NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR
The UWA campus seems to be the place to go for information and action. In the past fortnight we have had an excellent talk about an NGO working to improve health outcomes in Timor-Leste (see below for information about the talk by Robyn Pickrell); a Global Poverty Project presentation by Hugh Evans; and the Global Health lectures (see the Global Health Short Course tab at http://interhealth.org.au/ for links to lectures and PowerPoints). Tomorrow, a panel discussion on the topic “Debating the free market in an age of insecurity” will be held at the Business School. Details are below. And if you haven’t cottoned on to the Institute of Advanced Studies, you don’t know what you’re missing! See their website http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/ for a full rundown of their free lectures.Of course you won’t want to miss our own seminars either. Thanks to all who are braving the chilly evenings for the current series – we know you agree the speakers and topics make it well worthwhile.Finally, if you are a student and willing to participate in some educational research, please see the note in this newsletter, “Student volunteers needed”.
Professor Neville Bruce
Director, Centre for Integrated Human Studies
NEXT SEMINAR: TELLING OUR STORY, AUGUST 26
Our national story has often omitted Indigenous experience. How can the balance be redressed – and who can frame the stories of invasion and dispossession? What can history and literature contribute to our sense of ourselves as Australians? Historian Aileen Marwung Walsh will speak about the intersection of history and fiction; Prof Terri-Ann White of UWA Press addresses the obligations of publishers; and David Milroy reflects on his experience as a playwright and theatre practitioner with Yirra Yaakin. Chaired by Prof Carmen Lawrence.
The seminar is in Seminar room 1.81 at the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, UWA, at the usual time of 530 – 7 pm.
GETTING HERE
The School of Anatomy and Human Biology is two doors south of Shenton House on the eastern (Matilda Bay) side of the UWA campus, opposite the Matilda Bay kiosk. There is a map on our website. Bus routes Nos 23, 79, 98, 99,102 and 107 pass UWA on Stirling Highway; after alighting you will enjoy a five-minute stroll through the campus. Go past the Guild Village and turn left immediately after the Psychology building. You’ll be facing the School of Anatomy and Human Biology and will see the lift to the left of the glass doors. The seminar room is on the first floor opposite the lift door.
Bus route No 97 also loops around the campus, with stops on Hackett Drive. It starts at Subiaco Station.
If you are driving, we are closest to Hackett Entry No 2 to Carpark No 4. Free parking is available after 5 pm in ticket parking areas in UWA, and after 6 pm in Council ticket parking areas. When you arrive at the School, go to the rear and use the lift to come to the first floor.
STUDENT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – 15 MINUTES ONLY!
Graduate student Kate O’Toole is conducting a study into students’ engagement with world futures. If you are a university student in Western Australia (not necessarily at UWA) and are willing to spend 15 minutes completing an anonymous survey, please follow the “More information” link under the News and Events heading on the home page of our Education for World Futures website: http://learning.ewfi.org/
HIAM-HEALTH CASE STUDY
On August 3 Robyn Pickrell, from the Perth group Friends of HIAM-Health, gave a fascinating insight into creating an NGO whose mission is to improve the health of the people of Timor-Leste (TL). While there are many aid agencies working in TL, HIAM is one of the few staffed by East Timorese people. Their name (Hamutuk ita ajuda malu: “together we help each other”) and logo both show solidarity with the people of TL and reinforce the message of self determination.
Robyn painted a picture of a nation whose people have been traumatised by invasion, whose education has been disrupted by changes in the language of delivery (from Portuguese to Indonesian in 1975, then back to Portuguese in 1999 – while 93% of people speak Tetun at home, and English is the language of the bureaucracy) and whose children suffer from malnutrition in massive numbers.
HIAM-Health, working from a facility in the grounds of Dili Hospital, used to deliver education in healthcare to 200 people per day before the 2006 violence. They realised they needed an inpatient facility to break through some cultural patterns and reinforce messages about healthy diet, reproductive health and family spacing, and childcare. Now, with a new facility built and ready to go, they need funding to make it operational and resume their mission to empower East Timorese people to work together to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates and improve health and social conditions.
Robyn noted the need for interdisciplinary, broad perspectives on aid. She gave the example of a water supply brought to a village in an engineering project: it was not used by the women, who enjoyed their daily water carrying time as a chance to be away from their husbands. Robyn can be contacted on 0448 876 749.
NOTES FROM THE LAST SEMINAR, MATESHIP
