Tavish Scott: Volunteers needed to fight against poverty

Have you spent 200 hours in the past year on just one activity? If the answer to that question would normally be directed to an agony aunt on a red-top newspaper, this column is not for you. But if you run a voluntary organisation and need new people then read on, writes Tavish Scott

A national awards scheme operates across Scotland under the umbrella of Voluntary Action Scotland. People between 16 and 24 receive certificates for 50, 100 and 200 hours of volunteering. This week, at home in Shetland, I handed out 67 certificates to young islanders who had made this commitment. They had carried out peer support work in high schools for football and swimming coaching.

This celebration of achievement ended with a powerful film made by volunteers. The piece defined and addressed poverty. Not through the usual mind-numbing array of statistics and graphs but through a quiet yet intensely powerful interweaving of a young man’s narrative with a poem read in local dialect. As the compere for the evening observed, it is rare for Lerwick Town Hall to be absolutely quiet, but it was as 200 people watched eight minutes of moving testament to the raw emotional impact of having no money.

The scene was a bus stop in Lerwick. A youngster clad in hoodie and jeans sat hunched on a neighbouring wall, smoking. People passed. Walking the dog. Hurrying home from a late shift. Young people clad in not much congregated at the bus stop heading for the town’s bars and clubs. Night settled. The glow of the cigarette was eventually extinguished. These images were underpinned by the young man’s despair. His words came in short staccato sentences. They reflected his life, with no money to spend on drink, drugs or girls – that no-one looked nor cared nor wondered where he was. It was not self-pity, it was a cry into an urban wilderness.

The film then cut to an elderly woman viewed through a rain-soaked window gazing into the gloom of a winter’s day. Her words reflected a different side to poverty. One where a family is just too proud to take the state benefits that are due. One where there is always someone worse off, so why should she complain. One where despite the difficulties there is a view to contemplate out of a rain-soaked window. All of this spoke to character and to soul. It worked for me.

As did time I spent with the local branch of the Samaritans. In these times of economic recession, with cuts to public services and long-term unemployment, particularly for the young, I wondered if the Samaritans’ workload was increasing?

The evidence was mixed. But what this dedicated group of volunteers need is more. And more men in particular. Is volunteering just for women? Of course not. The Samaritans explained that their ability to help people is all the stronger when their trained teams are mixed. So go on, volunteer, even if not for the full 200 hours.

• Tavish Scott is Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland