#148 | AUTUMN 2017
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FROM THE CEO
THANK YOU
In 2017 Project Compassion has as its focus “Love your Neighbour”.
We sincerely thank you for all your support in 2016. By helping our partners to become the architects of their own development, you are transforming marginalised communities, offering them the gift of hope.
This key principle of the Judeo-Christian tradition, is integral to the work of Caritas Australia and is taken from Jesus’ message to his followers, “Love your neighbour as yourself” [Matthew 22:39]. Project Compassion 2017 demonstrates how love for our neighbours can transform lives. When mutual respect is fostered, communities become stronger and more resilient. This can only lead to a better future for our world, the world that Pope Francis has recently called “our Common Home”. I was privileged to see first-hand how this teaching is being applied in our overseas and First Australian partnerships over the last 12 months. In Cambodia, I spent time in marginalised rural and urban communities. In each case, I was struck by the way their leaders referred to Caritas as bringing hope and the chance for communities to transform themselves. Our partnership with the staff and students at the Deaf Development Program, has produced impressive results.
Your support for our Christmas Appeal and Global Gifts, has made a difference to the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable. Project Compassion this year is about working with our neighbours by empowering them to transform their own communities. With your help, we are working to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity all over the world. For great resources and fundraising ideas for Project Compassion 2017 go to caritas.org.au/projectcompassion
The students are so happy to be doing this two-year program because they had been unable to communicate easily with their own families or others. Now, they have sign language which offers them hope within skills development and vocational training. In Nepal, Caritas Australia has continued to act as the lead partner for a large number of Caritas sister agencies around the world in responding to last year’s earthquakes. In Bougainville (PNG) our work in reducing violence against women is highly regarded within those communities, at senior government level and by the Catholic bishops. These are just a few first-hand examples of our team working alongside communities to achieve major change. Through your continued support of Project Compassion 2017, you are demonstrating love for your neighbour through transformative action and enabling us to continue this important work. Thank you for continuing your journey with Caritas Australia this Easter.
Paul O’Callaghan, CEO FOR THE LATEST NEWS, EVENTS AND UPDATES HEAD TO:
Caritas Australia, 24-32 O’Riordan St, Alexandria NSW 2015
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CONTENTS 03 PROJECT COMPASSION 2017 04 DINIA FROM THE PHILIPPINES 05 MARTINA FROM TIMOR-LESTE 06 UNCLE RICHARD FROM AUSTRALIA 07 NGUYET FROM VIETNAM 08 SEMITI FROM FIJI 09 ALOMA FROM THE PHILIPPINES 10 CARITAS COMMUNITY 11 WHAT YOUR DONATIONS CAN DO MIX logo Cover: Dinia, our lead story during Project Compassion, with her family and neighbours in her rice field. Photo: Richard Wainwright. All photos Caritas Australia unless otherwise stated. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this document may contain images and names of people who have passed away. Caritas Australia is a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).
Caritas Australia is fully accredited by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Please note: some of the programs featured in this issue of CaritasNews are funded by Caritas Australia and the Australian Government.
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR
LOVE IN ACTION Each year, Project Compassion runs during Lent, the six weeks leading up to Easter. Starting on Wednesday 1st March (Ash Wednesday) 2017, we are asking people across Australia to help us raise money and to offer hope to the millions of families who struggle for justice, peace and survival every single day. This year we focus on the theme, Love Your Neighbour. By taking the words of Jesus in Matthew 22:39: “Love your neighbour as yourself”, and looking to the story of the Good Samaritan, we are inspiring others to work towards real change, not just with words but with action. This edition highlights six stories, one for each week of Lent, which emphasise the inherent dignity, courage and strength of our global neighbours. Thanks to the support of Caritas Australia, they are overcoming significant challenges to improve their own lives and to positively transform their entire communities.
A lunch following the Ash Wednesday Mass and launch of Project Compassion at St Aloysius College, Adelaide.
Pancakes for Project Compassion at St Agnes Catholic Primary School, Brisbane.
THIS ISSUE In this issue you’ll discover how Project Compassion supports women like Dinia to overcome poverty in the Philippines and Martina from Timor-Leste to move forward with purpose and strength to overcome the challenges of domestic violence. Uncle Richard and other Stolen Generations survivors are coming together to raise awareness and heal themselves from the trauma of being kidnapped from their families. Nguyet is expressing herself creatively and pursuing an education in spite of the challenges of living with a severe disability in rural Vietnam. Semiti, in Fiji, is improving the lives of his neighbours; they are landless because of endemic, generational poverty. Finally, Aloma is advocating for sustainable environmental practices to reduce the damage caused by powerful weather events in her village in the Philippines. Through your help, Project Compassion is changing lives and transforming communities.
