FEATURE
SUMMER 2014
Peplow Ball spent her childhood championing a variety of charities, before entering tertiary education to make international aid her cause. She served as President of the United Nations Student Association while studying at Bond.
My work is focused on community education and engagement, and getting people out of preventative health issues
Among other initiatives she founded an annual week-long event, Aid for AIDS Week, which has contributed more than $20,000 to HIV and AIDS foundations worldwide since its inception. Since graduating in June 2014, Peplow Ball headed to Africa and she is currently working in eastern Uganda as part of an international fellowship program, which she was granted by American-based NGO Mama Hope.
“It’s also a matter of getting them to trust healthcare again after bad experiences, so we are trying to get our health members out in the community as much as possible to highlight they are professional, caring and friendly. “My work is focused on community education and engagement, and getting people out of preventative health issues – I think it’s going to change the face of the community and its 6000 residents.”
It is the first time an Australian has been awarded Mama Hope’s Global Advocate Fellowship, a leadership program for international workers.
Queensland Pride of Australia Medal winners including Karni Liddell (centre)
PRIDE
Of Bond THEY are inspirational and courageous young leaders, and they have risen up through Bond to become contenders for the 2014 Pride of Australia Medal. Ashleigh Peplow Ball, Karni Liddell and Nicole Gibson were the Bondies among this year’s pool of talent in the Queensland division of the Pride of Australia Medal, one of News Corp Australia’s leading community endeavours. The awards feature three state finalists across 10 categories. All three Bond alumni were recognised for their ambition to effect a genuine difference in the lives of others -
12
www.arch.bond.edu.au
Peplow Ball in the field of international development, Liddell in the area of disability, and Gibson in youth mental health. Peplow Ball, a finalist for the 2014 Queensland Pride of Australia Young Leader Medal, says she feels as though the work she is doing is exactly what she was put on this earth to do. “Being an empathetic person, I have always felt that if I have the capacity to assist, it is really an obligation and not just something I can turn away from,” she says. It’s a sentiment echoed by Liddell and Gibson.
“The great thing about Mama Hope is that it’s an end-to-end program – I raised the money for my project, then travelled to the community, and when I come back I will have to complete a report to show that the money was used efficiently,” says Peplow Ball.
Nicole Gibson
Peplow Ball’s project involves overseeing the construction of the Suubi Health Centre in Budondo. Before departing Australia in September, she raised $20,000 for the project through individual donations and a series of events on the Gold Coast and in her hometown of Adelaide. “The people in Budondo live quite a turbulent life in abject poverty,” says Peplow Ball. “The thing I have identified as most important is providing quality healthcare for mothers – we now have an amazing health centre set up but some locals are still hesitant about coming until they are on their death bed because of traditional fears.” Peplow Ball says the challenge is changing the perception about healthcare in the community. “The locals often don’t realise it’s more cost-effective for them to receive healthcare at the beginning of sickness, where it costs a couple of dollars for a few tablets, compared to a month down the track when it will cost $20 to treat,” she says.
Liddell, who was recently awarded the 2014 Queensland Pride of Australia Courage Medal, is living proof of this.
Peplow Ball believes a grassroots approach makes all the difference with social and environmental issues.
Gibson recently stepped into a Commissioner role with the National Mental Health Commission for her ongoing work with the Rogue & Rouge Foundation, which she launched in 2011 at just 18-years-old to break down the stigma surrounding mental health. She has implemented mental health programs in more than 300 schools Australia-wide to date, and while still in its pilot phase, every school that has taken on the program this year has already rebooked for next year. “The Commissioner role has totally reaffirmed to me the importance of grassroots change,” says Gibson, who recently took out the 2014 Queensland Pride of Australia Inspiration Medal. “Young people who have a genuine passion to make change genuinely believe in what they do, and are crazy enough to believe their wildest ideas will become a reality. They are the ones who will make a difference.”
Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at 12 months, Liddell’s parents were told at the time that their child would never be able to walk and wouldn’t live past her teens. Liddell defied the odds and went on to break a swimming world record at age 14 and later score two bronze medals at the Paralympic Games in 1996 and 2000. She studied a Bachelor of Communication at Bond, graduating in 2005, and has dedicated her life to changing misconceptions about disability. Her campaigning has lately centred on challenging families to want a “happy” child rather than a “healthy” one, which has led to her recognition as the winner of the 2014 Queensland Pride of Australia Courage Medal. “I am trying to put the ability back in disability and convince people that having a disability really isn’t the worst thing that can happen – it’s not right on an individual level for disability to count as an automatic reduction and also not in the best interests of society. “Disability isn’t a niche market; it’s a mass market with 20 per cent of the population having some form – it’s likely, consistent, natural, and doesn’t discriminate.
Ashleigh Peplow Ball
“The best way to get people to connect to any cause is through education, but to do that they also need to be empathetic.” www.arch.bond.edu.au
13