MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
McMullan
From wading knee-deep in mud in a Bangladeshi village to counselling street kids in Vietnam's night markets, these and other incredible experiences of young Australian volunteers feature in the new documentary No Ordinary Journey.
No Ordinary Journey follows six Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) as they share skills and knowledge with people in neighbouring countries, packing more into a year than many will achieve in a lifetime.
Since the AYAD Program began in 1998, more than 2700 young Australians have contributed to reducing poverty in 20 countries. The volunteers work with international and local organisations to improve the lives of millions of people in the developing world to achieve sustainable development.
AusAID, the Australian Government's Agency for International Development, funds and supports hundreds of Australians aged between 18 and 30 every year as they take up the challenge of helping make our world a better place.
The roles they undertake are as diverse as the people themselves but they all have one thing in common – a desire to make a difference. From carpenters to engineers and nurses to sports coaches, they all impact on the people and places they work and come back changed by the experience.
Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, is encouraged by the number of young Australians who volunteer their time and energy to support people in developing countries in our region.
"We have one of the most internationally engaged younger generations in the world and you know the future is in good hands when we have these young people supporting those less fortunate," Mr McMullan said.
More often than not, an AYAD assignment is just the start of a life-long journey in the development field.
No Ordinary Journey highlights the important contribution young Australians are making in developing countries in our region, such as:
· South Australia's Alice Moffett following her passion for the environment to Aceh to work with an organisation helping restore the tsunami-devastated landscape.
· Pierre Johannessen swapping a comfortable desk job in Canberra to raise funds for rebuilding homes destroyed by cyclones in poverty-stricken Bangladesh.
· Vietnam refugee Tam Tran, from Melbourne, returning to his birth country as a social worker, counselling street kids and encouraging them to return to school.
· Nurses Kylee St George, from Darwin, and Christian James, from Brisbane, meeting the challenges of an under-resourced health system in Papua New Guinea.
· Melbourne's Tina Macumber establishing a new career and discovering how sport can help a small country like Samoa move ahead.
Entertaining and enlightening, the documentary, No Ordinary Journey will be aired on the Ten Network at 3pm (AEST) on Sunday 30 August. Segments will also be available for viewing via the AusAID YouTube channel accessible through the AusAID website http://www.ausaid.gov.au/.