For Angelo, Volunteering is Rewarding in Any Language

Although having enjoyed a full life, living all over the world and learning to speak five languages, 88-year-old Angelo Alibrandi says volunteering at a local Mercy Health residential aged care home is one of his greatest pleasures.

Mr Alibrandi, who was born in Egypt to Italian parents, volunteers every Wednesday morning at Mercy Place Lathlain, where he spends time with a group of Italian-born seniors - many of whom are younger than himself -  and discusses current affairs, politics and, as he puts it, ‘everything under the sun’.

“I am a very young older person and I get great satisfaction and pleasure from being a volunteer, and will continue for as long as I can,” says Mr Alibrandi who speaks Italian, Arabic, French Greek and English.                                                                           

“I love spending time with the residents at Mercy Place Lathlain; we play Italian music, speak Italian and have a good chat about everything and anything.”

Mr Alibrandi arrived in Fremantle by boat in 1958 with his mum after leaving Rome a month earlier.

He was born in Egypt, where Arabic is the local language, and was sent to an Italian school where he learned to read and write in Italian, Arabic and French. He was also taught English because Egypt was governed by the British at that time, and he picked up Greek by playing with the local kids.

 “I worked alongside the Suez Canal between 1952 and 1957 for an American and German company, and after finishing that contract I went to Rome. It was there that I applied to immigrate to Australia as my sister was already here, and I’ve never looked back,” Mr Alibrandi adds.      

“I worked in Perth for the same company for more than 27 years as a production manager and I only retired when I was 80. It was then that I felt I had a lot more to give and started to volunteer. I think you really get back what you give in life, and volunteering and enriching the lives of seniors is a really wonderful thing to be involved with.”

Mercy Health Service Manager, Mark Flores, says Mercy Place Lathlain’s volunteers make a tremendous difference to the lives of residents.

“Volunteers like Angelo are incredibly special people and we want him, and in fact everyone else who volunteers at Mercy Place Lathlain, to know how much we appreciate them,” he says.”

Anyone interested in volunteering at Mercy Place Lathlain can contact lifestylelathlain@mercy.com.au

Find out more about aged care services offered by Mercy Health.