Electronic Scribbles

The Good Traveller: Why do we travel?

2008-02-11T15:10:00.000+11:00

What makes us want to go beyond the places that we know? Explorers, conquerors, pilgrims and tourists are united in one thing - the travel bug.

One reason would be the transformative nature of travel; which is a way of saying that travel changes stuff. It changes the traveller firstly, (or rather it has the potential too). It can broaden perspectives, encourage new relationships and inspire people to envision other ways of doing things.

As influential English writer G.K.Chesterton noted: ‘The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.” The traveller often returns changed and looking to change.

However the change doesn’t stop there. The communities visited can often undergo massive changes if enough people visit. Travel can stimulate the growth of whole new industries, affect eco-systems and alter existing cultural dynamics.

Such changes can be positive but all too often they are exploitative. New markets crush traditional economies, an eco-system starts to collapse under the weight of visitors and the incoming revenue benefits a select minority.

It is because travel can either be empowering or oppressive (if not a complex intertwinement of both) that Caritas has come up with an Ethical Pilgrim’s Guide.

While this has been written with the young people coming to World Youth Day in mind, it can equally be used by all travellers who want to travel in a way that is ecologically and culturally sensitive.

Not only that, the guide is filled with tips on how to bring the changes you make on the journey back into your everyday life, as what the world really needs is Ethical People, not just Ethical Pilgrims.

Resolutions for a new world

2008-01-11T11:24:00.000+11:00

East Timorese school children supported by a Caritas Australia program enjoy a nutritious meal.

New Years resolutions can be a bit like long weekends. They’re great while they last, but their life expectancy can be around three days.

This means that for three days Australians are eating less, exercising more, stubbing their smokes, learning French, cycling to work and spending more time with the kids.

While it’s easy to be cynical about New Years resolutions, I think there is enormous merit in reviewing one’s life and making a commitment to change. Remember Socrates’ curt surmise that the unexamined life is not worth living. A touch harsh perhaps, but it is important to take stock. And we certainly don’t have to wait to the end of the year to do that.

The resolutions we make say a lot about who we are, our values and what we think is worth aspiring to. A country where the seemingly most popular resolution is to lose weight says something about Australia today.

This year (apart from the usual resolution of keeping to my resolutions) I want to re-evaluate my lifestyle. In a recent address the Pope called for people in wealthier countries to adopt a soberer lifestyle. He’s got a point, and it’s not one about booze.

Rather what he is getting at is that people need to live lives that are friendly to environment and to the people of the world. This is about slipping out of the fast lane, with its emphasis on consumerism and consumption, and freeing up some cash to give to people who need it. With people starving in the world, a good resolution might be to support development agencies like Caritas to help people put on weight.

Such resolutions, orientated in gratitude for the good things in life and mindful of what others don’t have, are always worth making and sticking to. Perhaps this year we can all give a little more to those with little and make our usual ‘long weekend’ last a year?

World AIDS Day - taking action

2007-11-30T16:18:00.000+11:00

Tomorrow, December 1, is World AIDS Day.

To commemorate this day Cath, the convener of the HIV/AIDS working group at Caritas, led a simple, quietly powerful liturgy. Around a single large candle, tea-light candles formed the shape of the red ribbon; a symbol of solidarity with those infected with, or affected by the virus.

Each tea-light candle however represented a million people who are HIV positive in the world. As each little candle flared in the darkened room, so a million suffering victims were acknowledged, remembered, made present in our little office.

As the warm light spread, we were also reminded of how the Pandemic continues to spread throughout the world. Indeed in Sub-Sahara alone, 6,300 people die each day. Imagine if the Boxing Day Tsunami occurred every six weeks and you get some idea of the scale of this tragedy.

It is in a spirit of solidarity that Caritas will be present at The Big Red Challenge, an event hosted by the Broken Bay Diocese this Sunday with the Cross, Icon and Message Stick. (http://www.wydbrokenbay.org.au/bigredchallenge.php),

Together young people will explore how the HIV/AIDS pandemic is complex, heart breaking and potentially overwhelming. However it is also an expression of the courageous decision not to be overwhelmed, but to take action.

2007-11-23T14:53:00.000+11:00

Child from Santa Teresa - a community visited by the pilgrimage.

Today I turned 23 years old - and birthdays and anniversaries have been on my mind of late.

Not too long ago on The Great Crossing Pilgrimage, we visited Blatherskite Park outside Alice Springs. This was to mark 21 years since Pope John Paul’s historic address to Indigenous (and ultimately to all) Australians at the site.

As the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council noted, there are four really core points that came from this speech.

He challenged all Australians to preserve Indigenous cultures and to work for an inclusive multicultural Australia.

He called for people to search for similarities and points of agreement between Indigenous and Christian traditions.

He praised the way Indigenous Australians cared for the land and challenged non-Indigenous Australians to learn from this

And finally, by acknowledging past hurts, he confronted us as a nation to work for an authentic reconciliation.

