National Volunteer Week Shout Out
Did you know that over 6 million Australians generously give their time each year to not-for-profit organisations through volunteering? And that Australian’s volunteer over 700 million hours to support causes they feel passionate about?
This is an amazing effort which makes a huge contribution to our society and across the world in our role as global citizens. As part of National Volunteer Week, CARE Australia is giving our valued volunteers a huge shout out for their hard work and dedication. With their support, we are able to achieve so much more in the fight against poverty around the world.
So what do our volunteers look like? Meet Ben and Kevin who gave us a hand last Friday at Melbourne’s Federation Square for the Victorian Fair Trade Festival.
Our amazing volunteers Ben and Kevin at the Victorian Fair Trade Festival at Federation Square on 11 May 2012
WE-RISE: Helping women rise above hardship
By Kevin Hawkins, CARE Australia Development Education intern.
Hidaya Salum has led a difficult life.
Now divorced, and with no support from her ex-husband, the Tanzanian grandmother is the sole breadwinner in a struggling household. She supports one daughter and two grandchildren, but has difficulty feeding them. Malaria threatens the family’s health, while mental disability prevents her 12-year-old granddaughter from attending school.
‘I have a lot of problems. My house is poor, there is a shortage of food and we have poor healthcare,’ Hidaya Salum explains. ‘Sometimes I don’t have any money.’
Unfortunately Hidaya Salum’s story is a microcosm of the broader issues in East Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania.
Hidaya Salum is optimistic about her future as a member of CARE’s new food security project in Tanzania. Photo: Josh Estey/CARE
In many parts of these countries rural poverty is high, food insecurity is widespread and women lack social and economic support. Many farmers also lack the knowledge and resources needed to increase the productivity of their land, and adjust to the increasingly unpredictable climate.
In an effort to bring about positive long-lasting change, CARE has started the five-year Women’s Empowerment through Improved Resilience, Income and Food Security program (WE-RISE).
Chris Ham is doing Walk In Her Shoes with a difference! He’s walking his 10,000 steps a day as well as his extra pledges below. And on top of this he is our top individual fundraiser – on $1,770. Fantastic work Chris, thanks so much for your support!
Here’s an excerpt from the email Chris sent around to his friends and colleagues:
Chris Ham with his 15kgs of food, water, and firewood - that he is taking everywhere with his this week.
As you may be aware, Westpac is sponsoring the CARE Australia “Walk In Her Shoes” campaign, this campaign will draw attention to many women and children in developing countries who need to walk long distances every day for food, water and firewood, these woman and children do this day in, day out, not because they want to, but because they HAVE TO.
For various reason this is a cause very dear to my heart, so this year, I have decided to “Up the Ante” a little……
During the period 16 April to 22 April, I will be taking part in the “Walk In Her Shoes” campaign, and pledge to walk at least 10,000 steps per day…. HOWEVER….. I also pledge to the following:
1. I will be doing all of my walking (outside of my house) with 15kgs of food, water, and firewood.
2. I will do all my normal weekly chores (mowing the lawn, shopping etc) with my food, water, and firewood. Read more…
We’ve loved reading Jormanee’s updates on her fundraising page – she’s found some very creative and insightful ways of doing her 10,000 steps, from running with her dog, walking with a backpack to understand how the women and girls in developing countries feel when carrying water, taking the steps instead of the lift and walking around her desk at work! And, she’s raised $1,380, which is amazing. Thanks Jormanee!
"Even my dog is hyped up for the challenge. She's one of my biggest fans!" says Jormanee
What inspired you to do the Walk In Her Shoes challenge?
I wanted to help make a difference to this world, especially to help women and children who are mostly at disadvantage in society. We at times are self absorbed, and forget to look at the bigger picture, so doing the walk and raising funds was the least that I could do.
Did you set a fundraising target?
I did, starting with $1,000 but I’ve now increased it to $1,500.
How have you managed to get support from your family and friends?
