The beauty of Ngoliba - Caritas Australia

A Community of caritasA Very Special MeetingCaritasnews caught up with Andree Rice,National Council Member, to find out moreabout meeting the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.On Thursday 1 September, a fivepersonCaritas Qld delegation waschosen to meet the Prime Minister at apublic community forum held at YerongaState High School.The group was made up of AndreeRice, National Council Member, CaritasAustralia; Amelia Sumner, Justice andDemocracy Captain, Brigidine College;Tricia Ryan, Regional EngagementCoordinator, Caritas Qld; Claire Proberts,Senior Years Coordinator, EmmausCollege; Jenifer Byrne, Global EducatorAdviser, Caritas Qld.“The experience was overwhelminglypositive,” said Andree. “Ms Gillard waspersonable and particularly interested insocial justice and issues of internationaldevelopment pertaining to women.”In July, Caritas Australia’s EducationTeam participated as a major partnerin Edmund Rice Education Australia’s(EREA) ‘Partnering for a Better World’Immersion conference in Melbourne.Pacific Program Group Leader, JustineMcMahon, gave a keynote addresson Caritas Australia’s approach tointernational development and oureducation staff-led workshops.The conference drew together 150educators from all over Australia. OverAndree thanked the Prime Ministerfor her government’s robustcommitment to international aid andfor initiating the Aid EffectivenessReview. “I also commented that Caritasbelieves the most effective aid is peopleandpartner-centred and focuses onqualitatively improving the outcomesof the poorest of the poor in our world.“Ms Gillard seemed genuinelypositive and very happy to talk with us.The meeting provided a fine exampleof female leadership to all of us, andthe entire process demonstratedwhat democracy in action reallylooks like. The chance to talk one-ononewith your country’s leader is aprivilege rarely enjoyed by most of theworld’s population.”“Ms Gillard was particularly interested in social justice andissues of international development pertaining to women”Left to right: Claire Proberts, Tricia Ryan, Julia Gillard PM, Amelia Sumner, Jenifer Byrne and Andree Rice.Partnering for a Better Worldtwo days the participants listened toAustralian and internationalspeakers, either in person or viavideo-conferencing, and togetherexplored aspects of education forjustice and discussed best practice forconducting immersions.Caritas Australia’s contributionwas well-received and the conferenceprovided the education team with avaluable opportunity for networkingand professional development.A Just ClimateMessage ReachesParliament HouseOn Tuesday 20 September, AlexandraEngel, Caritas Australia CampaignsCoordinator, and Kateia Kaikai of the PacificCalling Partnership met with ClimateChange Minister Greg Combet to presenthim with A Just Climate petition signaturescollected from around the country.They discussed the importance ofimproving financial and technicalassistance to developing countries, andsupporting innovative finance mechanismsto source the funds urgently needed totackle changes to climate.“We thanked the Minister for the stepsthe government has already taken, andreinforced our view that the world’spoorest must be at the heart of theconversation about changes to climatein Australia,” said Alexandra.Kateia, who arrived from Kiribati justthree months ago, shared her story withthe Minister. “I have seen the damage thatsea water intrusion and changes in weatherhas already had on people’s crops andlivelihoods in my country.“When people’s usual source of income,for example coconuts, fails because of thechanges in climate, then they must findothers ways to earn money... I have seensome young women who need to enterprostitution with passing fishing boats sothat they can support their families, becausethey have no other way to earn the incomeand become desperate,” she said.“It is the poorest and most marginalisedcommunities, like Kiribati, who will be hithardest by changes to climate, so we mustensure Australia takes a leadership rolein assisting developing countries to fightpoverty and develop in sustainable ways,”added Alexandra.Left to right: Kateia Kaikai, AlexandraEngel and Greg Combet.summer 2011 | 9