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Explore a selection of my community news stories below.

Canberra Weekly •

28-year-old Canberra woman heads towards Homeless World Cup

In about 10 days’ time, a team of eight street soccer players, brought together by backgrounds in homelessness and disadvantage, will represent Australia at the 2023 Homeless World Cup.

The Big Issue Street Socceroos are heading towards Sacramento, California where the Cup will take place on 8 July. Among them is Caity, the only Canberran, and the only woman on the team.

Her teammates may tower over her in size, but Caity welcomes her opponents to underestimate her. It only makes it that much
Canberra Weekly •

Challenging perceptions of homelessness at Vinnies CEO Sleepout in Canberra

On the longest night of the year, Thursday 22 June, Canberra’s CEOs and leaders will sleep out for homelessness in the National Museum of Australia’s Garden of Australian Dreams – where the word ‘home’ is emblazoned in 80 different languages.

The Vinnies CEO Sleepout has raised a few eyebrows over the years, along with the millions of dollars for homelessness support services. Christine Shaw, of Blackshaw Manuka, “throws down the gauntlet” for naysayers to take part.
Canberra Weekly •

'Unissued Diplomas' preserves stories of Ukrainian students

Sunday 2 April will be the last day for Canberrans to see an exhibit that has travelled to 45 universities, in 20 countries across the world. The ANU centre for European Studies is displaying Unissued Diplomas in the Kambri Cultural Centre, which is free to walk in from 7am to 7pm every day.

The exhibition was created for the Ukrainian university students who died following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It was written, organised, and carried around the world by their peers who
Canberra Weekly •

‘Private world of pain’ portraits of endometriosis

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, which aims to raise the profile of a debilitating disease that affects one in nine Australian women.

Canberra artist Melissa Hammond photographed local woman Kristy Stephenson, who lives with Stage IV Endometriosis – the most advanced stage.

“I said, I could show you all my scars from my surgeries, but she wanted to find out what pain looks like for me.

“For me, pain is usually in the middle of the night."
Canberra Weekly •

A woman of spirit: Adele Auva’a

A finalist in Lifeline Canberra’s 2022 Women of Spirit Awards, Adele Auva’a is a survivor, a proud Samoan woman, and a community mentor to young girls. Above all that, however, she’s a mum of two.

“Straight up, being a single mum is the one hurdle I’m still overcoming to this day,” says Adele.

“Growing up in our culture, we always saw that you stay in your relationship – whether you’re happy or you’re not, because it’s that union, supposedly, that will carry you.”
Canberra Weekly •

Fragile X Family: ‘We’re out there, but no one knows’

Wife Sharon, husband Eugene, eldest son Ben, daughter Emily, and youngest son Gabe, of inner south Canberra, are proud to say they are not a perfectly normal family, thank you very much.

Fragile X syndrome is an under-recognised and frequently misdiagnosed genetic disorder caused by fragility in the X chromosome.

It is the leading cause of inherited developmental disability, affecting approximately one in 5,000 people.
Canberra Weekly •

Men’s Table doesn’t just talk about ‘footy and sh*t’

Over dinner once a month, Men’s Table creates a unique, safe environment for men to share openly about their lives, their challenges, their highs and their lows.

Popping up in communities all over Australia, an anonymous survey conducted by The Men’s Table revealed that these self-organising local groups have led to 80 per cent of participants reporting better mental health and wellbeing.

Six in 10 (61 per cent) also reported an improvement to their overall communication skills.

CW caught up
Canberra Weekly •

ANU students despair lack of follow-through on safety

Last Monday (1 August), on the fifth anniversary of the 2017 National Student Safety Survey (NSSS) on sexual assault and sexual harassment, students gathered once more, sadly with new survivors in the crowd, demanding that ANU ‘Follow Through.’

On Wednesday 30 March 2022, over 400 ANU students and staff members gathered in the rain to vote on a list of demands.

This was in response to the shocking results of the 2022 NSSS on sexual assault and sexual harassment.
Canberra Weekly •

Ukrainian mother and daughter find refuge with Canberran family

“It was hard to accept the war because we knew we would not have the same life again. Now, there is life before the war, life during the war, and, I think, after the war.” – Yuliya, Ukrainian refugee.

Patrons of St Paul’s Ginninderra Anglican Church have opened their home and community to a Ukrainian mother and daughter, who were left refugees following the holiday from hell.

Before the war, 32-year-old Yuliya was a business trainer in IT, living in Kyiv, two hours from her hometown.

Her moth
Canberra Weekly •

Sierra Leone refugee aims to reduce maternal mortality, fistula rates

“The Sierra Leone civil war is one of the most vicious wars that has ever happened, and nobody knows about it, just because it’s in Africa,” says Aminata Conteh-Biger, who will address the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

As a child, Aminata lived a charmed life in Freetown, Sierra Leone, alongside her siblings and beloved father. This changed irrevocably when, at just 18 years old, she was kidnapped by rebel forces and held captive for months, used as a weapon of the civil war.
Canberra Weekly •

Original ‘Brazen Hussy’ reflects on war and feminism

Canberra resident and founding member of Australia’s women’s liberation movement, Biff Ward, 78, chats with CW journalist, Anja de Rozario, 23, about feminism, the Vietnam War, and the new generation’s continuing march for justice.

When founding member of Australia’s women’s liberation movement, Biff Ward (78), stood in front of thousands at the 2021 March4Justice, she said she never thought she’d live to see the day.

“That was true,” she smiled into her teacup, as we sat among her many booksh
Canberra Weekly •

Meet Canberra YouTube star Susie J Todd

When Susie Todd quit her fulltime job as a teacher’s aide to pursue a career on YouTube, she had no idea she would gain a combined 847,000 followers in just a couple of years.

Susie’s channel (susiejtodd) posts fashion, beauty and fitness content, but it was her videos surrounding body positivity and midsize representation that made waves on the platform.

In August 2019, the Chloe Ting fitness challenge was well on its way to amassing over 387 million views.