It was something really special to travel to where this speech was first given. This was one of the experiences that around fifty young people had on The Great Crossing Pilgrimage.

Join in a virtual pilgrimage!
To allow more people to share this experience, Caritas has developed an interactive Flash animation that allows you to step on board the Ghan. Through the experiences of four young people, you can go to the heart of the social justice issues that affect Australia at this election time.

Bangladesh cyclone: how aid and development work together

2007-11-20T13:54:00.000+11:00

Caritas Australia is an Aid and Development Agency. On the one hand we provide effective humanitarian relief following natural disasters and conflict (aid). While on the other hand we work with our regional and international partners to address the root causes of poverty and create long-term change (development).

However it is unwise to see these two responses as totally distinct or separate.

Recently a storm called Cyclone Sidr tore through parts of Bangladesh. News bulletins can be a bit like sports reports sometimes; it’s the figures that matter. In this tragedy it is estimated that more than 2,200 people have been killed so far. However human suffering can never be reduced to a numbers game.

Caritas Australia has already responded. Rather than having offices or bureaus overseas (that are expensive to staff and run) we mainly work through local networks already on the ground. This means that we are already delivering emergency food rations through our partner organisation, Caritas Bangladesh. Moreover, because Bangladesh has regularly been affected to cyclones and flooding, Caritas has supported the construction of emergency shelters so people can gather safely. These structures have been attributed with saving thousands of lives during Cyclone Sidr.

Here we see the interplay between aid and development. As Jack de Groot, CEO of Caritas Australia noted, “Our long term involvement and presence on the ground in many of the affected communities (development) ensures we can make an efficient and effective response (aid) when disasters occur.”

These two prongs of Caritas works are united by our commitment to work with everyone, particularly the poorest of the poor.

Caritas is accepting donations to help the people affected by thh Bangladesh cyclones. Donate here.

Justice - it's not meant to be easy

2007-11-01T15:37:00.000+11:00

Recently the Federal government announced that the number of African refugees allowed to enter Australia would be cut. Instead the Government would focus on Burmese and Iraqi refugees, increasing the quota of these two groups.

The government take is this: there are limited places, and priority should be given to our region (Burma) and where there is an obvious need (Iraq).

However in this election period (indeed in every period) it is always necessary to look a little bit closer. The first thing that needs looking at is the context of this decision; what was going on when this change was made.

In recent years the media have picked up on several violent incidents involving young African men, mainly from Sudan. The Immigration Minister has said that the Sudanese community in particular are having trouble fitting in. His logic is that by cutting the number of African entrants, the existing social problems can be sorted out first.

However I would offer three brief thoughts. The first is that the country of Sudan has hundreds of ethnic and tribal divisions and language groups. This means talk of ‘The Sudanese community’ (as if they are one bloc), is somewhat simplistic. Not to mention that different refugees have different experiences and different levels of access to support networks.

Secondly, there appears to be a danger that this change is being directed by anecdotal evidence. A simple rule would be that if a big decision is being made, there needs to be a big amount of research done beforehand. Are African communities struggling to fit in? If so, why might that be - since others have made the transition? What can we do to support refugees? It’s not enough just to hear reports on the news and then instigate big changes.

And finally there appears to be an a la carte approach to a humanitarian policy. “I’ll have an entrée size from here, a main from there, but none of that thank you”. Accepting refugees from war-torn places, many who have spent years displaced and unable to receive formal education, then transplanting them to a totally different culture, is not going to be easy.

However, do we want a policy that looks for what is easy rather than what is humane and just? It would be easier not to provide the services that support refugees to make such a difficult transition, easier not to do the research to understand the complexities, easier just to limit, cut and choose.

Justice is about many things. This election period is a time to reflect that easy is rarely one of them.

Federal election - November 24

2007-10-29T10:44:00.000+11:00

Election time: a time for kissing babies, taking polls and talking pollies. It’s also a time for thinking about voting. Every election comes with an enormous sense of responsibility for voters. Paul Keating had a point when he said, ‘If you change the government, you change the country’.
Mind you countries are too diverse and complex to be considered the sum of their government, but the leading party certainly helps to define a nation.

Recently on the The Great Crossing Ghan Pilgrimage, part of the lead up for WYD, I had the privilege to travel with a group of young people across Australia. It was a journey that gave time out to ask who we are as individuals and also what kind of country we are contributing too.

At Darwin we visited Nungalinya College and discussed about the Northern Territory Intervention. In Tenant Creek we saw a country beyond the coastal cities. Around Alice Springs we visited Indigenous communities and reflected that Reconciliation is not an event but a daily decision. And outside the defunct Woomera detention centre we asked about how welcoming we are as a nation.

These are snapshots, part of a montage of images that make up an image of ‘who Australia is’.

For me this election time is an opportunity to reflect on who Australia could be and to vote on the party that may best realise this.

To the 'red centre' and back!

2007-10-21T06:17:00.000+10:00

The pilgrimage brings the Cross and Icon to the Katherine community, NT.

