[Music]
I’d like to share with you today a
message that I received on Facebook it
was from a 14 year old boy that I met
when I was volunteering in a refugee
camp overseas hi I don’t know if you can
remember me but I will never forget you
I remember one day when I was in the
unaccompanied children section of the
refugee camp your shiny smile and your
kind words stopped me from killing
myself thank you for saving my life with
your amazing words heaps of respect and
love for you I wish you all the great
things in life I cried when I received
that message can you believe that
my shiny smile and my kind words stopped
a boy from killing himself something so
simple changed his life now how did I
come to be volunteering overseas in the
first place
well volunteering and creating change
starts at home it starts with your
neighbors and it extends out into the
local community then it expands out into
the international community I have
volunteered overseas in some of the most
and helped some of the most vulnerable
people around the world I volunteered in
natural disasters such as typhoon Haiyan
and in the Philippines and also the
Nepal earthquake I’ve also helped in
Greece at the heart of the Syrian
refugee crisis and in Iraq during the
conflict but for me my pursuit for
volunteering started at home home for me
was grood Island a remote island in the
Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern
Territory of Australia group was such a
great place to grow up in it was a place
where multiculturalism and diversity
with a norm where there was a real sense
of community and people’s tended to
stick together they stuck together
because they needed to survive out there
in such a remote location both my
parents are Greek and they migrated out
from Greece to Australia in the 1970s my
father worked on the manganese mine on
good Island and my mum supported us at
home we lived on the island until I was
about fourteen one thing that my parents
taught me from my Greek heritage was
Falah Timur philotimo is a word that
doesn’t have an English translation
but it can be defined as being hospital
hospitable and giving to others without
discrimination and without expecting
anything in return I learned growing up
in a small community and on that small
island and for my parents that you can
show Phil lotta more in your everyday
life I was a little girl when I first
joined a volunteer organization in the
community we went out and helped people
in need in the local community this is
where I began to learn about creating
change I learned how to be creative when
we had limited resources so if someone
in the community had an accident and
needed a wheelchair and they didn’t have
one we went out and fundraised and
bought them that wheelchair it was that
simple it was about that age when I
realized I was really passionate about
caring for people and I hope that one
day I would go out and become a nurse so
wanting to do that as a career I would
have to further my studies when I
finished high school I applied to
university I didn’t get in
in fact I didn’t get into anything that
I applied for I was devastated
but I realized it was up to me to create
the change so I wrote a letter to the
University with the help of one of my
teachers and I asked for them to review
the application that I had sent in
essentially I was begging them to let me
in in the three months that I waited for
a response from them I went to the local
ambulance service to do an ambulance
course to become a paramedic it was a
TAFE course and three months later I did
get a response from the University there
was a spot in the nursing program and
they were going to trial me for the
first semester this was my chance I was
so excited to get into uni this was my
passion and this was my purpose I would
be learning the skills that I needed to
go out and care for humanity and to care
for people but my excitement soon faded
when all of my essays started coming
back to me covered in red pen and it
didn’t take long before my lecturer
actually called me into her office and
she said Helen you’re not going to make
it as a nurse or a paramedic you need to
quit and pick a different course nursing
just isn’t for you I was devastated I
was standing in that office completely
gutted because I was being told that I
couldn’t fulfill my dream I couldn’t
pursue my passion
I knew that it was up to me to create
the change to create the change in
myself to prove to myself that I can do
it so as I left that office I was
determined I was not going to quit I
persevered I persisted I kept handing in
those essays they kept coming back to me
covered in red pen but I managed to pass
them just barely and I say bye I say
subject by subject I managed to get
through so I managed to graduate with a
Bachelor of Nursing but I also got my
diploma and ambulance studies as well
I stand here proudly wearing this
uniform my nurse’s uniform because I
know how hard it was for me to get here
if it wasn’t for my perseverance and my
persistence and for tackling problems
head-on I wouldn’t have made it everyone
has a moment a moment in their life when
they realize that they are on the right
path my moment came to me on a Friday
night I was driving into town heading
off to meet some friends and I saw an
accident happen up ahead it was a
chaotic scene there was a fire truck
there but there was no ambulance yet
there was bystanders running around
desperate not knowing what to do I
pulled up at the scene and I was told
that a woman had attempted to cross the
