Hi everyone,

well once again, it's been quite a while since I've updated this blog! There have been many interesting things happening around the world- I think that sometimes it is very difficult to keep up with it all!

If there's one thing that I think is exciting and important, it is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty which will be held this Wednesday. Once again this year many different organisations have joined froces to co-ordinate a global event know as STAND UP & SPEAK OUT. As I'm sure many of you will be aware, over 23.5 million people stood up and spoke out against poverty, setting a new world record. It was a huge show of support and solidarity from the worlds' many different people and this year they are running the event again, hoping to break last years record.

There are events happening all over the globe and if you check out the international website at www.standagainstpoverty.org you can find out what's happening at an area near you, or you can register to hold your own event. Whether it be 10 or 1000 people, they need as many people as possible to take this simple but symbolic action in a cry out for action. For those in Sydney, Australia, the main event will be held at Martin Place in the city with entertainment from about 5pm and standing up by about 5.30 pm. It should be a fantastic evening!

As well, the federeal election has finally been called in Australia for the 24th of November so if you are eligible to vote please make sure that you have enrolled with the electoral commission and that you consider the policies from all of the major parties so that you make an informed vote!

At the moment, I've been lucky enough to take on the role as a social justice captain in my school and as I'm planning the year ahead I'm very much looking out for new ideas and ways to engage the school. If anyone has any really creative/successful suggestions, please just get in contact with me, I'd love to hear from you!

As always, pleanty of Peace & Love,

Hilary

Hi all,

it's been a while since I've dropped a line. year 11 has been ridiculously busy. I hope everyone's had a great year.

exciting stuff happening in Australia as the world approaches the halfway point for delivering the MDG's. The Make Poverty History Campaign, the Oaktree Foundation and Reach are organising a huge roadtrip from the 1/7/07 to the 07/07/07 that will hopefully help start a little more action, and I'm going! I'm soooo excited, it should be fantastic. They'll be supported by many of Australians finest musicians and we'll spend the week travelling around and raising some awareness!

I'd love to know what other people from around the world will be doing to mark the 07/07/07, )apart from the Live Earth Concerts, of course), so drop me line and let me know!

peace and love
Hilary

I've recently had a bit of a learning curve on the subject of Global warming. I know the information has been out there for a long time and the media seems to be on a bit of climate change spree at the moment (well at least they are in Aus) but you never know quite what is actually right or relevant when you are reading the information from the newspaper now.

One thing i did stumble across two weekends or so ago was an article reporting the announcement of the live earth campaign by al gore and the concerts to be accompanying it on the 07/07/07. I had been meaning to see an inconvenient truth but, as is always the case, hadn't gotten around to it but with my interest piqued rented it out and watched it that very night. I was impressed and shocked all at once. Impressed at how the documentary had actually been made interesting to watch, they were able to get across all the damning information and included the personal bits about his life in a non-complicated form and shocked at just how bad the problem is, i was left cursing myself about not understanding more, earlier.

My school is now going to be showing parts of the DVD during a lunch break which is fantastic, but one of the main questions I suppose I still have is, is it going to be really effective? While their is no doub that the spread of awareness should be huge but will it really cause as great a change? I look at the Live 8 concerts and while it was a fantastic movement that not only united most of the world and increased the spread of awareness about the true scale of poverty around the world, it just seems in the aftermath that there is still so much out there to be done that the impact almost seems to gently fade into the background, and I worry that this might happen with these concerts. I really hope that it doesn't and I think that a lot of work will have to be done so that there is a huge change made in response tothe concerts!

With peace and love always
hil

This post comes to you from Borgo San Lorenzo, a small town just outside Florence in Italy, and it's beautiful! I'm currently on an exchange over my summer holidays and am loving every minute of it, it's been great immersing myself in another culure and let's you appreciate the differences that exist in the world.

I hope that everyone has had a fantastic New Year! (Buon Anno Nuovo, in Italian!) I also thought I'd take the time to say that I hope that everyone is proud of everything that was achieved in the last year. Although I know that we are still a long way way from achieving all of the Millennium goals, and as we approach the halfway mark for the target of 2015 it seems that we have to be even more energetic in our effort to mobilise governments to come through on the promises they made in 2000. But after receiving a Millennium Campaign e-mail for the start of the new year, it stressed the importance of being proud of the achievements made so far and using them as our inspiration for doing even more.

I hope that everyone has a safe and fruitful 2007, may it be a year for even bigger and better things!

Peace/ Pace

Hilary

Saturday the 18th of November (the day agter formal argh...........4 hrs sleep............. headache!) I went with a small group of girls from our school and a few teachers to Kings Cross. For those of you who don't know Kings Cross is an area that is notorious for it's brothels, young boys prostituting themselves on "the wall" drugs, seedy nightclub- lined streets and scores of homeless people. It is an area that is interesting in that the incredibly rich live next to the dirt poor and despite millions of dollars spent by the government to "clean the area up" the core problem still has not been mended.

We spent the day under the care of the St. Cancie parish. Attached to the beautiful old church is a house that is the home for four jesuits, a soup kitchen, a house for refugees as well as an ecumencial dialogue centre.

Apprehensive at first, the area comes with a very negative reputation, we were spoken to by Fr. Steve and an Aboriginal woman named Sue. Sue was a user of the drug ice (methamphetamine) and was also homeless. Contrary to expectations (and I know we shouldn't have had any to begin with, but it is difficult to shake off your upbringing) she was incredibly articulate and open and one of the first things she said was that she would never let anything happen to us when we were in the Cross and we all found that incredibly tounching. A member of the stolen generation she was lucky in that she was adopted to a white family who loved her very much and educated her and treated her like she was their own. She met her original family when quite young. Her natural mother was and remains an alcoholic, while her natural father is a good man. While still at school her older sister died in a car accident on the way to pick her up from a park and her people refused to accept her as one of their own becuase she was raised like a white person- so that she felt like she was missing a part of her.

Eventually she turned to ice to ease her guilt and suffering and although she managed to hold down several jobs the drug eventually took over and she has since been on the street. Her story was incredible and we were all inspired by her incredible strength. I just hope we'll be able to do more work in the area again next year.

It just reminds you to never judge a book by it's cover!