FROM Dandenong to Zambia, it’s been a long, impressive story for a group of nuns determined to help women around the world.
That was the focus of an inspiring speech by Sister Joan Power at Dandenong last month. The Presentation Sister was welcomed to Wellsprings for Women’s annual meeting by manager Veronica Hassett and heard with rapt attention.
The story starts way back in 1912. The Presentation Sisters started working around Dandenong and, in 1994, opened Wellsprings’ door to the community. In a move that helps battlers — and a riposte to the ‘big four’ banks that often ruminate over whether they’ll pass on the Reserve Bank’s latest rate cut — Sister Power initiated no-interest loans to help people who can’t afford white goods.
Last month, she told the gathering about a huge meeting aimed at lifting the status of women in countries that afforded them none.
As a member of the International Presentation Association, she was privileged to attend the meeting in New York last year.
Thousands of women converged for a meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women , under the aegis of the United Nations. The aim was to find ways to empower women and girls to access education, training and technology and get them into decent work and full employment.
“My impression of the more than 5000 women who attended was of strong, well-educated women, passionate to make a difference in the lives of the women of their countries, especially Africa and Asia,” the sister said.
The Presentation Sisters hosted two side events at the forum, shining a spotlight on rural girls in Zambia. The Zambian envoy in New York brought together the sisters and the Zambian delegates. Together, they decided to renew efforts to give rural girls more access to education.
So congratulations to Wellsprings for Women. They’re contributing heaps to women in Greater Dandenong through their programs. Like women elsewhere around the world, they’re slowly making a difference at the grassroots level. And every little bit counts.
A new expressionism
The Walker Street Gallery and Art Centre is presenting art with a difference.
Entitled What is the Point, the exhibition by Peter Biram, Peter Rowe and poet Jim Brown uses environmental expressionism to portray our impact on the planet.
The talented trio, who launched the exhibition on October 4, are part of the new wave of artists with great concern for the environment.
The event will continue until October 27 and entry is free. The gallery is at the corner of Walker and Robinson streets, Dandenong. For opening hours, call 9706 8441 or visit walker stgallery.com.au.
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question for Marg? Email marg@your weekly.com.au or post submissions to A Moment with Marg, c/o Greater Dandenong Weekly, PO Box 318, Dandenong 3175