road and she’d been hit by two cars you
can imagine how horrendous her injuries
were I sprung into action helping the
fire crew do all that we could to try
and save this woman’s life I used all of
my skills that I had learned both as a
nurse and a paramedic amongst all the
chaos there was a fireman that kept
repeatedly thanking me for stopping to
help them and in that chaos I remember
holding a saline bag and reaching out to
a bystander for them to hold onto it for
me and as I reached out I looked up it
was her it was that lecturer that had
told me that I should quit and that I
would never make it as a nurse or a
paramedic
she was actually driving the car that
had hit this woman that was crossing the
road sometimes the very people that tell
us that you can’t do something or that
you should quit are the very people that
end up needing your help and they end up
showing you that you are on the right
path that was my moment
creative change isn’t just about
embracing new ideas
it’s about reflecting on old ideas that
we might have forgotten about in our
busy lives one of my favorite quotes is
from Mahatma Gandhi the best way to find
yourself is to lose yourself in the
service of others well I did just that I
volunteered in the local community I
volunteered in the local ambulance
service and I hoped that one day I would
take the skills that I had learned to go
overseas to volunteer again I was told
no I was told I wasn’t skilled enough
that I needed more experience the aid
organization that I had applied to said
that I couldn’t go overseas so I made up
a plan I stuck to it I persevered I took
up postgraduate studies I went out to
indigenous indigenous communities to
further my skills and I even went on to
complete my master’s and emergency
nursing and eventually I made it
overseas to volunteer while I was over
the Philippines I learnt the lesson of
empathy it was November of 2013 when
typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines
and absolutely demolished Tacloban
thousands upon thousands of people were
killed I volunteered I flew over with a
medical team and we set up a makeshift
clinic on the edge of a basketball court
one day and I remember standing there
staring at it all the devastation I was
actually standing in the debris and a
woman came up to me and she stood next
to me she was wearing an old t-shirt and
she’d looked absolutely exhausted her
eyes were puffy from crying and from a
lack of sleep she sobbed as she told me
that she’d lost her little boy in the
typhoon and that she was still having
nightmares and she was concerned that
the typhoon would come back there was
nothing I could do for her medically at
the time but I stood there and I
listened to her I hold her in my arms as
in the Philippines the lesson that I
learned is that if you can listen to
someone and show compassion and empathy
and consol that person that’s grieving
you can create change you can make a
difference it was in Nepal that I learnt
the lesson of compassion one of the
largest earthquakes to ever rocked Nepal
struck in April on 2015 in 2015
thousands upon thousands of people were
killed Gorka was just devastated I flew
over with the matter with a medical team
and we set up a clinic up in arc at one
of the villages up there the place was
absolutely devastated we injured after
shock after aftershock everyday it was
actually quite scary on one of the days
we had set up a clinic and we were
treating hundreds of patients and I saw
a little boy coming up from down the
mountain he was about eight years old
and he had tricked for four hours to get
to us and during those aftershocks and
possible landslides to get to us he was
hungry he was asking for food and he he
wanted some supplies to take back to his
grandparents that were to elderly to
come down for help we were so impressed
by how brave he was you know when I
looked down at his feet his his shoes
were old and falling apart and taped
together and when he looked up at me
with his those big brown eyes he and he
smiled he had his two front missing
teeth there was nothing medical I could
do for this boy well we sat him down we
fed him we gave him some supplies to
take away we gave him some guys from the
from the community to escort him back to
where he was he came from so he wasn’t
on his own
you know the lesson that I learned in
Nepal is that if you can feed someone
who is hungry and show them compassion
you can create change you can make a
difference in Greece the lesson I
learned was kindness it was the height
of the refugee crisis thousands upon
thousands of people were fleeing Syria
and surrounding countries crossing the
Aegean Sea to get to the Greek islands
being Greek Australian
felt compelled to go and help when I
heard that they were there were cries
for medical teams that needed to come
and volunteer I attended that call and I
was on the island of Lesbos thousands of
people arrived every day up to five
thousands on the week of five thousand
rivals on the week that I was there or
weeks that I was there I was freezing
cold it was winter people are arriving
soaking wet from the journey across the
sea on one of the days when I wasn’t
volunteering in the clinic I was on the
beach helping with the boat arrivals and
there was a mother there with her two
children that was soaking wet from that
boat ride
I remember getting them helping them get
changed into dry clothes and when I
wrapped a blanket around the two
children and the teeth were chattering
because it was so cold they had a look
of shock on their faces because I had