It is amazing to think that it has been over a week since the end of The Great Crossing Pilgrimage. I’m still not sure how I got a job where part of my work is to travel with such an exciting group of young people and to explore with them the issues that challenge Australia at this time.

Reconciliation, the Northern Territory Intervention, refugees, remote communities, inequality and affluence were all explored by the pilgrims. However rather than talk on behalf of the group I’m looking forward to letting some of the pilgrims speak through their own experiences.

At present we are developing an interactive component for our website, which will invite people to experience this journey through the eyes of four young people. Their journey through the heart of Australia will be an opportunity for other young people to go straight to the heart of the issues that confront us.

Watch this space!

A journey into the heart of Australia

2007-09-27T11:11:00.000+10:00

The Pilgrimage will visit Indigenous communities in central Australia.

I’ve started packing my bags for an important trip today, which will cross through the heart of Australia - in more ways than one - as we travel from the Northern Territory to South Australia.

The Great Crossing Pilgrimage is a unique forum that cuts across our continent and invites young people to enter into the histories and present realities of the people of Australia.

Around 50 young pilgrims from diverse backgrounds will undertake the journey, leaving Darwin and travelling through the ‘red centre’ to Port Pirie. From the famous Ghan railway to the wire fences at Woomera, pilgrims will explore social justice issues in an Australian context.

Part of Caritas Australia’s work with young people and social justice is to allow them to candidly reflect on the role that faith and justice can play in creating a society that is sensitive to the past, while hopeful for the future.

As an aid and development agency, Caritas Australia works with Indigenous Australians in some of the areas that pilgrims will visit. With regular reports in the media on the hopelessness of Indigenous suffering, such communities are a reminder of the many Indigenous organisations that are doing a great job in creatively challenging the injustices they face.

The Pilgrimage has been developed by the Sydney World Youth Day 2008 Office, in conjunction with Darwin and Port Pirie dioceses with the generous support of local communities. Learn more about World Youth Day 2008.

The Great Crossing Pilgrimage will take place 5-11 October - watch this space for interactive coverage of the event when I return!

Scared Sacred

2007-09-17T12:10:00.000+10:00

I watched a film recently which shows human beauty at its finest – rising above some of the worst horrors of the modern world.

Scared Sacred is a documentary journey into the ‘ground-zeros’ of the world, dark and dangerous places where the frailty of human life is on display every day.
It digs beneath the surface in places such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bosnia, Hiroshima, Bhopal, Israel and Palestine to find a glimpse of the sacred. The strength of this movie is its uncanny ability to give you a connection to the people whose stories it tells. Scared Sacred shows how all the world is connected in humanity - and as people, how we are but one.

The DVD includes a guided meditation, director’s commentary and an interactive map of locations it visits. Click here for more information.

APEC – a big deal

2007-08-30T12:36:00.000+10:00

If you work near the Sydney CBD it would be difficult not to be aware of the approaching APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum. Yesterday it was the scream of F/A-18 fighter jets exercising above. Today walking across the Harbor Bridge, a security vessel cut across the water below.

Then there is the buzz of people planning to respond to APEC. Film nights are on, forums are being flagged, protests are being planned and security strategies are being touted. The APEC forum is a big deal.

It's not surprising, considering that the 21 APEC member states represent over 50% of the global economy. Or that politicians such as the U.S. President George W. Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China's President Hu Jintao will be gathered together with other world leaders.

If, like me, you are trying to get your head around the whole ‘APEC thing’, you might be interested in a new short film that is about to be released called 'Squeezed’. The film explores the connections between the decisions made at APEC, particularly around fair trade, and the consequences for people living in the Asia-Pacific region.

With APEC in our backyard it is an opportunity to consider and to better understand how the economic policies play out in other people’s backyard.

There is also a conference happening this weekend that you may be interested in, being held by the Asian Pacific People for Environment and Community (APPEC). Their tagline is quite cheeky; ‘putting the people into APEC’.

APEC focuses on economic and trade initiatives and runs as a closed shop where only the 21 leaders and their inside hanger-ons – all blokes incidentally – will be talking behind closed doors. The APPEC conference is a forum where civil society from throughout the region will be talking about the issues from a people-focused perspective. It is bound to be interesting.

Caritas Australia’s very own Melville Fernandez will be speaking on Friday evening at UTS as part of the APPEC conference.

The Great Crossing - Ghan Pilgrimage

2007-08-27T13:25:00.000+10:00

Applications have recently opened for The Great Crossing Ghan Pilgrimage.

This is a journey that cuts across our continent and invites young people to reflect on the histories and present realities of the people of Australia. It is also an opportunity to explore the role that faith and justice can play in fashioning a society that is sensitive to the past, while hopeful for the future.

The core themes of The Great Crossing are:

justice
spirituality and experience of remote Australians, including Indigenous Australians
reconciliation, healing and hope
preparation for WYD 2008

Caritas Australia has been one of the agencies that have advised the World Youth Day office in the planning of this event (along with St Vincent Paul’s, YCS/YCW, the Marists and Dominicans).

