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

Event volunteers Ben Wilson and Kevin Hawkins gave up their Friday morning sleep in, and lent CARE a hand instead, setting up our stand and spreading the CARE word. Throughout the day, Ben and Kevin jumped into action talking about international development issues and the important role women and girls play in lifting themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty. It was a big day, and with the time and energy Ben and Kevin volunteered, we were able to have many more conversations about Australia’s aid program and what it’s doing to help people lift themselves out of poverty through initiatives like making trade fairer for farmers in developing countries.

This is just one of the many ways volunteers help us do our work. Volunteering with CARE Australia is a great way to begin a career in international development or humanitarian aid, and to put your existing skills to use in helping some of the poorest communities in the world. It’s also a great way to connect with your own community, and improve the lives of those around you. Not to mention the meaningful difference you can make beyond your own backyard.

CARE Australia is about to launch an event volunteer program. If you are interested in becoming an event volunteer with us, you can express an interest by dropping us a line at info@care.org.au

You can also become a fan of CARE’s Facebook page where you can catch all our callouts for volunteers.

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).

WE-RISE will work with rural women who are chronically food insecure, who too often don’t know where their next meal is coming from, or how they are going to feed their families.

By working with women and other vulnerable members of the community, offering them training and support to improve farming practices, helping connect them with markets to sell their produce at fair prices, and helping farmers better prepare for environmental shocks like drought, food security in the region can be improved.

But food insecurity isn’t just about boosting farming practices. If improvements are to be sustainable, the choices women can make in their own lives, and the role women play in their family and community, must increase. To help bring about this change, WE-RISE will challenge negative attitudes and restrictive gender roles which continue to limit the role of women in these communities.  In breaking down these barriers, women will be empowered to participate in economic and social activities,  have greater chance of claiming leadership roles and ensure  their voice is heard.

WE-RISE offers great hope for Hidaya Salum and her family. They will be just one of over 40,000 households CARE will work with across Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania.

Hidaya Salum is optimistic that this program can significantly improve her life. If she can access a loan, for instance, she will be able afford to grow more crops and feed her family.

‘Due to the long dry season this year I expect a low yield. But I expect to borrow money for farming activities and to buy food,’ she explains.

Having enough food on the plate, however, is just the beginning.

Like CARE, Hidaya Salum hopes that WE-RISE can achieve long-term solutions. She dreams of replacing her leaky grass roof with a corrugated iron one, and living in a fully-furnished new house.

Read about the WE-RISE progam in Malawi and find out more about CARE’s work in Malawi.

Read about the WE-RISE program in Tanzania.

This five-year program is part of the Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme, with funding from AusAID.

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.

Chris really is taking his 15kgs of food, water and firewood everywhere with him. Here he is doing his shopping!

3.   I normally walk 5 to 6 kms each evening, weather permitting.    During this week I will do my normal walk (with my food, water, and firewood.) Rain, Hail or Shine…..NO EXCUSES……

4.   I will not be more than 10 feet away from my food, water, and firewood at any time during the week – 24 x 7.   (This includes work).

And some updates from the week of walking:

Day 1 went well, a few strange looks on the bus, but this is after all Sydney, so as long as you have clothes on, not much will be said.

Wet, Wet, Wet….. That’s the only word to describe Day 2. The rain REALLY started pouring down on the way home, however as per my pledge (Rain, Hail or Shine) I still managed to get my walk in.

Day 3, started off well (with buckets of rain), the pack is settling in nicely, and I don’t even know I have it on sometimes (apologies to those behind me in line for coffee).

Day 4, the rain started to subside in Sydney (Yay), and the weather ended up being nice and cool and crisp…. The ideal for a BIG walk.

Day 5 (Fri) started off very strange.   Got on the bus, dumped my pack in the luggage rack and sat down on the nearest seat (within the 10 feet radius of course).   The guy opposite me, gave “A Snort” picked up all his stuff and move seats .   All I could do was smile politely .

Day 6 started off great with a walk up to Cherrybrook shops for my morning coffee, then a quick 10km’s into Castle Towers, popped in to see “The Boys in Blue” on my way home, and then back to Cherrybrook in the evening, all up the biggest day with over 20km’s walked and 29,181 steps.   My back is starting to look a little like I’ve been whipped, with several cuts and scars around my hip area, but hey it’s still easier than what some people have…..

Visit Chris Ham’s fundraising page or the Westpac Walk In Her Shoes website.

"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!

Are you looking forward to the walk?
I’m very excited about the walk. I’ve been doing a couple of test-runs on my usual 4.5km route through the neighbourhood. I also did a 10km walk over the Easter long weekend.  I listened to music to distract my mind from the pain and distance, and my legs felt like jelly by the end but I managed to do 12,929 steps over the course.

Jormanee says her iPod has been her best friend on her walks/runs!

How are you planning to walk your 10,000 steps a day?
In addition to walking from the train station to work, I’ll also be doing some running and walking after work. My dog loves her walks and when I get home from work she is always waiting and ready to bounce out the door, into the streets so I’ll bring her along too.

If you could walk 10,000 steps anywhere the in the world where would it be?
As I’ve already been to some parts of Europe, The Gulf countries and Asia, I would love to visit the outback of Canada and USA.

For more information visit Jormanee’s page or the Westpac Walk In Her Shoes site

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.

Nowadays, her dreams don’t seem so ridiculous.  As the chairwoman of her VS&L, Alice is seen by the women in her group as an inspiration.  Outside the group Alice is a shining example of how when equipped with the proper skills and resources, women have the power to help their family and community escape poverty.

‘As soon as I joined CARE’s VS&L group I started to benefit.  I was taught basic arithmetic and learnt about financial literacy,’ says Alice.

