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I was born in 1976 in Canberra, Australia. I am the oldest of five children; I have two brothers and two sisters. I'm currently living in Perth.

My mum was a high school teacher but spent many years working as mother and housewife. My dad worked in finance and banking. After some years working for large companies he decided to start his own small business. Most of the time, we lived on one income and on a week-to-week base.

In my younger years, I grew up in Sydney. Life was hard and my school was rough. I experienced a lot of injustice. Then our family moved to Perth. After high school I went to university to study sociology and gained my living through different jobs, as bar worker, as cleaner, working in a restaurant and retail. I still have many close friends from that time.

Young people facing social problems and others living in extreme poverty

After finishing my studies I moved to a small mining town 1200 km north of Perth for my first full time job, where I ran a youth centre. I was expecting to be a manager but I found out very quickly that I would also need to be a counsellor for the local young people. I was confronted to young people who were rich as well as young people living in extreme poverty. Many young people who were children of miners had high levels of disposable income but faced many social problems such as broken families, alcohol and drug abuse. Other young people had little money, rarely went to school and lived in poverty.

At that time too, a group of aboriginal women approached me about starting up a breakfast and homework program for their children. They were enthusiastic to bring change to their lives and their children. However, as we started to work on the project we faced many barriers including being blocked by the government. This was very disempowering to the women. I was really angered by the injustice.

After living in the mining town for a few years, I moved back to Perth to work as a sport and recreation consultant, working with communities to create sport and recreation facilities that could be accessed by all. I often worked in regional parts of Australia, where people depended on agriculture and faced drought. Young people from these areas generally left home for the city in search of post-school education or work.

Working as a consultant was very rewarding, as I was able to work with communities to bring about local and sustainable change. However, I worked extremely long hours and worked contract to contract and on a basic wage. The work was precarious.

YCW is about social justice

In my spare time, I often participated in a range of sports. One of them was surf life saving and swimming. At the end of a season competition, we often celebrated with an end of season party. This is when I first met the chaplain to the Surf Club and he told me about YCW.

He explained me that YCW wasn’t about praying or bible studies but about social justice, faith in action and young people bringing about changes to their own situations and problems. I was very interested in this, as I was passionate about young people’s lives and justice. So I agreed to go to a YCW meeting. However, the experience was disappointing, as the members mainly talked about cars during the meeting. It was not what I expected.

If we could all work like that, we would change the world!

Later that year, the National Chaplain to the YCW came to Perth for a training event. The YCW invited me to participate in the event. I was hesitant, but thought I would give it one more go. The Chaplain had a connection with indigenous Australians and related well with young people. During this training event, he encouraged me to participate in the National Council. So I did. I was amazed by the abilities and commitment of the young people at the Council. I witnessed young people running their own campaigns (unemployment, refugees, community building and casual work) responding to their reality. They were so well coordinated.

I said to myself: if we could all work like that we would be able to change the world! I want to be part of this and I joined the YCW in October 2002! I left my consultant work and started to work for YCW as a volunteer.

The worst and the best of human nature

In 2003, I worked part time for YCW and I also worked at a nursing home. I worked in administration but also worked with cleaners and domestic workers. In administration, I was required to do many tasks that did not fit into anyone else’s job description. The staff culture was very bad. Some colleagues were nasty to me and some even tried to get me fired. Because of YCW I was able to review that situation and discover the reasons and how to handle the situation. I took a lot of personal action. One day I had a coffee with the colleague who was bullying me. I asked her why she was not happy with my work. She admitted that it wasn't about me at all, she was unhappy with her life. She shared her experiences with me and after that we became friends. Her mood changed which affected all other co-workers. The staff morale improved and everyone began to enjoy his or her work.

I also had very positive experiences; many residents would smile and give me hugs. Resident relatives were also very polite and thankful. The nursing home job showed me the worst and the best of human nature.

Do something together and know your neighbour!

During this time I also started working as a YCW worker in Perth. We did a lot of work on community building, we wanted to combat the individualistic lifestyle where people consume and engage in home-based recreation. So we organized cheap community activities to create active participation.

One campaign was called “No TV Week”. We encouraged people to share a meal together, go for a walk with friends. Do something together! Another year’s campaign was “Know your neighbour!” We organized community-BBQs, which became regular annual events.

At that time also we conducted social enquiries about what young people experienced in casual work. Many young people did not know their working rights or responsibilities. Many worked while they were sick, unpaid overtime, and some didn’t receive the correct rate of pay. We discovered they feared losing their job. In September 2003 I had the privilege of participating in an Asia/Pacific exchange about “temporary work”.

Young people taking action motivated me to continue

From 2002 to 2004 I was the Perth representative in the Australian YCW National Team. In 2004 I became the national secretary. In 2004 I participated in the International Council in Venezuela. Again, seeing all these people taking action to change their reality motivated me to continue my work in the YCW.

From 2004 to 2006 we collected many young worker stories, gaining a clear understanding of what young people were experiencing in Australia. We developed a new social vision and there were 2 campaign areas emerging: the search for deeper meaning in life and work.

In 2006 our National Council brought together this reality. We confirmed our social vision and developed a National Plan of Action that focussed on just and meaningful work. Recently in Australia, the labour laws have significantly changed and disempowered young people, often leading to exploitation. Abolishing these labour laws is the focus of the “Just and Meaningful Work” campaign.

I cannot sit back and watch

All the work I have done in my life has made me the person I am, being exposed to all types of human nature: customers, managers and colleagues. I get a lot of energy working with people. Whenever human dignity is violated I become upset and feel that the situation needs to change. My family and friends give me energy and inspire me to make these changes.

I find that personally, I cannot sit back and watch. I have to act. Being the oldest child in my family naturally meant that I would be the organizer, the one who acts. For me this is a natural reaction – I'm the big sister.

My dream

• I dream of an economic and social system around the globe that ensures everybody enjoys dignified work and life.
• I have many experiences working with a wide range of people. The current system is just not working. I'd like to study the socio-economic system. To understand it better and to bring about sustainable living for everyone.