For me the name of the pilgrimage, ‘The Great Crossing Ghan Pilgrimage,’ is evocative of the above themes.

Take for instance the name ‘Ghan.’ This is a nod to the Afghani cameleers of the 19th century who helped to ‘open up' central Australia.

Now consider that the pilgrimage passes through Woomera, a name synonymous with the detention centre where Afghani refugees were closed in.

Or reflect that the admirable hardiness and ingenuity of the cameleers was rendered in the service of a colonising power. Far from conquerors themselves, their skills nevertheless helped to push European settlement into Indigenous communities; the consequences of this remain with us today.

Such tangled histories cover Australia. They are part of the context for our present debates, ideas and struggles for justice. This pilgrimage is an opportunity to immerse oneself in this complex and challenging context of Australia. It is an opportunity for young people to look at themselves and their world and to struggle for change in both.

This is what pilgrimage is all about after all: transformation through travel.

The real 'crossing' of this pilgrimage then is not through central Australia but over, in small ways, to an Australia that is more just and more respectful to the diverse peoples that live here.

Floods of silence

2007-08-21T15:49:00.000+10:00

People flee in the flooded area of Darbhanga, India. The community faces many challanges - limited supplies in local stores, skyrocketing prices for staples such as rice and lentils, and villages left inaccessible by deep flood waters.

There have been a lot of concerned conversations in the office lately about the lack of media coverage of the South Asia floods.

This prevailing silence seems strange, disturbing even, when considering the enormity of the disaster. Humanitarian disasters are not meant to be secrets.

Our CEO recently did an online video update documenting the significance of this crisis and what Caritas Australia is doing.

Another way Caritas has tried to get the message out is through using the daily papers.
In a letter to the SMH, we pointed out how this silence is stifling an effective response.
“And what have we heard about these tens of millions of people, their futures left uncertain, their lives in upheaval? In Australia, very little. The media is a powerful tool in bringing these issues into the public consciousness. As we saw with the tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, Australians are generous, but if we don't know, we won't give.”

And there is a great need for giving. Only yesterday the Government of Bangladesh formally requested international donors and development partners to help their people endure this flooding.

Granted, there are times when people do know and they don’t give. There have been previous tragedies that have flickered and then died on our television screens. However, without media coverage the likelihood of significant and informed action is negligible.

One practical way to keep informed is through a site called Reuters AlertNet. It’s a site for humanitarian agencies responding to emergencies. While some of the info may be a bit specialist for some, it really is a fantastic resource.

Alertnent features blogs that are both challenging and insightful, scours the media for articles on humanitarian themes, provides constant updates, has great interactive maps and has plenty of statistics and data.

If we are going to see the world as a ‘global village’, then websites like these are practical ways to see how the neighbours are doing. Then we will be in a position to lend a hand.

Click here to donate to the South Asia Floods appeal.

Helping all, not just 'our own'

2007-08-20T12:02:00.000+10:00

Caritas distributes relief goods to flood-affected people in Pakistan.

It would be fair to say that faith-based agencies sometimes arouse suspicion. There is an understandable fear that they may use their power to promote their faith, rather than people’s dignity.

The current Pope has dealt with this unequivocally.

‘Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism. Love is free; it is not practised as a way of achieving other ends… Those who practise charity in the Church's name will never seek to impose the Church's faith upon others.’ - Deus Caritas Est #31

Anything less than this is a scandal and would be coercive to the poor and vulnerable.
This ethos fundamentally grounds Caritas’ work. It explains why Caritas has mobilised its resources to respond to the South Asia floods; not because there are Catholics there that are suffering - but because there are people there that are suffering.

This understanding is not unique to our agency, but is central to how the Church understands service.

In the recent epilgrimage (a monthly newsletter that provides formation for pilgrims attending WYD) Bishop Anthony Fisher OP explored the relationship of social justice to faith through the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan.

"The ‘gut-churning compassion’ of Jesus is meant to radicalise us to be of service to everyone: … not only to ‘our own,’ but to anyone in need."

So finally, I thought I’d include a quote I found today which renders something of Caritas’ approach to development, by teasing out the implications of this parable.

"On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway." - Martin Luther King Jr

Caritas Australia is accepting donations to help the people of the South Asia Floods.

Standing in solidarity - what does it mean?

2007-08-15T15:28:00.000+10:00

On Friday night I caught up with friends for a birthday, while the next day I sauntered up the Blue Mountains for my brother’s 25th. The evenings, if not barmy, had a twist of summer in them and everyone commented on how good it was for winter to be receding.

Meanwhile in South Asia, it is the flood water that is receding. After the deluge displaced millions and killed hundreds, the water will now retreat leaving water sources polluted, animal carcasses to rot, spilt sewage to fester and mosquitoes to breed; creating ideal circumstances for disease to spread.