‘I am grateful that my husband supported my involvement in the group,’ adds Alice.  ‘Knowledge is power and soon after joining the group I began to know more about money and budgeting than my husband.  With his support I started to make household decisions such as what we spent our money on and when. This gave me the confidence to take my first loan.’

 Alice took out a $40 loan from the group to buy a bag of fertiliser for her plot of land, which she grew maize and tobacco from.  At harvest time Alice realised that for the first time in years, her maize harvest was enough to feed her family for the coming year.

‘At the end of each year, we share out the money saved by the VS&L group,’ explains Alice.  ‘By the end of the fourth year I had saved over $110 and when it was time to share out the savings I received another $160. I could hardly believe my eyes.’

‘CARE’s VS&L program has changed my life.  I can honestly say that I no longer have any big problems.  I am able to feed my family, drink tea with milk, earn an income from selling surplus food and send my children to secondary school,’ adds Alice.

Alice hopes that her eldest son will finish his secondary education.  ‘I was hopeless before CARE came to our village, but now I have many hopes and dreams for the future.  I want all my children to gain an education so that they don’t have to rely on the land to survive. I also want to build a bigger, better house for my family and set up a shop to sell surplus food I grow from my plot of land.’

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.

‘It’s hard to comprehend, but there’s nothing you can do and there’s nothing to help your children when they are sick because you have no resources.’

‘Many people in my community would get sick,’ she says.

Last year, CARE repaired a broken borehole near Susan’s home and she now has an abundance of safe, clean water. It is a resource that the community is proud to own and maintain themselves.

Andrew Madzore is the secretary of the committee that maintains the borehole that Susan and 2,400 other people access every day.

‘We laid down some rules to look after the borehole,’ he explains. ‘We ask people to use it properly and keep its durability. After being given such a nice thing, if we came back tomorrow to see it is broken it would be very sad.  We want to make sure that its lifespan is long.’

Andrew is proud of the difference that this borehole has had on his family and his community, and is passionate about maintaining it for prolonged use in the future.

Andrew Madzore is secretary of the committee that maintains the borehole, and is proud of the difference it's has had on the community.

‘When the borehole was not working well, the situation was horrible. The borehole serves 14 villages, so when it didn’t work everyone had to run around looking for other sources of water. We had problems with diseases from drinking from unprotected sources. Especially the kids, they would get water from the river and they would encounter bad problems.’

Thankfully, that is unlikely to happen here again, as the borehole should work seamlessly for at least five years before needing repair work. When it does require maintenance, the committee is able to complete many tasks themselves and the fees paid by those who break the community’s borehole rules will help to pay for any additional parts or labour costs.

The borehole committee has played a part in improving another fundamental part of the community – gender equality. Of the seven members, four are women and the group is encouraged to include and promote the concerns of women in the broader community.

After learning about gender equality through the committee training, collecting water is now a shared responsibility in Andrew’s home, which he explains is filled with his three boys and loving wife.

‘My wife is a teacher at the secondary school, so we normally come here in the morning together to get water and again in the afternoon,’ he says.

For Susan, the committee is ensuring that she spends less time walking, and less time worrying about her children being sick.

‘I am very happy now there is safe water at the borehole. As a community, we are also learning how to look after it. We also know how to pump the water and how not to contaminate the water.’

‘I hope that my children can grow up in good health so that they can perform well in school and appreciate the work that CARE has done for their community.’

Sign up to Walk In Her Shoes.

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

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.

Sadly on a global scale we are quite unique. Women in every part of the world continue to be marginalised across cultures, in education, and before the courts, while poverty still disproportionately affects women and girls who make up 60 per cent of the 1.4 billion people currently living in poverty.

For millions of women, daily priorities include finding adequate shelter, medical treatment for themselves and their families, and finding a safe place to stay. Millions walk over six kilometres a day for even the most basic necessities such as food, water and firewood, leaving  them little time left for school, accessing health services and earning an income.

In 2011, CARE assisted 122 million people across 84 countries through 1015 poverty-fighting projects.

With a worldwide staff of more than 11,000 people who are fighting poverty on the front line and seeking to improve the living conditions of women and girls globally, I am – on a much smaller scale – committing some of my time and resources to try and assist their cause.

I believe that given the opportunity, we can help women break the cycle of poverty and live prosperous lives, and I believe that even the smallest act of kindness can make a lasting difference.

Visit Yvette D’Ath’s Walk In Her Shoes page

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.

Did you set a fundraising target?

My personal target was set at $1,500 so I am absolutely thrilled to have doubled that. So far!

How have you managed to get support from your family and friends?

I just sent email after email after email to family and friends! I also attached the Walk In Her Shoes video hoping that people would spend a couple of minutes watching it and realise what a very needy cause it is. And a couple of weeks into my campaign, I sent out a “Thank You” email to everyone, whether they had donated or not, and that seemed to have triggered people’s memories about the whole thing so I received another whole round of donations!

Are you looking forward to the walk?

Yes I am really looking forward to the walk. My sister lives interstate so I have planned a trip to go and spend some time with her during the challenge. She will just have to come on my walks with me…it will give us the opportunity to catch up and get fit at the same time!

How are you planning to walk your 10,000 steps a day?

I’m a busy mum with four young children so I should reach 10,000 steps if I go for a nice long walk every day as well as carry on with my normal daily routine.

If you could walk 10,000 steps anywhere the in the world where would it be?

We have a property in country NSW. Hands down, that is easily the place where I would walk my 10,000 steps if I could. I reckon I could walk 20,000 steps there!

Visit Kate Roche’s page on the Walk In Her Shoes website