This year our Project Compassion theme is: A J ust Future.

This year our Project Compassion theme is: A Just Future. A Just Future starts with You. Through your generous support of Caritas Australia you are empowering young people to build a just future for themselves, their families and their communities.

For more than 50 years, Caritas Australia has worked together with our neighbours in Australia and around the world to combat poverty, promote justice and uphold human dignity.

NEPAL CAMBODIA JANAKI RATTANAK PHILIPPINES PSYCHE MAE AUSTRALIA JORDAN EVANGELINE BAYAN MOZAMBIQUE DITOSA FEATURED COUNTRY WHERE WE WORK

CHINA FEATURED COUNTRY WHERE WE WORK

Janaki, a young businesswoman from Nepal, has turned her life around. Growing up in extreme poverty and forced into a marriage at the age of twelve, she faced many challenges. Her husband died just two years into their marriage. Janaki and her parents in the front room of their house that also operates as a convenience store.

Janaki using her sewing machine to make clothes and earn a living. In 2015, Janaki joined a youth club formed by Caritas Australia’s partners, Caritas Nepal and the Ekata Foundation Surkhet, learning how to sew. She took a loan from the youth club to purchase her first sewing machine.

A Just Future starts with Empowerment. Two years on, Janaki has 11 sewing machines and is running her own business teaching others. She is a role model in her community. Janaki is now a Youth Club leader.

FEATURED COUNTRY WHERE WE WORK

The Caritas Australia supported Deaf Development Program (DDP) was a lifeline for Rattanak, helping him to participate in his community. Rattanak contracted polio as a child and also became deaf. DDP provides sign language, job training and interpreting services to people who are deaf. Rattanak standing in his barber shop.

Rattanak working in his barber shop. Rattanak graduated from the education program in 2010, returning the following year to train as a barber. DDP then helped him to set up his shop in his parent’s house in his village.

Rattanak has emerged from his isolated world at home. He is now running a successful business and supporting his family. A Just Future starts with Community. Rattanak and his wife, Phirum.

TURKEY SAUDI ARABIA FEATURED COUNTRY WHERE WE WORK

Bayan is 12 years old living with her family in Jordan. She grew up in Syria’s capital, Damascus before the conflict in Syria forced her family to flee. As a quiet, young refugee, she struggled to overcome the trauma she experienced and faced the prospect of missing out on an education. Bayan waiting outside her home for the Caritas school bus.

Fortunately Bayan has been able to attend a Caritas supported Education Program in Jordan. Here she receives support and tutoring. Bayan attends classes on Saturdays run by the Caritas Education Program.

Now, Bayan is an academic high-achiever and is flourishing in the stable environment school life brings. A Just Future starts with a Safe Place to Learn.

Evangeline was first featured in Project Compassion 2016, and has risen to the role of Senior Artsworker. Evangeline’s small remote community in the Northern Territory face a range of challenges stemming from the violent experience of colonisation, including few jobs, crowded housing and lack of access to services.

The non-profit Aboriginal organisation, DjilpinArts is supported by Caritas Australia and is a key employer in this community. • At the Centre, young people come together with Elders to learn about their culture through art, storytelling, dance and song. • Djilpin Arts provided Evangeline with an opportunity. Evangeline – Senior Artsworker for Djilpin Arts Aboriginal Corporation.

Evangeline and the team of Artsworkers are doing really important work promoting their cultural knowledge and providing excellence in Indigenous tourism. A Just Future starts with Culture.

Ditosa lives in Mozambique. She was first featured in Project Compassion 2013 when she was just 12 years old and had lost both her parents to AIDS-related illnesses. Caritas Australia helped Ditosa, her aunt and her grandmother build a new home and assisted with transport, school materials and fees, to help Ditosa to stay at school. Ditosa in her classroom in 2013 when she was first featured in Project Compassion.

Ditosahas now graduated from school and hopes to go to university to become a police officer. She loved school and is ambitious for the future.

A Just Future starts with Education. Ditosa with Mama Cacilda, Director of Caritas Regional Chokwe

FEATURED COUNTRY WHERE WE WORK INDONESIA

Psyche Mae is now a young social worker, achieving her dream of helping others struggling to leave poverty behind them – with plans to study a Master’s degree. In 2008, Psyche Mae helping her father in the squatter settlement. When Psyche Mae featured in Project Compassion 2008, she was living in a squatter settlement, on the edge of a giant rubbish dump outside Manila, in the Philippines.

Participating in a Caritas Australia supported urban renewal program, Psyche Mae’s family have been able to lift themselves out of poverty. Psyche Mae’s mother learnt how to make bags to sell to support her family.

Ten years later, Psyche Mae continues to give back to her community. A Just Future starts with Opportunity. Psyche Mae visited Australia in 2016 as the keynote speaker of Caritas Australia’s Women for the World event.

THANK YOU! Photo credits Janaki, Nepal: Rattanak, Cambodia: Bayan, Jordan – Richard Wainwright. Evangeline, Australia – Sascha Costigan. Ditosa, Mozambique – Erin Johnson and Ivy Khoury. Psyche Mae, Philippines – Nicole Clements and Sean Sprague

This year our Project Compassion theme is: A J ust Future.