Age: 36... is the new 26!

State: Usually Queensland but currently Honiara- Guadalcanal -Solomon Islands

Chosen volunteer organisation
Red Cross

Motivation for joining
My original motivation for joining came about 12 years ago when I was living in London and Red Cross assisted an orphaned African refugee student of mine to trace and reunite his extended family members who ended up in America. Once I found out more about the organisation and began volunteering, my ongoing motivation was improving the lives of vulnerable people by mobilising the power of humanity! – which funnily enough, is the Mission of Red Cross. I really believe that the Mission and Fundamental Principles of the organisation- Principles like Impartiality and Independence- offer an opportunity to undertake humanitarian work which can foster incredible positive change for vulnerable communities and individuals. More recently, I have personally seen this in action during disasters where the organisation makes a real difference to so many affected people.

'Real' job
Technical Adviser in Organisational Development & Disaster Management to Solomon Islands Red Cross Society.

Thoughts on climate change and extreme weather
When I began volunteering for Red Cross 12 years ago, the sorts of disasters I responded to in Queensland were things like train crashes, the Childers Backpacker Fire, the occasional localised flooding event and mass evacuations from overseas events like the Bali Bombings or Political Coups. In the last 3 to 5 years in particular, there are more frequent events like hail storms, cyclones and rain deluges which seem to have a huge impact on communities. I’m no expert on the links between Climate Change and extreme weather events – but I attend a lot of briefings from experts which advise the organisation to be prepared for more frequent, more intense events and I am part of a large National team thinking about and preparing for scenarios that involve more than one event at a time around the country. In my own mind, there is a very clear link and one that needs to be factored into disaster planning and preparedness.

Likes
My job! Scuba diving, playing guitar, learning to speak Pidgin, meditation

Dislikes
Negativity, litter &… pea & ham soup ?

Aspirations
To make a positive impact whenever the opportunity arises, to foster change through supporting the strengths of local communities I work and live in. To play Wembley Stadium.. maybe that’s a dream rather than an aspiration!

Proudest moment
Professionally- Red Cross receiving an award for the work we undertook with the Aboriginal, Torres straight Islander & South Sea Islander community in Mackay during the January 08 floods. Personally, being my sister’s birthing partner when my niece was born!

Biggest learning experience
The first time I was an Operations Manager during a disaster. It was after Cyclone Larry when so many communities around Innisfail were affected and Red Cross took on a greater role than we had ever played before- certainly in Queensland. We used hundreds of staff and volunteers from around the country to assist and then replaced them with over 400 spontaneous volunteers from the local area who we quickly registered and trained. The learning curve was steep but the rewards – both personally and for the community- were huge.