If I am called to live in solidarity with the poor, how do I do this? Particularly as I’m sitting on an esky singing ‘Happy Birthday’, while others are fishing their lives, even their loved ones, out of the murky water?

Archbishop Oscar Romero famously said, ‘Those committed to the poor must share the same fate as the poor.’ His call to solidarity is not about throwing my things into a river. Nor is it about leaving work and flying to Bangladesh to help, where I would likely do more harm than good and hamper the already difficult aid effort.

The word I want to pick up on is share. Romero’s call asks me to share my empathy, reminding myself that victims, nameless to me, are individuals just like my friend and my brother. This makes it easier to share my prayers, and to share my resources if I am able, so that organisations like Caritas Australia are able to bring relief.

And finally it is to share a sense of a common destiny, where I think about my decisions about how I live in the context of an interrelated, interdependent world. I need to accept that what I do in Sydney can affect people I have never met in Bangladesh, which in turn obligates me to ponder my own lifestyle. An example of this would be to look for things in my life that might harm the environment, which in turn increases the likelihood of environmental disasters.

Romero’s call then, is not some vague or impossible sentiment. It is very similar to the earthy, familiar advice my mother gave me many years ago when she came across my brother and I squabbling over Lego: share, share, share.

Click here to donate online to the South Asia Flood Appeal.

Meet Pace the Pot Plant

2007-08-09T13:29:00.000+10:00

I’m a bit of a green thumb. Or more correctly, I like plants, but I’m not sure whether they like me.

At the office, Sister Rosari gave me a pot plant that I’ve called Pace, (pronounced ‘Par-chay’, which is Italian for peace and is kinda catchy when you add ‘the pot plant’ after it).

Cath, our Education Team Leader says I water it too much, but I’m testing the sink or swim approach to botany!

Haneef and human dignity

2007-08-03T10:51:00.000+10:00

On Friday our office celebrated the dropping of charges against terrorist suspect Dr Mohamed Haneef. I use the term ‘celebrated’ meaningfully, as people were genuinely relieved for Haneef and his family - and as a citizens watching what our democratically-elected government was doing in our ‘interests’.

There had been something of a disturbing comedic element about the whole process, as if the oppressive heavy-handedness depicted in an Orwellian novel had been projected into a Pink Panther film.

Not that there was anything worth laughing about. Haneef’s detainment was against a backdrop of unexploded cars in London and a burning utility car and driver at Glasgow airport.

As the period of detainment stretched out and a hunched Haneef made the front pages, more and more people began to ask questions about due process and human dignity.

I honestly do not know whether Haneef is innocent or guilty. What I do know is that the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions has declared that there is no reasonable prospect of him being convicted on the existing evidence. And what I am certain of is that there are processes that all people are entitled to, even suspected terrorists. These rights, which are ultimately about being treated humanely even when under suspicion, belong to both the innocent and the guilty.

Now the connection of this to World Youth Day might not be obvious, but I think it needs to be.

World Youth Day brings an opportunity to reflect on the relationship of justice to faith, and on the role of faith in today’s world. This reflection occurs not locked away from the world, but in a vibrant, chaotic and colourful dialogue with people from all over the world.

Part of this reflection is to mull over the words of Jesus: Whatever you do to the least of my people, you do to me.

This statement, which inspires so much of Catholic Social Teaching, points to the infinite worth of every human being on the planet. This worth is not dependant on whether a person is from Parramatta or Papua New Guinea, whether they make millions or live in abject poverty, or even whether they are considered an upstanding citizen or a terrorist suspect.

Indeed you often hear of people having their dignity stripped from them - as if human dignity was a jacket that might be slipped off upon entering a room. However I would maintain that a person’s dignity, as in the case of Haneef, was ignored, not taken. This is because a person’s dignity is so central to their being, so intertwined with their makeup, that it cannot be removed.

Following this thought, Caritas Australia is not in the business of returning people’s dignity to them. Rather it is about working with people to challenge the structures, and the root causes of poverty, which create and sustains situations beneath people’s dignity.

And so, a year out from World Youth Day, and as the fallout from the Haneef case unfolds, we are left with an opportunity to reflect on the nature of human dignity, the safeguards needed to honour it, and how we actually treat the ‘least’ in our society.

Looking forward on Indigenous issues

2007-07-25T14:56:00.000+10:00

When people talk of prophets I tend think of wild men in the desert; the sort of folk who munch on grasshoppers, have bushy hair and booming, baritone voices.

However, I have another image of a prophet. This is a quieter, closer image, of a person with deep insight, whose writing touches upon something that pre-empts what actually happens. An example of this is the historian Inga Clendinnen, whose collection of essays I have been re-reading (and yes, that’s a confession, I read essays in my spare time).

In 1994 she wrote Plenty Humbug, which looked at several case studies of the how Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians were responding to Indigenous poverty.

She noted:
“…we 'naturally' favour clean, across-the-board solutions, and … we have a mighty urge to intervene.”

However as some of Inga's case studies revealed, good intentions can still create bad results.

