Good Sorts - Ann Dennison
Having experienced life in diverse places of the world, Ann Dennison concludes that volunteering is the best way to meet new friends and learn about your community.
As an adventurous 17-year-old, Ann was delighted when her family moved from England to Mombasa, Kenya, for her father’s position as a post and telecommunications training officer in 1965.
“My mother was appointed a Red Cross official in East Africa and she used to involve myself and my sister in counting iron pills into boxes for distribution,” recalls Ann. The sisters also assisted their mother with beach days for local children with disabilities.
After completing her secretarial studies in Mombasa, Ann returned to England and worked for an oil company before taking a similar position in Tripoli, Libya.
There, she joined the local scuba diving group and met fellow expat Gary Dennison, a satellite aeronautical engineer whose profession had taken him far from his hometown of Waimate, NZ.
When the intrepid couple decided to marry, Ann’s mother took care of the arrangements by post and telephone, organising their English venue while Gary was stationed in the USA and Ann continued working in Libya until the wedding.
Gary’s work for the International Civil Aviation Organization, International Air Transport Association and United Nations Development Programme took their family to a multitude of countries, many of which were suffering the effects of war and natural disaster.
As Gary’s work visa did not allow Ann to undertake paid employment of her own, she busied herself by volunteering wherever they went. Finding ways to serve made her feel useful, Ann explains, “Witnessing poverty, trauma and seeing the impact and difference it makes, has been a life's lesson of appreciation, to value what we have and where we live.”
Ann helped with the Aids programme in Entebbe, Uganda and the International Women's Organisation in Bangkok, before the family moved to Singapore. There she became heavily involved with the Australia and New Zealand Association (ANZA), which provided orientation for new expats so they could establish a sense of purpose and belonging.
With their daughter in school and Gary often overseas, Ann gave her time to the many ANZA initiatives, assisting with hydrotherapy for children with disabilities, arranging carpet auctions to sponsor a pony at Riding for the Disabled, and participating in school holiday programmes for children in women's refuge homes and fashion show fundraisers for the Palliative Care Hospice.
The ANZA members funded orphaned children's homes in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, built homes in Cambodia through the United World Colleges (UWC) and fundraised for a Cambodian child needing to travel for heart surgery.
The expat community also provided Ann with a customer base for selling goods on behalf of humanitarian organisations.
Through the International Assistance Mission (IAM) she met with women repressed by the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan, and exported their handiwork for sale in Singapore.
In Cambodia, she aided in the sale of silk items made by landmine victims at Rehab Craft in Phnom Penh and visited the orphans at Sunrise Cambodia, arranging for founder Geraldine Cox to be a guest speaker at fundraisers held at the New Zealand and Australian High Commission residences in Singapore.
Ann supported UNICEF’s work in war-impacted Basra, Iraq, by selling their books and games and importing the goods of Basrawi women. Additionally, she helped the Singapore Salvation Army distribute food parcels and supported Pamela Tibbs’ work with Side by Side Farm, raising funds for Balinese women and farms through the sale of beaded items.
After such a nomadic life, the permanent move to Waimate in 2007 was a significant adjustment for Ann. Nevertheless, she was determined to live by the advice she gave the expat women in Singapore – “Pick yourself up and get involved.”
Ann was approached almost immediately to become secretary of both Bushtown and Waimate Trackways and although busy with the family’s business, Point Bush Estates, she said yes as the groups appealed to her love of nature and history.
Likewise, Gary became actively involved with Rotary and applied his skills to the facilitation of their significant international training programme for midwives in Mongolia. Later, one of the Mongolian midwives stayed with the Dennisons while working at the Timaru and Oamaru hospitals.
In 2019, Ann and Gary placed their 90ha hill block into a conservation trust and established the Point Bush Ecosanctuary. A 4.5km predator-proof fence, sustained pest-eradication efforts and the planting of approximately 35,000 native trees has resulted in a thriving forest that delights the public with its ever-increasing birdlife.
Volunteering has been a rewarding way to keep her mind and body active while meeting new people and trying different things, reflects Ann, and she encourages people to explore Community Link’s list of local groups and “get involved!”
By Olivia Ball