witnessed people drowning on the journey
the mother’s face you know she was so
frightened when she first arrived but
now that she knew that she was safe she
had a look of almost relief she squeezed
both my hands and thanked me for being
so kind in Greece the lesson that I
learned is that if you can wrap a
blanket around someone who is cold and
show them kindness you can create change
you can make a difference it was in Iraq
that I learnt the lesson of hope there
was still a conflict happening in Mosul
and there was a call for medical teams
to come and assist because the conflict
was still happening in hundreds of
people were escaping they were camps
situated just outside Mosul and I was in
one of those camps standing inside the
clinic and one of the days I was there a
mother approached me with her child
there was a look of sadness in their
eyes they were traumatized they were
malnourished she begged me for water to
drink I I can’t even describe racing
inside to get water for these people to
drink something so simple and as she sat
there quenching their thirst
she kept repeatedly thanking me through
the interpreter she said that seeing a
nurse had given her hope in Iraq the
less
that I learned is that if you can give
water to someone who is thirsty and give
them hope you can create change you can
make a difference all of these lessons
changed other people’s lives but they
also changed mine I no longer see
Nursing as a job or a career I see it as
a way of life and I also see that there
are very fundamental basic things that
we all can do to care for humanity when
people come up to me and they say Helen
I would love to volunteer like you and
create change in the world but I don’t
have your skills I think back to the
empathy compassion kindness hope I say
to them if you can listen to someone who
is grieving and console them you can
create change and volunteer if you can
feed someone who is hungry and show
compassion you can create change and
volunteer if you can wrap a blanket
around someone who is cold and show
kindness you can create change and
volunteer and if you can give water to
someone who is thirsty and give them
hope you can create change and volunteer
one person can’t change the world but
together we can all make a difference so
this is my call to action I challenge
you to create change I challenge you to
go out into your local community and
volunteer I challenge you to make a
difference to one person people will
tell you that you can’t that it’s too
hard or you don’t have the skills but
you are the person who can create change
in someone else’s life you’re the person
who can create change in your own life
you’re the person who can make
difference thank you
[Applause] [Music]
I’d like to share with you today a
message that I received on Facebook it
was from a 14 year old boy that I met
when I was volunteering in a refugee
camp overseas hi I don’t know if you can
remember me but I will never forget you
I remember one day when I was in the
unaccompanied children section of the
refugee camp your shiny smile and your
kind words stopped me from killing
myself thank you for saving my life with
your amazing words heaps of respect and
love for you I wish you all the great
things in life I cried when I received
that message can you believe that
my shiny smile and my kind words stopped
a boy from killing himself something so
simple changed his life now how did I
come to be volunteering overseas in the
first place
well volunteering and creating change
starts at home it starts with your
neighbors and it extends out into the
local community then it expands out into
the international community I have
volunteered overseas in some of the most
and helped some of the most vulnerable
people around the world I volunteered in
natural disasters such as typhoon Haiyan
and in the Philippines and also the
Nepal earthquake I’ve also helped in
Greece at the heart of the Syrian
refugee crisis and in Iraq during the
conflict but for me my pursuit for
volunteering started at home home for me
was grood Island a remote island in the
Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern
Territory of Australia group was such a
great place to grow up in it was a place
where multiculturalism and diversity
with a norm where there was a real sense
of community and people’s tended to
stick together they stuck together
because they needed to survive out there
in such a remote location both my
parents are Greek and they migrated out
from Greece to Australia in the 1970s my
father worked on the manganese mine on
good Island and my mum supported us at
home we lived on the island until I was
about fourteen one thing that my parents
taught me from my Greek heritage was
Falah Timur philotimo is a word that
doesn’t have an English translation
but it can be defined as being hospital
hospitable and giving to others without
discrimination and without expecting
anything in return I learned growing up
in a small community and on that small
island and for my parents that you can
show Phil lotta more in your everyday
life I was a little girl when I first
joined a volunteer organization in the
community we went out and helped people
in need in the local community this is
where I began to learn about creating
change I learned how to be creative when
we had limited resources so if someone
in the community had an accident and
needed a wheelchair and they didn’t have
one we went out and fundraised and
bought them that wheelchair it was that
simple it was about that age when I