She also emphasised that the solutions that did work drew heavily - even exclusively - from local initiatives, because:
“…local Aboriginal initiatives are sufficiently informed by local knowledge of the particular historical experience and the particular balance of pressures and personalities in a particular place, at a particular time.”

What she’s getting at here is that it’s the people living on the ground who are in the best position to identify and find workable solutions to problems in their community. There has been a lot of focus on the media recently about the hopeless nature of Indigenous suffering but there are many Indigenous organisations that are doing a great job in meeting the many challenges they face. The Unity of First Peoples Australia diabetes program that Caritas Australia supports is just one example.

When an organisation like Caritas Australia goes to help people, the first thing we do is listen. Often what might seem like a good idea might actually disrupt or harm the society.

Inga’s warning was that:
“Aboriginal Australia has suffered enough from our impatient, or ignorant, or careless interventions.”

And so thirteen years after her words were laid on paper, I was in Sydney’s western suburbs on Saturday following the Cross, Icon and Message Stick. Meanwhile, the Federal Government continues its response in the Northern Territory that seems very much like a well-meaning but ‘clean, across the-board-solution.’

The ceremony out west was a simple, powerful service by Young Christian Students and Young Christian Workers. Their ethos is characterised by the words See, Judge, Act.

I couldn’t help but reflect that if the Federal Government had spent greater energy in seeing with Indigenous Australians, and then judging with Indigenous Australians, they would be in a better position to act - with Indigenous Australians.

Currently Caritas Australia, as part of the ‘Close the Gap’ coalition, is seeking an increase of Government funding of $460 million per year to challenge the 17 year age gap which exists between Indigenosu and non-Indigenous Austrlaians.

You can add your voice here to a call for more focused support on health, more Indigenous community control and addressing all the issues – not just law and order, that continue to marginalise so many Indigenous Australians.

Celebrating the Cross and its message

2007-07-18T19:07:00.000+10:00

The arrival of the Cross is being celebrated in the true Aussie way - with lots of BBQs!

As the Cross, Icon and Message Stick travel around Australia, so the parishes, schools and groups celebrate the arrival of this event in different ways. Cultural festivals, prayer vigils, stalls, face painting, forums, performance and bbqs (lots and lots of bbqs in fact) are being rolled out like some dynamic, eclectic welcome mat across the continent. I have heard one priest even wants a fireworks display to welcome the Cross, Icon and Message Stick.

Today there were no fireworks, although there could have been some sparks when I drove up a couple of one-way lanes...

Rather, I went to a forum in Manly Vale, entitled Lift up the Cross, Make Poverty History. What I like about this was that the symbolism of the Cross, which reveals God’s solidarity with humanity, was translated into a challenge for those attending to stand in solidarity with the poor. Contemplation then action.

As an International Aid and Development agency in the business of making poverty history, Caritas Australia was invited to provide a speaker for the forum. Peter Sabatino, a Torres Straits Islander and a representative from our Indigenous Programs Team, spoke very eloquently about Caritas’ work in Australia. In particular he brought an insight to the forum, by pointing out that concerns over poverty cannot be limited to an economic dimension. Poverty is ultimately a question about human dignity, which branches into social, cultural and political dimensions; it’s not just about money.

The whole thrust of our development work after all is to build people’s capacity to become self sufficient. My concern with the Federal Government's push into the Northern Territory is that the sweeping response is not the best approach to build this capacity. And so I was left reflecting this NAIDOC Week that as the Cross, Icon and Message stick progresses, it is also a further opportunity to scrutinise these developments. Contemplation then action.

What do you think? Leave a comment and speak your mind.

Journey of the Cross and Icon arrives in Australia

2007-07-04T20:55:00.000+10:00

It was fitting that the Cross and Icon arrived in Sydney on National Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Sunday. As Bishop Putney reflected in NATSICC’s liturgy for this day:

“…this is the one Sunday in the year where we are challenged to face the consequences of being disciples in a country where many of those who were here first have still to discover that they are free and equal brothers and sisters, truly loved by those other disciples who walk with them…”

The cross is intimately interwoven with this challenge, as it is both a call to live in solidarity with those who suffer, and a symbol of reconciliation.

With Caritas Australia CEO, Jack De Groot and the Diocesan Director for Sydney, Patricia Burke, I attended the official welcome of the Cross at Sydney international airport. The ceremony proceeded with the handing of the Cross and Icon from New Zealand to Australia. A delegation of young New Zealanders streamed from the plane into the chilly hanger, accompanied by a haunting Maori farewell song. They were welcomed by Aboriginal dancers who accepted the Cross and Icon, before handing it to delegates representing all the young people of Australia.

Aboriginal Elder Elsie Heiss gave the ‘welcome to country’ speech and Indigenous languages were incorporated into the ceremony.

For me the most moving part of the ceremony was, as often happens, unscripted. During the proceeding one of the Maori delegates went up and kissed Elsie on the cheek. His warmth and regard for the Aboriginal elder was effortlessly expressed in this simple gesture.

