written by Bob Wilson, COFA committee
Photo: Volunteer Dave Reynolds and learner driver Samira
Dave did not set out to become a driving instructor. He set out to retire.
After a working life that took him through ministry, customer service, and international consulting across several countries, he found himself restless in the early months of retirement. He wanted something hands-on. Something that used the skills he had accumulated across those varied decades. A colleague — his accountant, as it happened — mentioned Circle of Friends. Dave made a call to Henrietta and drove out to Meadows for a meeting.
That was fifteen years ago.
Since then, Dave and his wife have done lots of volunteer work with their Circle.
One of his weekly gigs involves helping new arrivals to work toward getting their South Australian driver’s licence — so far sixteen women and four men, drawn from Kurdish, African, Somali, and South American communities.
His track record is impressive. Five have obtained their licences so far, with ten currently on his books. He runs lessons on Mondays, starting new learners in quiet streets before gradually introducing the complexities of suburban and city driving.
It sounds straightforward. It is anything but.
A driver’s licence in Australia is not simply a piece of plastic. As we know, for a newly arrived family into Australia, it is often the difference between dependence and independence — the ability to get to work, take children to school, attend appointments without relying on others. Building the logbook hours alone can seem an impossible hurdle when you are also navigating a new language, a new suburb, and a bureaucratic system built on assumptions you were never taught.
Dave understands this. His pastoral training, he told me, gives him the patience and the ability to read people — to know when to push gently and when to simply sit with someone in their difficulty. His extensive international consulting work has helped a lot giving him cultural fluency. He learned Arabic.
Alongside the driving instruction, he is our “go-to” man when Circles need assistance delivering furniture across the city when setting up new accommodation. He also makes time to assist with the financial administration for the critical fundraising work of Nathan’s Circle, helping Nathan bring order to what he diplomatically described as some past organisational complexity.
With his own Circle, he helps with advocacy work, navigating government offices alongside families who had no idea where to start. With one Syrian family — a single mother named Mariam and her daughter Lulu — he and his wife have built a relationship that extended well beyond any single task.
When I asked what keeps him coming back after fifteen years, Dave was direct. He enjoys it. He finds in this work the things that retirement, for many people, quietly removes — a reason to show up, a sense that your particular collection of skills and experience still has a use in the wider world, beyond paid employment.
That to me is the essence of what I have learned from my meet-up with Dave. It’s an honest summary, and a very important one.
Circle of Friends works because people like Dave bring more than goodwill to the table. They bring competence, consistency, and the willingness to turn up on a Monday morning and do the unglamorous work of helping someone parallel park.
Five licences. Ten learners waiting. Fifteen years of quiet commitment from a great guy with an infectious laugh and warm personality.
Thanks Dave!