Emma Tormey|UWA President’s Report
The Young UN Women UWA Committee has enjoyed a successful first year. The first semester event was focused on the sex trafficking industry and we were privileged enough to host the 2010 CNN Hero of the year Anuradha Koirala, who spoke about her work to empower young women abused and exploited in the sex trafficking industry and her work with Maiti Nepal. Anuradha opened our eyes to a whole other world, providing insights into the industry, which we couldn’t have imagined. Recently the committee held their second semester event, a breakfast at Miss Maud’s in Perth City. The breakfast was themed “you have to be the change you want to see in the world,” inspired by Mahatma Ghandi’s famous words. We had three guest speakers, all young people from Perth who are actively involved in the community, who spoke about the change they wanted to see in their life time and how that change could be brought about. Special thanks to the Chair of Young UN Women Australia Perth, Anna Johnson, Luke O’Keefe, co-founder of eighty twenty vision and Vasili Hatzis from Amnesty International, who each presented on the day. The guests of the breakfast were then invited to actively participate in the change they wanted to see in the world and the ideas which were generated can be viewed on our blog. The money raised from the event will be given to UN Women Pacific Facility Fund. As the academic year comes to a close, I have been very proud to lead such a dynamic and resourceful committee. Young UN Women UWA has managed to run successful and engaging events in its first year and I hope this can be carried through into future years. The UWA experience is now being used as a model to set up clubs at Curtin University and Notre Dame, which is momentus step for
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Young UN Women Australia Perth, to tap into University students across Perth. Before I close, I would like to thank Davina Hunter, our treasurer for 2011. Davina has brought her club management experience and treasury skills to the UWA committee, which has been a major part of the UWA club’s success. Davina is graduating at the end of this year, so her involvement in the campus club is drawing to a close. I hope that other motivated young people will follow in her footsteps and join the campus clubs of Young UN Women Australia Perth.
Emma Tormey UWA President 2011
Runway for a Reason/Robert Foltz