“You cannot love God without loving your neighbour and you cannot love your neighbour without loving God.” – Pope Francis
Use #ProjectCompassion on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to share your moments with us! $11.1 Million was raised for Project Compassion in 2016
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WEEK ONE: DINIA
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR When Dinia’s husband died she was pregnant with her fifth child. She suffered not just the loss of her life partner, but the primary income source for her and her children. Widespread poverty in the Philippines means that more than a quarter of the population live below the poverty line of $1.90 a day, and around 10 million of the poorest are women — women like Dinia. But Dinia is strong, talented and resourceful. She has an aptitude for farming and is a clever businesswoman who makes and sells cassava chips and exchanges animals with her neighbours. In 2011, Caritas Australia’s partner, the Socio Pastoral Action Centre Foundation Inc. (SPACFI), began working with Dinia and since then she has been able to develop a sustainable income through an innovative livelihoods program that helps both her and her neighbours.
“I have been active in my community, especially with the People’s Organisation and my neighbours. I always help them.” – Dinia
SPACFI AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT In her village in the Philippines, Dinia is a strong force. As a member of her local People’s Organisation, she is learning how to create a sustainable income for her family and encouraging her neighbours to do the same. Your support has enabled Dinia to learn key skills that allow her to be self-sufficient, including composting to create natural fertilisers and other gardening techniques that improve the crop yield she receives from her rice field. “My life is much better now. It is much easier,” Dinia says. “Even in difficult times when there isn’t enough rice, we always share it with the neighbours so everyone has rice to eat.”
SHARING IS CARING Dinia also took part in training on how to raise pigs for income, and now shares piglets with neighbours through SPACFI’s Hog Dispersal Program. “The distribution of pigs is a system of sharing. The program provides you with a pig as long as you are able to raise piglets and pass two of them to others,” Dinia says. Dinia’s journey of healing has ended with an integral role in her community, a sustainable livelihood, and a brighter future for her children.
Dinia’s new skills means that she is creating a stable life for herself and her family. Photos: Richard Wainwright
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DONATE Your donation to Project Compassion can help communities like Dinia’s in the Philippines. Call 1800 024 413 or visit www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion
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The Hog Dispersal Program is a community system of sharing that allows Dinia to share the pigs’ offspring with her neighbours.
WEEK TWO: MARTINA
A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY For Martina, a mother of eight in rural Timor-Leste, escaping domestic violence was the first step in her journey to a new life. Uma PAS, the shelter where Martina sought refuge, is a partner in Caritas Australia’s Protection Program, a community-wide program that offers women like Martina economic empowerment and a life of safety in a supportive environment. “After I left Uma PAS, I felt confident for my future. Uma PAS really helped me to learn how to be strong; how to change my life to support myself, and to have some money to support my children,” Martina says. “Education is the most important thing to change my children’s lives.” When she joined the Caritas Australia supported Protection Program, she also received vital training in microfinance and in how to save money. Now, Martina has her independence.
THE WIDER PICTURE
Martina’s village community has embraced and supported her transition to self-sufficiency from a life of hardship and violence.
Violence against women and girls is a critical issue in Timor-Leste, and domestic violence is the most reported crime to the National Vulnerable Persons Unit. Studies show that 38 per cent of women aged 15-49 experienced physical violence and 36 per cent who were or had been married reported violence – physical or emotional – by their husbands or partners. Your support enables Caritas to continue its important work with vulnerable women like Martina.
“We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.” - Pope Francis, Laudato Si
LEARN Martina has been empowered to provide for her family through the support of Caritas Australia and its partner, Uma PAS.
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Thanks to you, Caritas Australia works to protect women like Martina from gender based violence. You can learn more about this project at www.caritas.org.au/martina
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WEEK THREE: UNCLE RICHARD
HEARING OUR STORIES Trauma has been part of Uncle Richard Campbell’s life from an early age. A survivor of the Stolen Generations, he was kidnapped from his country, his community, and his family to be assimilated into the non-indigenous community. “They grabbed us … and took us away from our people … I was about nine, ten years old,” Uncle Richard said. Determined to re-program him by making him forget who he was, his name was taken away and in its place he was given a number. “First thing they say to you: forget your name. You are now a number. You are now 28.” Hundreds of Aboriginal boys were held at the state-run Kinchela Boys Home (KBH) near Kempsey, NSW, between 1924 and 1970. At KBH they were taught to be “white”, used as free labour and regularly abused by the authoritarian management.
Kinchela Boys Home (KBH) Survivor, Uncle Richard working in his art studio in Kempsey. Photo: Nicole Clements, Caritas Australia
HEALING THROUGH TRUTH AND RECOGNITION Becoming involved with Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation (KBHAC), which is supported by Caritas Australia, has encouraged Uncle Richard and other survivors to talk about their experiences, an important step for personal healing and building broader community awareness. Uncle Michael Welsh, a KBHAC Board member and KBH survivor, spoke of the vital role the organisation plays in reconciliation. “Besides helping (each other), we’re helping communities, going out to actually talk about what happened to us in schools, institutions, businesses,” he said. The Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation (KBHAC) was formed by the KBH survivors to support them and their families through the process of healing and to enable them to experience greater social inclusion in community life.
