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Next Meeting AGM
Friday 16th November
Abdelhadi Matar
Darfur Australia Network
Annie Fletcher's
African Drum Group
This month is the AGM and we are fortunate to have Abdelhadi Matar, President of the Darfur Community Association of Australia, speak to us.
The Darfur Australia Network (DAN) is a not-for-profit community organisation run by the Darfur community to raise awareness about the continuing tragedy in the Darfur region of Sudan, assist in the resettlement of Darfuri refugees and build solidarity between the Australian people and the people of Darfur.
There is a full article on Abdel's escape from Sudan and subsequent arrival in Australia in "New Matilda"
http://www.newmatilda.com/home/articledetailmagazine.asp?ArticleID=2543
Oxfam also have an article entitled "Support African refugees urges open letter to Immigration Minister in The Australian"
http://www.oxfam.org.au/media/article.php?id=403
To complement Abdel's talk we have Annie Fletcher, founder and director of Rhythm Antics and her students playing the African drums.
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Diamond Valley Oxfam Bookfair
Raises $13,550
The wonderful news is that last month's bookfair raised $13,550. This is a fantastic result and Beth would like to congratulate everyone involved. It was a wonderful team effort. Every body pitched in to make the event a great success.
No other groups in Melbourne hold a book fair, so it might be open to discussion as to whether the book fair should be our major fund raiser for the year.
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Oxfam Australia Diamond Valley Group Annual Report 2007
The past 12 months have seen the group challenged by several interesting speakers, involved in a number of lobbying activities and has raise over $20,000 for the work of Oxfam. The energy and enthusiasm of the members continues to make it one of the more active Oxfam groups and it has made a real contribution to both the local and the international communities.
Several speakers came from the Oxfam office. In February, Terry Robb talked with us about issues in Aboriginal health and about the then upcoming "Close the Gap" campaign. In May, Charlotte Sterrett spoke about the impact of climate change on the communities in southern Africa. She followed a broader presentation on climate change by Euan Nichol, a lecturer from Victoria University. Richard Simpson from Oxfam's Humanitarian Unit, focused his talk on a new food for work program in Turkana, northern Kenya which was yielding good early results.
There were also a number of outside speakers. In July, Nic Maclellan, a Pacific expert, gave an impressive talk about the issues currently facing the Pacific communities. At the August meeting, Lee Tan, from the Australian Conservation Foundation, spoke about conservation and resource issues facing PNG. In February, former AVI volunteers, Damian and Sophie Magner, spoke of their work on an environmental project in southern India. This talk was supplemented by a report from Ruth and Stephen of a project amongst tribal communities in the same area which they had visited earlier in the year.
Jenny Macklin, our local member and opposition spokesperson on Aboriginal Affairs, came and spoke at the June Meeting. She outlined the ALP policy and priorities for the
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