Now such a scene will not make the nightly news, which will go instead for a Howard sound-bite or the colourful, the large and the dramatic. However part of the value of World Youth Day is made up in these quiet moments, where new relationships between different people and different cultures are formed.

We then followed Cross and Icon through the official ceremonies. There was a liturgy at Mary Mackillop Place, the resting place of Australia’s first recognised saint. After this, it was carried across the Harbour Bridge to a park in Darling Harbour, where singers Guy Sebastian and Paulini performed, before culminating with mass at the cathedral.

It was fitting that the Cross and Icon began its journey in Australia on a day dedicated to the people with whom the Spirit of God first entered into relationship within Australia.

The welcome ceremony sought to give tangibility to JPII’s insight that:” …it is the Church’s task to help Indigenous cultures preserve their identity and maintain their traditions.”

The journey of the Cross and icon marks the lead-up to World Youth Day in Sydney, July 2008. The occasion marks the first time that World Youth Day has been hosted in the Oceania region.

Airports, meetings and the perfect pizza

2007-07-04T11:21:00.000+10:00

The perfect pizza.

I like airports. Admittedly I like them even more when I don’t have to be up at 4.30am to get to them. But even then I enjoy their frenetic energy; the endless swirl of luggage carousels, caffeine, jet engines and movement.

This week I flew down for meetings in Melbourne. The bigger an event, the more meetings there will be beforehand. And as World Youth Day will be big (I mean really big), there are a lot of meetings to go to.

Meetings are curious things. Some are short like a mouse-trap snapping, while others stretch out like a person drawn over a medieval rack. Some are held in small sombre rooms where people speak in small sombre voices, while others still are loud, heady affairs, where laughter fills the room until it stretches out into a big top.

My Melbourne meetings went well. On of the challenges of my job is to understand the evolving and complex nature of World Youth Day and then to communicate it to my colleagues. These meetings helped to clarify what is happening for the Days in the Dioceses.
This is the week before World Youth Day, where pilgrims get the chance to experience the hospitality of different New Zealand and Australian dioceses outside of Sydney.

The following day there were more meetings, and then I caught up with a friend over lunch. We went out to a restaurant in Brunswick Street, where we had four-dollar pizzas. I mean c’mon, four dollars!

I love a bargain. And while sometime this means getting up early to catch an early morning flight, other times its all about sitting down in a dimly lit, bohemian restaurant with a fiver and a smile that says yep, things are good, very good.

Government action in the NT

2007-06-28T09:43:00.000+10:00

This week I put down a book about globalisation called One World. I was trying to read it to be more informed about global issues. As I read the papers and watched the news however, a deep disquiet came over me as I questioned how much I knew about my own country.

A report documenting the sexual abuse of children in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities has catalysed the Federal Government into action. Doctors, police and military have been mobilised to enter these Aboriginal communities (for constitutional reason they cannot act similarly in other states). A spate of initiatives have also been flagged:
- 60 Northern Territory communities will come under federal jurisdiction
- alcohol and hardcore pornography will be banned
- welfare payments will be restricted
- health checks for children under 16 will become compulsory

The reports and opinion columns are unanimous on one point; urgency is necessary.

However the cohesion begins to fray around the nature of the response. A growing number of people are articulating that an urgent response does not equate to any response.

As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, up to 60 Aboriginal and other community groups will meet in Canberra today to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister. In it they call on the government to:

“Start consulting Indigenous people and develop a long-term plan that strengthens families and communities and addresses the underlying causes of the abuse, such as unemployment, overcrowding and poor education.”

What this letter is reflecting is one of the core lessons of ethical and effective development; namely that high levels of community involvement are necessary for any beneficial change to be long-term.

An external force may be able to stabilise the situation. However the community must then be empowered to take on leadership roles and provide the services and needs delivered by this external force. Otherwise, their presence will become indefinite and either perpetuate a relationship of dependence and/or generate resentment.

This complexity of this issue cannot be adequately dealt with in one short blog post. However what I will say is that while action is necessary, it must be coupled with challenging questions and well-thought out answers.

Low life expectancy for Indigneous people is another appalling statistic that Caritas Australia is working to change. Support our Close the Gap campaign.

Make Noise for Darfur

2007-06-20T12:00:00.000+10:00

Darfuri children living in Sydney join the procession.

World Refugee Day

The night before World Refugee Day there was a threat of ‘cyclonic winds’ forecast for Sydney. I’m not even sure what ‘cyclonic winds’ are (a twister without the twisty bit?), but it didn’t seem a promising start.

Thankfully these winds didn’t appear. What did was a wonderful procession by members of Sydney’s Darfuri community, supported by and as part of the Darfur Australia Network (DAN). Their aim was to use World Refugee Day to call attention to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan which has forced them to flee to Australia.

If you want to get your head around the conflict then DAN offers a concise background to the violence.

