cardboard drying unit.
The dried spiced meat, known as biltong, is particularly profitable. “To make one kilo of biltong, it costs you 110 to 120 rand*, and you sell it for 180 rand,” explains Agyros.
“If you’re in an affluent suburb, you sell it for 230, 240, 250. So, it really is a good margin.”
Agyros finishes his assignment in September but it may be the beginning of a whole new focus for the accountant. A year ago, he thought going to South Africa would get the desire to volunteer out of his system – but that hasn’t proved to be the case. “I am afraid now it is more in my system,” he says.
