Ten years ago, Cate, 56, did something which changed her life. She went to an Amnesty International event at Commonwealth Park in Canberra called “The Refugee Experience.”
“It was profoundly affecting,” she recalls, “It still makes me cry.”
Until that moment, Cate didn’t really understand—on an emotional level—the pain and dispossession of being stateless. True to her word, there are tears in her eyes as she recollects this experience.
After this, Cate realised she wanted to take direct and personal action: “It brought home to me that I had to do more than protest marches, donations and petitions and really get involved in personal, local help.”
This led Cate to a local organisation called Canberra Refugee Support (CRS).
“What started as one-hour per a week volunteering gig to help Nan begin to learn English back in 2014 has become a most heart-filling and life-changing friendship,” she says, “This inspiring, courageous, generous gentle family opened their lives to me and I feel so much richer for it.”
Summer Love: Cate, Nan and Chan and family – Her Canberra – Posted on 7 April, 2021