The march also stopped at the Prime Minister’s office to personally demand that the Federal Government play a greater role in working for peace in the region. I was disappointed that the Prime Minister didn’t send a representative to receive the letter, but in the context of the Federal Government’s general approach to refugees, this wasn’t surprising. Instead, the letter was handed to a guard at the office.

The procession itself was a vibrant chain of colour; it began with speeches at Hyde Park and then streamed through the shaded CBD streets to the Prime Minister’s office, before singing its way to Customs House for the launch of a photo exhibit named ‘Darfur Calling.’ It’s open until July 5, so if you are in Sydney you might like to check it out.

In the midst of the revelry there was the dark undercurrent of a serious issue. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur. The suffering and indignities of the civil unrest are horrific. Caritas Australia CEO, Jack de Groot, took the opportunity to acknowledge the recent death of a Caritas staff member who was killed in Darfur. His murder is a reminder that the escalating casualty figures are the sum of individuals, not a faceless mass.

Despite this, the event was ultimately a hopeful one. This was not a naïve optimism that everything will be okay - but that solutions are out there; difficult ones, probably imperfect ones, but ones that can painstakingly secure a workable peace.

For me, the Darfur Australia Network represents everything I love about my job. It is about action; creatively and boldly pursuing a just world. It is about solidarity; creating space for the Darfuri community to speak for themselves, to work with them, not just for them. And it is about hope; with all the obstacles to peace there is still time to appreciate kids playing a soccer match in Hyde Park, rather than wilting in an Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Darfur.

If you would like to take action for the people of Darfur, click here to find out what Caritas Australia is doing in the region.

NAIDOC Week

2007-06-18T15:05:00.000+10:00

Tarra Park.

Every day on my way to work I pass Tarra Park near The Rocks in Sydney.
I have been thinking about it particularly in the lead-up to NAIDOC Week July 8-15 July , which celebrates the contribution of Australia's Indigenous people

The peninsular is better known as Dawes Point, named after the First Fleeter William Dawes. Dawes was a solitary sort of man who collected snippets of the local Indigenous language. You get a sense of him by the things he transcribed, like the times of rain, stars and candle light.

However despite his friendship with many of the Cadigal people of the Eora nation, he was ordered as a marine to take part in a retaliatory attack and to return with their severed heads.

Dawes was reluctant to do so but his chaplain convinced him. After the failed mission, he regretted his involvement and publicly criticised the action. He was then made to leave Sydney

For more information on the story of William Dawes click here.

This story from Australia’s past is not widely known. It is stories like these which make up an awareness of Australian history and place the struggle for reconciliation in a broader context. One of the greatest challenges to reconciliation is that many people are unaware of what Indigenous Australians have suffered and continue to suffer.

For me, reflecting on the chaplain in the story, it is also a reminder of the role Christians have played in creating and perpetuating such injustices in the past. Reconciliation involves acknowledging this and working, in a spirit of solidarity and equality, for justice now.

Guided by these principles, Caritas Australia works with Indigenous communities towards a better future through a number of development programs. Click here for more information.

NAIDOC week also brings to mind some challenging questions:

Why is my life expectancy 21 years more than an Indigenous man?

Why are the living standards of Indigenous Australians comparable to those in the majority world?

What tangible things have I done recently for reconciliation?

If you have been asking yourself such questions, or are interested in learning more, you might like to check out the OzSpirit edition on Indigenous justice.

Also, check out the story of Judy and Sue who work in a Caritas-funded project in Penrith NSW. These two women from different walks of life talk about working alongside each other and reconciliation, from an Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspective.

Young Australian of Year Tania Major makes some strong points on Indigenous justice.

The World in World Youth Day

2007-06-15T14:58:00.000+10:00

A youth in Sudan.

As the World Youth Day Coordinator for Caritas Australia I think about WYD … a lot. Often it is about the challenges of WYD.

Let me give you an example. One of my favourite people is Mother Teresa. She’s the bomb. Her words have been used as part of the Make (Indigenous) Poverty History campaign, which attempts to redress some of the issues I mentioned in my previous entry.

Her quote is: 'I know you think you should make a trip to Calcutta, but I strongly advise you to save your airfare and spend it on the poor in your own country. It’s easy to love people far away. It’s not always easy to love those who live right next to us.'

This is a challenging thought for me. Everyday I work passionately for an event that will bring thousands upon thousands of people flying to our shores. At present there is an estimated 125,000 pilgrims coming from overseas. Imagine if the cost of 125,000 airfares was given to the poor through organisations like Caritas Australia. This is before we factor in the cost of things like accommodation and food.

I have an answer about how I deal with this personally, but I don’t want to answer that now. What this entry is really about is inviting other people to think through these issues.

Because lets face it, we live in a world where most people can’t come to an event called World Youth Day. It has been one of the pleasures of my job to work with the World Youth Day office who are seeking creative solutions to this issue.

But what do you think? What can we do to put the world into World Youth Day. If you’ve got any ideas about what you can do, let me know.