“I grew up in Zimbabwe and emigrated to Australia when I was seven years old”, Mary explains. “So even as a child I was aware of the huge gulf in living standards that exists between Australia and the developing world.    

“What really brought it home to me was meeting an aid worker from Rwanda who came to talk to my school when I was in year 10. I realised that Rwandans have nothing while we have everything, just because we’re lucky enough to live in Australia.”

Mary spent 10-weeks in the Philippines, where she worked alongside 13 other Australian youths as a volunteer for a local non-government organisation. Bahay Tuluyan was established in 1989 as a drop-in centre for street children in Manila, and now runs two permanent centres where children receive an education and shelter. It also runs an emergency centre for children. 

Mary’s visit, which was organised jointly by Bahay Tuluyan and Australian Volunteers International, began with a home-stay with a family in a poor district of Manila. Mary describes the district (called, appropriately, Mary-Town) as “a shanty town that, after entering, becomes a labyrinth of houses, electrical wires, dogs, cats, and puddles”. But Mary found a warm welcome there and formed a close relationship with her host family.

Mary then worked on an art-and-craft project with seven children, a project that allowed the volunteers to have close contact with the children over an extended period. The children included two brothers who had come from a violent home. In the course of the project these brothers changed, in Mary’s words, “from being unsocial boys to charming and loving individuals who felt they could love again”.

After a Christmas camp, Mary worked with seven other volunteers and 14 children on a theatre project that culminated in a performance at the University of Manila. The theatre workshops gave the children opportunities to tell their stories in a non-confrontational way – stories of life on the street, abusive homes, drug and alcohol abuse, and their desire for an education. The project was emotionally intense and had a powerful impact on both the children and the volunteers. 

For Mary, one of the hardest parts was realising that while the project had helped to give the children confidence, she couldn’t take away their poverty or offer them an education.

But Mary isn’t giving up. Now back in Tasmania, she helps to organise regular visits to Australia by Bahay Tuluyan staff and former street children.  She is also President of the Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning, Vice-President of the Tasmanian branch of the United Nations Association of Australia, and coordinates the Make Poverty History campaign in Tasmania. 

"People tell me I can't change the world, but for me that's not the point", Mary explains.  "I want do do something to lessen the gap, because if everybody made a small change then big changes would be possible."

More about Mary's time as a Youth Ambassador can be found on the website of Australian Volunteers International.

mary@afairerworld.org or 0410 593 521.