I’ve brought it up during dinner and lunch as well as talking to people at work, reminding them via emails and Facebook and telling them to check out my blog. I also dragged my very reluctant partner out of bed one morning and forced him to do a test walk with me for moral support! Read more…
Driving Miss Alice
By Laura Hill, CARE Australia’s Media Advisor.
Alice Ronald Phiri dreams of owning a car.
‘I am fascinated by cars and I am so happy when I am riding in one that I want one of my own. I don’t know how much they cost, but I will try to buy one.’
A group of women sitting around Alice nod enthusiastically and smile with encouragement. They are part of a CARE Village Savings and Loan (VS&L) group in Malawi that began in 2004. Each week the women attend a meeting and contribute a small amount of their savings to a fund from which they can eventually borrow.
Had Alice, 56, said her dream out loud seven years ago, she would have been laughed at and made to feel a fool. ‘I was very poor before I joined the VS&L,’ explains Alice. ‘I was having so much difficulty providing for my family. I could not grow enough food to feed my children and I struggled to get access to money.’
Alice is part of a CARE Village Savings and Loan group that has changed her life. Image: Josh Estey/CARE
‘People pitied us because we couldn’t grow enough food to feed our five children and two grandchildren,’ says Alice. She and her husband have been looking after their two grandchildren since their daughter died of HIV in 2002.
‘Our life was so miserable. Year after year I could not grow enough food for my family. Often we only ate one meal a day, which was usually watered down maize porridge. We could not afford meat or fish and vegetables such as okra and pumpkin leaves were the only option’ says Alice. Read more…
Walk in Susan’s shoes
By Amelia Poxon, CARE Australia Communications Coordinator
Picture a family of seven, living in a small thatch-roofed hut in drought-prone southern Zimbabwe. The only access they have to water is a river, which is six kilometres away.
This is the problem that 52-year-old Susan Magura used to battle.
Her solution? Walking for four and a half hours while carting heavy water containers – every single day.
Twice a day, Susan would carry three 20 litre containers in a wheel barrow, with her 22-year-old daughter helping to lug a container by herself.
Susan used to walk for four and a half hours every day to collect water for her family, until CARE repaired a broken borehole near her home.
After this long and difficult walk, Susan could only collect 160 litres of water for her family to use each day.
And even then, the water was not safe for them to drink.
‘When you looked at the water from the river it was clear, but most of the time we had water-borne diseases and stomach aches,’ Susan says.
If the river was dry, or she couldn’t walk the distance one day, Susan was reduced to digging a pit in the riverbed to collect dirty ground water to drink. Read more…
Walk In Her Shoes Snapshots #2
CARE Australia Board Director Dr Peta Seaton took CARE’s Walk In Her Shoes challenge to the streets of Sydney last Friday. With support from Chris Eccles, Director General of NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet - the group walked through the Sydney CBD raising awareness of the plight of women and girls in developing countries as well as raising some dollars along the way! CARE Australia Board Director Louise Watson and daughter Antonia Watson, who is leading The Women’s College Walk In Her Shoes team were also among those who joined the walk. Great work WIHS team!
"We did it!! 10,000 steps per day over the past 7 days together with our 6 month old daughter in the pram. We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our family and friends. We started with a target of $250 which we moved up and up to $1,000 far exceeding our expectations having raised $1,070!!" Natasha Markovic
"As a working woman and mother in Australia, I understand how lucky we are to live in a country that values education for women, equal rights before the law, rights to marry as we choose and increasingly pay equity. I also understand how lucky we are as a country to be free to live, and learn, and work as we please, most of us without the chains of poverty keeping us from fulfilling our potential." Federal Member for Petrie, Yvette D'Ath
It’s been a great week and we’ve seen a lot of Newcastle. "We’ve also managed to raise over $1,100 dollars for CARE! Thank you to all those who have supported us by donating, walking with us or wishing us well" Lani, Nick and Bella from Bella's Big Walk - http://bellasbigwalk.com/blog/
"I did finish off walking 10,000 steps yesterday and also today! I'm starting to really feel it - but its great and am sure I will be much fitter by the end of the week - didn't realise how many hills we had in our area!" Mika
"This struck me as one way I could help a great cause, along with giving me a personal achievement target, and it won't hurt my fitness either! The realisation that so many people have so much difficulty in accessing things like water really encourages you to do something. Many aspects of life follow from this one improvement." John Harris
Walk In Her Shoes with Yvette D’Ath MP
We were lucky to have Federal Member for Petrie Yvette D’Ath taking part in the Walk In Her Shoes challenge 2012. Thanks so much Yvette – we’re so impressed that you managed to do this with your busy schedule!