realized I was really passionate about
caring for people and I hope that one
day I would go out and become a nurse so
wanting to do that as a career I would
have to further my studies when I
finished high school I applied to
university I didn’t get in
in fact I didn’t get into anything that
I applied for I was devastated
but I realized it was up to me to create
the change so I wrote a letter to the
University with the help of one of my
teachers and I asked for them to review
the application that I had sent in
essentially I was begging them to let me
in in the three months that I waited for
a response from them I went to the local
ambulance service to do an ambulance
course to become a paramedic it was a
TAFE course and three months later I did
get a response from the University there
was a spot in the nursing program and
they were going to trial me for the
first semester this was my chance I was
so excited to get into uni this was my
passion and this was my purpose I would
be learning the skills that I needed to
go out and care for humanity and to care
for people but my excitement soon faded
when all of my essays started coming
back to me covered in red pen and it
didn’t take long before my lecturer
actually called me into her office and
she said Helen you’re not going to make
it as a nurse or a paramedic you need to
quit and pick a different course nursing
just isn’t for you I was devastated I
was standing in that office completely
gutted because I was being told that I
couldn’t fulfill my dream I couldn’t
pursue my passion
I knew that it was up to me to create
the change to create the change in
myself to prove to myself that I can do
it so as I left that office I was
determined I was not going to quit I
persevered I persisted I kept handing in
those essays they kept coming back to me
covered in red pen but I managed to pass
them just barely and I say bye I say
subject by subject I managed to get
through so I managed to graduate with a
Bachelor of Nursing but I also got my
diploma and ambulance studies as well
I stand here proudly wearing this
uniform my nurse’s uniform because I
know how hard it was for me to get here
if it wasn’t for my perseverance and my
persistence and for tackling problems
head-on I wouldn’t have made it everyone
has a moment a moment in their life when
they realize that they are on the right
path my moment came to me on a Friday
night I was driving into town heading
off to meet some friends and I saw an
accident happen up ahead it was a
chaotic scene there was a fire truck
there but there was no ambulance yet
there was bystanders running around
desperate not knowing what to do I
pulled up at the scene and I was told
that a woman had attempted to cross the
road and she’d been hit by two cars you
can imagine how horrendous her injuries
were I sprung into action helping the
fire crew do all that we could to try
and save this woman’s life I used all of
my skills that I had learned both as a
nurse and a paramedic amongst all the
chaos there was a fireman that kept
repeatedly thanking me for stopping to
help them and in that chaos I remember
holding a saline bag and reaching out to
a bystander for them to hold onto it for
me and as I reached out I looked up it
was her it was that lecturer that had
told me that I should quit and that I
would never make it as a nurse or a
paramedic
she was actually driving the car that
had hit this woman that was crossing the
road sometimes the very people that tell
us that you can’t do something or that
you should quit are the very people that
end up needing your help and they end up
showing you that you are on the right
path that was my moment
creative change isn’t just about
embracing new ideas
it’s about reflecting on old ideas that
we might have forgotten about in our
busy lives one of my favorite quotes is
from Mahatma Gandhi the best way to find
yourself is to lose yourself in the
service of others well I did just that I
volunteered in the local community I
volunteered in the local ambulance
service and I hoped that one day I would
take the skills that I had learned to go
overseas to volunteer again I was told
no I was told I wasn’t skilled enough
that I needed more experience the aid
organization that I had applied to said
that I couldn’t go overseas so I made up
a plan I stuck to it I persevered I took
up postgraduate studies I went out to
indigenous indigenous communities to
further my skills and I even went on to
complete my master’s and emergency
nursing and eventually I made it
overseas to volunteer while I was over
the Philippines I learnt the lesson of
empathy it was November of 2013 when
typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines
and absolutely demolished Tacloban
thousands upon thousands of people were
killed I volunteered I flew over with a
medical team and we set up a makeshift
clinic on the edge of a basketball court
one day and I remember standing there
staring at it all the devastation I was
actually standing in the debris and a
woman came up to me and she stood next
to me she was wearing an old t-shirt and
she’d looked absolutely exhausted her
eyes were puffy from crying and from a
lack of sleep she sobbed as she told me
that she’d lost her little boy in the
typhoon and that she was still having
nightmares and she was concerned that
the typhoon would come back there was
nothing I could do for her medically at
the time but I stood there and I
listened to her I hold her in my arms as
in the Philippines the lesson that I
learned is that if you can listen to
