Face to Face.

WORDS CATRIONA GILLIES LAWSON

Meet a World Vision worker in Asia who gets behind the images to hear the true life stories

This month, Jetstar speaks with Katie Chalk whose job involves gathering information on World Vision’s work to update supporters. Chalk meets children from various projects in Asia to gain valuable insights into the lives behind the statistics.

Why is information so important?
Finding out what is really affecting children is the first step to changing it. Information helps us design appropriate programs to help the children affected by issues like gender discrimination, sex tourism and AIDS.
We also want to let our supporters know how their money is being spent and what changes they are making possible.

What’s the best thing about your job?
Meeting the people and hearing their stories first hand. So many live in hardship, but they’re always pleased to meet me and share their stories. The people who have the least seem to be the most generous to me and to others in their community. I’ve met some parents who have achieved remarkable things for their children – all they needed was a little help or advice and they did the rest.

How is World Vision helping to address issues in Asia?
We’re working in 18 countries in Asia with different cultures and challenges. Some programs like child sponsorship are designed for a particular district or community.

Others cover sub-regions. For instance, we’re conducting anti-trafficking work at a community and government level in five countries around the Mekong River, including Vietnam and Thailand, trying to make the flow of migration between these countries safer.

Can you tell us about some of the things you’ve seen?

In Bangkok, I saw some great work being done by families in the slum areas through sponsorship. With World Vision’s assistance, women formed small business groups to learn skills or borrow money to start small businesses, such as food preparation, carving of flowers for Buddhist funerals, and remedial massage.

In Sri Lanka, I visited a large community of people who have worked on tea plantations for years on little better than a slave wage. Their options were limited by poverty, lack of education and no awareness of their rights. With World Vision’s help they have started farming co-operatives to grow vegetables on vacant land and sell them at the market. One of the women said: “This is the first thing I can call mine.”

My favourite visit was to a drop-in centre for child labourers in Cambodia. I spent a day with children who had been working since they were five or six, but were finally learning to read and write. Play was part of the daily curriculum – I have never seen children play with such enthusiasm. It was as if they were allowed to be children for the first time.

What are some of the issues children face?

In some parts of Asia, poverty is destroying many children’s lives. There are street children with no families to care for them; children who are trafficked into labour or are sexually exploited; children who have no opportunity to go to school; there are even children who go without food and fresh water.

Are the children you meet aware of their rights?

World Vision conducts clubs where children learn about their rights, as well as learning leadership skills, how to help their friends and generally how to keep out of danger. The clubs are particularly important in communities where ethnic or religious conflict exists as well as areas with a high incidence of child labour or sexual exploitation. They take the new ideas and facts that they’ve learned and apply them at home and in their communities.

Can you share a positive, encouraging story with us?

When I was in Fang, northern Thailand, an area with a high number of AIDS orphans, I met a talented boy called Kasem*. He had won a national drawing competition and was great at playing music. But his parents had disappeared and he was living with his grandmother who was getting paid next to nothing for her work. They were so poor that he would cook weeds for dinner, and sometimes she would tell him not to go to school because she was ashamed to send him with nothing to eat.

For children like Kasem, World Vision introduced a lunch nutrition program so they could have at least one nutritious meal a day. Kasem and his grandmother were also given chickens to raise – such a small gift, but so effective. Less than a year later, Kasem and his grandmother now have several hens laying eggs. The going is still tough for them, and his grandmother worries about what will happen when she becomes too old to work, but Kasem says he wouldn’t change a thing about his life.

What’s the greatest thing you’ve learnt since working in Asia?

That people are the same everywhere – they love their children, they want the chance to prove themselves and they laugh when you do.

Any words of inspiration based on your experience?

You can be part of a larger world, or you can just look after your own little world – it’s your choice. Personally, I’d much rather be part of something bigger, which is why my job is so rewarding.

*In accordance with World Vision’s Child Protection Policy, names of vulnerable
children have been changed to protect their identity.

About Star Kids
Jetstar has now taken their StarKids’ fundraising onboard with donation envelopes in the seat pocket of every Jetstar service. Passengers are encouraged to place small change in any currency into the envelopes. All monies raised will go to the StarKids’ program. This Jetstar and World Vision initiative aims to raise at least AU$3 million over three years for World Vision to fund programs assisting children in Australia and countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. For more information visit www.jetstar.com/starkids.