I’m not traditionally a morning walker and the parliamentary sitting day can often be long enough without adding a 6am start to the mix, but these past few days I’ve been making the trek to Capital Hill for CARE Australia’s Walk In Her Shoes campaign. For the week of March 12 – 18 I’ve committed to walking 10,000 steps per day to raise awareness for women and girls doing it tough in developing countries. It’s worth the early start this week if it means making even the smallest difference in the lives of women and girls around the world.
It is day three of the Walk In Her Shoes campaign and since Monday I’ve clocked 28,167 steps. 6,592 of those steps happened today before 10am.
Yvette D'Ath MP, Federal Member for Petrie, doing laps around Parliament on day three of Walk In Her Shoes
As a working woman and mother in Australia, I understand how lucky we are to live in a country that values education for women, equal rights before the law, rights to marry as we choose and increasingly pay equity. I also understand how lucky we are as a country to be free to live, and learn, and work as we please, most of us without the chains of poverty keeping us from fulfilling our potential. Read more…
Crazy capers at City of Gosnells Leisure World
The team from City of Gosnells Leisure World have a week of crazy capers planned for the Walk In Her Shoes challenge this week. The enthusiastic team have added a sense of fun to the challenge and will complete their steps in an unconventional style with different activities planned for each day of the challenge including: an Awareness Day at Leisure World, 10,000 litre bucket relay, running on the treadmills in morph suits, a walk from Leisure World to City of Gosnells Civic Centre, dress up as your hero day at Leisure World, 3 legged competition and walking 10,000 steps in the pool.
The team at City of Gosnells Leisure World have planned some fun activities for Walk In Her Shoes this week, including...
Kate Roche has raised over $3,500 for Walk In Her Shoes!
What inspired you to do the Walk In Her Shoes challenge?
I read about the Walk In Her Shoes challenge and felt compelled to act. I suppose because I have three beautiful young girls myself. If they are thirsty, they just walk a few steps to our kitchen tap to grab a glass of water or if they’re hungry, they just open the fridge. It is truly sad to know that girls in the world’s poorest communities who are the same ages as my own have a very different story to tell when it comes to getting the basics in life…food and water!
Kate Roche is walking 10,000 steps every day this week as part of CARE's Walk In Her Shoes challenge. She has already raised over $3,000 to support CARE's work empowering women and girls to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty.
Had you heard of CARE before signing up for Walk In Her Shoes?
Yes I had heard about CARE before. I knew it was an aid organisation but didn’t realise it had a special focus on investing in women and girls to help them overcome poverty. I definitely think it’s this focus that helped inspire me to participate in the Walk In Her Shoes challenge. Read more…
Snapshots from Walk In Her Shoes 2012
"I have been documenting my 10,000 steps on facebook daily with photos. I thought the walk was a lovely way for me to connect with my city, the landscape and people in a new way. Its been a beautiful journey.." Tania Fox http://walkinhershoes.org.au/tania_fox
- “I made these shoes on Sunday (was a little excited!) & used no-name brand canvas with some pretty permanent markers, some flower fabric & shiny ribbons! I’ll be wearing them all week – mainly so that all my friends can see how important this event, and the work that your charity does, is to me.” Amelia Rowland http://walkinhershoes.org.au/amelia_rowland
- Megan Chisholm and the Mega Stars team walking on Day 1 of the challenge, around Lake Albert in Wagga Wagga
An inspiring note from the Southern Belles team
We received this beautiful email from Nicky from the Southern Belles team, from The Body Shop At Home. Nicky’s story, and her story of her friend Allison and the rest of the team, was so inspiring that we just had to share it with you! Thanks Nicky!