someone and show compassion and empathy
and consol that person that’s grieving
you can create change you can make a
difference it was in Nepal that I learnt
the lesson of compassion one of the
largest earthquakes to ever rocked Nepal
struck in April on 2015 in 2015
thousands upon thousands of people were
killed Gorka was just devastated I flew
over with the matter with a medical team
and we set up a clinic up in arc at one
of the villages up there the place was
absolutely devastated we injured after
shock after aftershock everyday it was
actually quite scary on one of the days
we had set up a clinic and we were
treating hundreds of patients and I saw
a little boy coming up from down the
mountain he was about eight years old
and he had tricked for four hours to get
to us and during those aftershocks and
possible landslides to get to us he was
hungry he was asking for food and he he
wanted some supplies to take back to his
grandparents that were to elderly to
come down for help we were so impressed
by how brave he was you know when I
looked down at his feet his his shoes
were old and falling apart and taped
together and when he looked up at me
with his those big brown eyes he and he
smiled he had his two front missing
teeth there was nothing medical I could
do for this boy well we sat him down we
fed him we gave him some supplies to
take away we gave him some guys from the
from the community to escort him back to
where he was he came from so he wasn’t
on his own
you know the lesson that I learned in
Nepal is that if you can feed someone
who is hungry and show them compassion
you can create change you can make a
difference in Greece the lesson I
learned was kindness it was the height
of the refugee crisis thousands upon
thousands of people were fleeing Syria
and surrounding countries crossing the
Aegean Sea to get to the Greek islands
being Greek Australian
felt compelled to go and help when I
heard that they were there were cries
for medical teams that needed to come
and volunteer I attended that call and I
was on the island of Lesbos thousands of
people arrived every day up to five
thousands on the week of five thousand
rivals on the week that I was there or
weeks that I was there I was freezing
cold it was winter people are arriving
soaking wet from the journey across the
sea on one of the days when I wasn’t
volunteering in the clinic I was on the
beach helping with the boat arrivals and
there was a mother there with her two
children that was soaking wet from that
boat ride
I remember getting them helping them get
changed into dry clothes and when I
wrapped a blanket around the two
children and the teeth were chattering
because it was so cold they had a look
of shock on their faces because I had
witnessed people drowning on the journey
the mother’s face you know she was so
frightened when she first arrived but
now that she knew that she was safe she
had a look of almost relief she squeezed
both my hands and thanked me for being
so kind in Greece the lesson that I
learned is that if you can wrap a
blanket around someone who is cold and
show them kindness you can create change
you can make a difference it was in Iraq
that I learnt the lesson of hope there
was still a conflict happening in Mosul
and there was a call for medical teams
to come and assist because the conflict
was still happening in hundreds of
people were escaping they were camps
situated just outside Mosul and I was in
one of those camps standing inside the
clinic and one of the days I was there a
mother approached me with her child
there was a look of sadness in their
eyes they were traumatized they were
malnourished she begged me for water to
drink I I can’t even describe racing
inside to get water for these people to
drink something so simple and as she sat
there quenching their thirst
she kept repeatedly thanking me through
the interpreter she said that seeing a
nurse had given her hope in Iraq the
less
that I learned is that if you can give
water to someone who is thirsty and give
them hope you can create change you can
make a difference all of these lessons
changed other people’s lives but they
also changed mine I no longer see
Nursing as a job or a career I see it as
a way of life and I also see that there
are very fundamental basic things that
we all can do to care for humanity when
people come up to me and they say Helen
I would love to volunteer like you and
create change in the world but I don’t
have your skills I think back to the
empathy compassion kindness hope I say
to them if you can listen to someone who
is grieving and console them you can
create change and volunteer if you can
feed someone who is hungry and show
compassion you can create change and
volunteer if you can wrap a blanket
around someone who is cold and show
kindness you can create change and
volunteer and if you can give water to
someone who is thirsty and give them
hope you can create change and volunteer
one person can’t change the world but
together we can all make a difference so
this is my call to action I challenge
you to create change I challenge you to
go out into your local community and
volunteer I challenge you to make a
difference to one person people will
tell you that you can’t that it’s too
hard or you don’t have the skills but
you are the person who can create change
in someone else’s life you’re the person
who can create change in your own life
you’re the person who can make
difference thank you
[Applause] [Music]
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