Another jewellery sale was held at the East Timorese Festival at the Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne on Sunday 11th April and, despite the inclement weather, we raised $1,140 and sold a quarter of the jewellery displayed.

The proceeds from our stall will go towards supporting East Timorese students, who study at university to become geologists in East Timor. An understanding of geology is crucial in securing natural resources, supporting economic development and the building of sustainable infrastructure in a landslide and earthquake prone region.

Rachael McCluskey, a member of Auburn congregation and a geology graduate from Melbourne University is our link with this project. Rachael¡¯s friends from Melbourne University came to sell the jewellery and transported the tables back to the church. We will deliver the funding with the assistance of Sara Soames, a Melbourne University geology graduate student from East Timor and Rob Gray, Assistant Head Administration and VCE Co-ordinator at Ballarat Grammar.
 

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Hawthorn church raises $14,265 in just one day to help victims of violence in Bougainville

Monday, 26 October 2009: Auburn Uniting Church in Hawthorn, Melbourne raised over $14,000 last Saturday, 24 October, to help the Nazareth Rehabilitation Centre in Buka, the capital of Bougainville, where Hawthorn woman, Rebecca Walker, is completing a two-year volunteering stint with Australian Volunteers International.

Although the money was raised in one day, at a sale of donated recycled jewellery, the Bling Team at the church volunteered their time over a ten-month period to solicit unwanted jewellery, sort, clean, repair and value it in readiness for last Saturday’s ”Bling for Buka” event. 

“We spread the word that we were looking for pre-loved jewellery to recycle and sell for a worthy cause,” said Judith Walker, Rebecca’s mother, and a member of the Auburn Uniting Church Council.

“And our networks kicked in very generously, with thousands of items of ladies’, men’s and kids’ bling, costume jewellery, vintage pieces, pearls, silver, gold, watches, beads and odds and ends for DIY jewellers.”

Recently retired Melbourne jeweller, Bruce Rutherford, gave up countless hours to sort and value the jewellery and found some genuine gems among the glitter.

“We always knew we had a winner with this event, and set our target high at $10,000 but to achieve over $14,000 was beyond our wildest dreams.”

The Nazareth Rehabilitation Centre was set up by a local congregation of sisters to help women and children who are the victims of violence in developing life skills and getting them back on their feet following the crisis of 1989-1999. Since then the centre and its program has grown under the leadership of Sister Lorraine Garasu and now has an active program of training and leadership courses directed at all levels of the community – children, families, couples and singles. The congregation is very active at the grass roots of the community and works closely with community members to enhance the quality of life throughout Bougainville.

The Congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth (CSN) was founded by the Marists 76 years ago. It is the only local congregation of sisters in the Diocese, with 51 sisters located throughout Bougainville. They work in missions throughout the country in positions such as teachers, nurses and pastoral workers. They are faced with the additional challenge of educating the younger sisters as the crisis created a void in leadership within the congregation.

Rebecca Walker returned from Bougainville to help run the Bling sale and recruited volunteers from among her former colleagues at the Frankston Arts Centre to help the small church community with logistics on the day of the sale.

“What led me to be a volunteer – and experience a change in pace of life, a new perspective, was a desire to give something back and help (sounds corny but its true).  The job looked interesting, my skills seemed to match the need, and Bougainville caught my interest,” said Rebecca.

“Working in a post conflict situation has been fascinating. This is a community trying to rebuild after it turned on itself – for 10 years. Nothing is easy here. The daily challenges of living include living in a village with no running water, with power just three hours a day with families who have been removed from the violence in their communities. The services are basic, if there at all. I find the Bougainvillians are amazing, intelligent, tenacious and passionate.”

The Sisters of Nazareth operate a rehabilitation centre that was opened after the Bougainville Crisis (1989-1999) and was initially set up as a centre to help single mothers and their children who are victims of all forms of violence. Today the centre also provides counselling, community leadership training, peace and reconciliation negotiation, food security workshops and training to help women, girls and children in life skills.