My team leader, Sara, suggested I drop you a line about me and my friend Allison so here goes:
I am an Independent Consultant with The Body Shop At Home’s Southern Belles team. I first heard about the CARE Walk In Her Shoes campaign at our Christmas catalogue launch and again at our NSW January launch where a lovely young lady from CARE came to tell us all about how we could get involved. The campaign really struck a chord with me.
Nicky (right) is taking part in the Walk In Her Shoes challenge, along with hundreds of other consultants from The Body Shop At Home. Her friend, Allison (left), has also joined the team and together they've come up with some interesting and creative ways to raise funds.
I was born in the tiny, African country of Malawi where there are many women and girls who spend their lives fetching and carrying for their families. I went back to Malawi three years ago with my own family and was struck by how much lives were improved by water pumps, usually shared between several villages, but easily accessible and so much safer compared to the miles of walking they used to have to do to reach often dirty water holes or crocodile infested rivers. Read more…
Japan: A leading actor of recovery in Otsuchi
Around 9am on the first Sunday of October 2011, pickup trucks and minivans gathered at the parking space of the old pachinko, a Japanese pinball parlor in Otsuchi town. The back of the trucks were full of local vegetables, fish, hand-made sweets, tofu, and bean paste. It was the first day of the ‘pickup truck market in Otsuchi,’ which is now held twice a month.
After a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on 11 March, CARE Japan has helped to set up this market and supports it by providing shades, tables and benches. And the famous local Kashiwazaki noodle company is serving 300 bowls of ramen noodle for free to mark the reopening of business.
In Otsuchi, a 'pick-up truck market' is held twice a month, allowing local business owners who lost their shops in the 2011 disaster to continue trading. Image: CARE
At this impromptu market, commonly known as ‘pickup truck markets,’ farm producers and shopkeepers drive their own pickup trucks to the parking space, and the back of the trucks becomes their own shop. The founders of the Otsuchi markets were two local retail store owners of seafood products, who were affected by the tsunami themselves: Mr. Shoetsu and Mrs. Keiko Mukushi. Four months after the tsunami, they wanted to build “a place where both retailers and shoppers get revitalized,” with a hope that this place will connect people who lost their own shops, farmers who lost channels to sell their products and local residents needing places to buy groceries. Read more…
We enjoyed catching up with the wonderful Laura Zammit this week, who has raised $660 and her team The Sparks has raised over $2,200! Thanks Laura and team for your fantastic efforts.
What inspired you to do the Walk In Her Shoes challenge?
I was inspired by the video at The Body Shop At Home January conference and the fact that it was something for the whole team.
I often visit Fiji as my partner has family there. There is poverty there that I have seen firsthand and it changes you. The thing is that you can easily turn on a tap there and never get sick from the water. So knowing there are children and women who do this every day is just too heart breaking to sit back and not do anything.
Laura Zammit, along with hundreds of other The Body Shop At Home consultants, is taking part in CARE's Walk In Her Shoes challenge.
What inspired you to join CARE’s Walk In Her Shoes challenge?
I saw the campaign and thought it was clever so I signed up immediately. I’m a Phd student and casual academic at UTS, so I study and teach in global politics and am very aware that women and girls are disproportionately affected by poverty.
Emma Cannen is taking part in CARE's Walk In Her Shoes challenge to raise funds and awareness for the millions of women and girls in developing countires who walk long distances every day to collect life's essential items.
Most people would agree this is unacceptable but I’m always surprised at how lots of my students and your everyday average person thinks I am being a feminist kill joy when I raise the issue! However, then I throw some statistics at them and they are usually more sympathetic! For example, “women and girls are still 70 per cent of the world’s poor and the majority of the world’s refugees. Girls and women comprise almost 80 per cent of displaced persons of the Third world/South in Africa, Asia and Latin America and earn less than one-tenth of its income. Women own less than one-hundredth of the world’s property, while they are the hardest hit by the effects of war, domestic violence and religious persecution”* So this campaign seemed like a practical way to get the message out there and raise money for women and girls in the developing world at the same time. Read more…
