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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-15 Daily Xml
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WORLD YOUTH INTERNATIONAL

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (15:40): Thank you, sir. How very kind of you! Today I would like to talk about youth in our society and particularly about three whom I know very well. Sometimes it seems that all we hear about youth is how lazy, self-centred and uncaring this so-called Y generation is in our society but, in the past year or maybe a little more, I have learned about a youth organisation originating and actually based here in South Australia which encourages young people between the ages of 18 and 25 to give up six months of their lives and travel to Kenya, Nepal or Peru to create sustainable community development projects in the area of primary health care, sustainable environment, income generation or education and training.

The projects designed and embarked on by these young Australian adults all contribute to poverty reduction while creating self-reliance and local community empowerment. These young people are volunteers. They have to fundraise before they go to pay for the projects they are involved in, as well as paying their own way, often while they are in their country of choice. Many already have tertiary qualifications or are part way through their degrees, so while their colleagues are embarking on careers back in Australia—and quite likely earning a very good income—these young people are discovering more about themselves and the wider world than they ever suspected possible.

They all come from diverse backgrounds and bring a different perspective to the communities they serve in for their six months of volunteering time. They are encouraged to observe and assimilate for a while before deciding what projects the local community need to enrich their lives and how they can personally help. The young people I know of are a social worker, a teacher and a marketing student who also has a pharmacy qualification. They all went to a village called Mutumbu in Kenya on the Ugandan border.

Health and sanitation in the area is extremely poor and the conditions are often overwhelming and quite challenging. The nearest town is Kisumu. Here thousands of children live on the street, often wearing very dirty, shabby, worn clothes that perhaps we would consider rags. I know that it is quite confronting to these young people when they see that. During the day the young children that I am talking about work on the streets. They are begging or scratching through piles of rubbish looking for something that they might perhaps be able to sell or even to eat. At night they sleep rough on the ground or in office doorways.

In Mutumbu, an hour's drive away, one young lady called Kate, whom I know extremely well—and if it is appropriate to mention, who is also the daughter of our Speaker—worked in the local orphanage where many of the children had lost their parents to AIDS. Many of the children are infected themselves and, of the children she cared for, some died from this terrible disease while she held them in her arms.

She ran a very successful women's group trying to educate the women on health issues and support them to become financially independent through the sale of their craftwork. Kate tells me that women are traditionally considered second-rate to men. Both genders, sadly, seem to accept that a woman's role is purely to serve, procreate, cook and clean—probably in that order, I would say. Women are often openly beaten by their husbands and if widowed lose all status within the community.

An honourable member interjecting:

Mrs GERAGHTY: Yes, it is a terrible thing, isn't it? I think that for these young people who go and see that, it must be just an extraordinary, overwhelming experience and great credit to them for doing this. Kate has recently returned to Mutumbu for her second volunteer stint. I have to say, she is an incredibly caring and dedicated young woman. I do have a lot more I would like to speak about, so I will continue this.

Time expired.

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