The men of Kinchela Boys Home (KBH) at the tree near the site of KBH in Kinchela, NSW. The tree was a place of punishment and horror for the boys who were aged from 5 to 15. Photo: Peter Solness
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DONATE
KBH survivors have made a long journey. By supporting Project Compassion you can help deliver much needed help. www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion
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“Commitment to truth opens the way to lasting reconciliation” – Pope Benedict
WEEK FOUR: NGUYET
A CARING COMMUNITY NEW OPPORTUNITIES Through her classes with Quynh, Nguyet is studying maths, reading, writing and even learning crafts. Creative self-expression has opened a new world to Nguyet. She designs and sews clothes for her dolls, and makes delicate paper flowers, which she dreams of selling one day. The whole family has benefited. Her parents can go out to work knowing she will manage on her own. “We are very happy for her,” her mother Tim says.
Quynh is able to offer Nguyet lessons at home, teaching her maths, reading, writing and crafts, through the work of Caritas Australia’s partner CRS. Photos: Richard Wainwright
In her native Vietnam, Nguyet spent 14 years in isolation. Her severe disability restricted her movements, her access to her neighbourhood, and her chance of an education. Quynh, a local school teacher and Nguyet’s neighbour, was keenly aware of the need for proper support programs for disabled children and teenagers like Nguyet in their village.
Now, at last, she nurtures the hope that her child “can be independent, and build the future she wants.”
“To live as true children of God means to love our neighbour and to be close to those who are lonely and in difficulty” – Pope Francis
“The school doesn’t have enough facilities for children like her,” Quynh says. Nguyet’s life changed when Quynh introduced her to a Caritas sponsored support program which facilitates home schooling. Now, thanks to your help, she’s getting an education, learning new skills and in turn, is setting a positive example for her whole community.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE The Capacity Building for Parents Associations Supporting Children with Disabilities (CBPA) program is managed by Catholic Relief Services, a local partner of Caritas Australia in Vietnam. Before the program, parents of children living with disabilities were very reluctant to bring their children to join in public events. Now they are more confident, and can actively provide better care and education for their children.
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ACT
Want to support Project Compassion in 2017? Participate in Floritas and start a Vietnamese Flower making project in your school to raise valuable funds that support children with disabilities, like Nguyet!
As a young neighbour looks on admiringly, Nguyet shows her skill in making traditional Vietnamese paper flowers. She hopes to sell them at markets and shops one day.
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WEEK FIVE: SEMITI
STRONGER TOGETHER Caritas Australia is supporting and empowering Fijians who live in informal settlements. Through the People’s Community Network (PCN), Caritas is advocating successfully to improve the lives of those who poverty has made landless. “People in informal settlements have been living there for quite some time. So they start to believe that they are nobody, that they have no rights,” says Semiti, the National Director of PCN. Supported by Caritas Australia since 2009, PCN brings together informal settlements, enabling them to advocate to improve the community’s access to education, housing and employment. A lack of land ownership makes these crucial amenities difficult to access. PCN has also established Savings Groups across Fiji, with women in leadership roles. These groups encourage people in the community to make weekly savings so they can improve their lives. Caritas Australia is proud to support this network of communities as they work in solidarity and grow in resilience.
“Do unto others what you would have them do to you” – Matthew 7:12
Semiti, Director of the People’s Community Networks (PCN) outside an informal settlement. Photos: Richard Wainwright
Semiti, the National Director of PCN, grew up in an informal settlement himself and knows first-hand the challenges of feeling like a second class citizen. SEMITI’S STORY
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LEARN Learn more about Caritas Australia’s important work in informal settlements in Fiji. Visit www.caritas.org.au/semiti
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One thing that my past taught me is to give back to the community what I have learned. And to try and lift them up from their impoverished situation. I always tell them: I was once in your shoes. I was once a squatter, like you. I was once someone who had nothing. Our main role is to empower them so that they can believe in themselves, and move out of that situation.
WEEK SIX: ALOMA
OUR COMMON HOME, OUR FUTURE A few years ago, Aloma’s village in the Philippines was a scene of devastation – high winds and high seas battered a barren stretch of sand. In 2009, when a major typhoon raged, Aloma and her small children cowered while their home fell to shreds around them. But hope took root for the family in 2011, when Aloma became a participant in an Integrated Community Development Program (ICDP) run by the Socio Pastoral Action Center Foundation Inc. (SPACFI), a Caritas Australia partner. “I was so happy … I understood that the program would help the poor people in the village,” Aloma said. Now she is leading the way for her community by implementing sustainable disaster risk reduction practices.
CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME Through Disaster Risk management training, Aloma’s confidence has grown, as well as her awareness of the role she can play in caring for the land.
“Now, instead, we are planting the mangroves for our own protection. It is important to protect the environment. We are in a coastal area, and mangroves will protect us from a tsunami or flooding.”
IMPROVING THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY Inspired by Aloma’s leadership, the whole community now comes together to work in the mangrove nursery. “The community finds it enjoyable. It’s just like community bonding for them, going in this area, planting the mangroves,” Aloma says. Gazing out through the rows of mangroves, Aloma shares her dream. “My dream for my community is to continue what we are doing right now, so that the next generation will benefit from what we have started.”
“The greatest change in my life was to realise that the environment is very important. We grew up cutting down all the trees around us, including the mangroves … and using them for firewood,” Aloma says.
“Humanity has the ability to work together in building our common home.” – Pope Francis
Aloma and her family regularly work in the Mangrove Nursery.
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ACT Find out more about Caritas Australia’s work in weather damaged communities in the Philippines and how you can support our work. Visit www.caritas.org.au/learn/drr
As a member of the Disaster Risk Reduction Council, Aloma feels confident that her community are doing all they can to prepare for the future. Photos: Richard Wainwright
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CARITAS COMMUNITY
CARITAS KITCHEN IKAN SABOKO – BBQ FISH FROM TIMOR-LESTE INGREDIENTS Serves 4 • 3 shallots • 3 cloves of garlic • 2 red chillies • 1 teaspoon tamarind soaked in 60 ml water, or use tamarind paste • 1 tomato (medium) chopped • ½ teaspoon of salt • 3 bilimbi fruit (or 2 small lime wedges) • ½ to ¾ kg whole fish like red snapper or tilapia, cleaned and gutted, or 2 to 3 large white fish fillets • Banana leaves cut to a rectangle big enough to encase the fish • Handful of lemon basil leaves (daun kemangi) • Salt and white pepper to taste
Food tastes better when shared – especially when it’s shared with good friends for a good cause like Project Compassion. Caritas Kitchen is a simple and communal way to support people around the world. Visit www.caritas.org.au/caritaskitchen to set up your online event page where your guests can donate and RSVP. Then look out for your host pack in the mail and get ready to sit down to great food in great company. It’s traditional to eat fish on Fridays during Lent, but here’s a modern take on the custom that will feed your family and nourish your soul.
DIRECTIONS Pre: 15 min Cook: 30 min Ready in 45 min 1. Using a mortar and pestle or food processor, blend all the ingredients except the fish, banana leaves and basil until a smooth paste forms. 2. If using whole fish, make slits on both sides of the fish and spread evenly with the paste. If using fillets, spread them evenly with the paste.
TIP Ikan Saboko – BBQ Fish from Timor-Leste. Photo: Januario Soares
3. Place fish on the banana leaves and lay the lemon basil leaves on top. Fold into a parcel, securing both ends with toothpicks. 4. Barbecue over charcoal for about 10 to 15 minutes on each side, until leaves edges are charred. If after slowly opening the parcel, the fish is opaque and the flesh flakes easily with a fork – it is ready to eat.
If you can’t find banana leaves, use aluminium foil. Be sure to make small holes to let the steam out when barbecuing.
Thank you for supporting Project Compassion, your generosity is helping those most marginalised to lead lives of dignity and independence. Call 1800 024 413 to get your own donation box for home, school or office today!
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Working hand in hand with communities around the world
$1,000 can help a mother and three children with shelter, food, counselling and education in a domestic violence shelter for one month in Timor-Leste.
$75 can provide a family with one piglet and training on how to take care of the pig, allowing for the generation of a stable source of income in the Philippines.
$10 can provide one day’s worth of food for a woman staying in a shelter in Timor-Leste.
$2,000 can provide all of the tools and seedlings needed to rehabilitate mangroves, helping to protect five vulnerable communities from climate related disasters in the Philippines.
$300 can provide art supplies for one art healing workshop supporting First Australian communities to address their trauma in Australia.
$50 can provide a three-day first-aid course for one person to help protect families and neighbours during natural disasters in the Philippines.
Please give generously and support Project Compassion 1800 024 413  caritas.org.au #148 AUTUMN 2017 | 11
This Lent, you can create real and lasting change The life of a child with a disability can be extremely challenging. Especially for those also living in poverty. Nguyet spent 14 years isolated by her physical disability. Then she was introduced to a Caritas program that opened up her world forever. Now Nguyet’s mother is learning more about her daughter’s condition and her future is a lot brighter. Nguyet’s development relies on ongoing support from a local program funded by Caritas. Regular donations help us deliver long term solutions for families like Nguyet’s.
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