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‘I’ve got to say I’ve been very fortunate with a lot of the kids I’ve had over the years. They’ve said to me, “Miss, you’ve always just been there. In our broken English, in our horrible writing, you’ve just been there. You’re stable. You’re with us. You listen to all our sob stories and all our successes.”

‘Even if it’s minor, I’m there; with them. I think they just need that one person that brings them stability at school – that one person they can go to. Someone who is willing to listen. That makes a difference to somebody’s life.

‘We run a homework centre at school that started for ESL kids only then opened up to everyone. We advocated to get more assistance because there was such a need. The kids just know you’re there. They know you’re going to listen.’

‘If you’re not there, they’ll hunt you down and drag you there! We are hunted!’

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‘I’ve always had depression from when I was young. I think it came about from my family life. My dad was not a nice person. I’m not in contact with him anymore. He got deported back to England. He did something super serious.

‘It’s taken me a long time to get through it and as you get older there are issues. When you’re younger you didn’t have to face these issues but when you get older it’s a new issue and a new part of that problem that you never had to deal with. I guess I’m OK.’

If you give advice to fathers out there from a daughter’s perspective, what would it be?

‘Listen to them and look after them. Don’t hurt them. A father plays a huge role in a child’s life. I’ve seen kids go through the same thing where they’ve got fathers that haven’t been there for them enough or haven’t focused on them at all or have treated them in a certain way because they’re not a boy. You just really have to focus. You don’t understand how that impact of your dad really destroys you. Your family upbringing is a huge thing. If your father’s not around it destroys a lot.’

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‘One of the happiest moments in my life was when I met this man. We met at a club – dancing. He is from the north of Spain. I just love his character and his personality.’

What’s your biggest challenge right now?

‘To find a balance between working life and my personal life. It’s pretty intensive full time work and living in Sydney. I’ve thought about chucking it all in and just going to Spain.’

Is it likely to happen?
‘We’ll see…

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‘I’ve always loved writing stories and I’ve always been drawn towards fantastical stories and comedy. When I grew up I used to get quite frustrated with television because I didn’t see many female characters in the shows I used to watch. I write children’s television shows and I got to a point about a year ago when I had this opportunity to write and I just thought, it’s perfect – maybe I can help make a change – to try to even the playing field.

‘You don’t tend to see a lot of female main characters or even sub-characters on television. The shows tend to be about boy characters that are really great and fantastic and save the day. If it is a girl, they’re usually a sister or they’re in trouble or a bit of a sidekick.

‘It means that young girls don’t learn to see themselves as potential heroes. They think that adventures and journeys are for boys and that they’re maybe supposed to be the sidekicks. If you grow up seeing that message over and over again it must have some sort of impact on you.’

Did you have someone in your life that encouraged you to do what you want to do?

‘I have an awesome mother and also a super awesome grandmother. They’re both very strong women. My mother was a single mum – she’s a poet now. My grandmother was an actress, a director and a model before most women even had jobs. She was one of the first women on television back in Adelaide. I grew up around them and because I was exposed to women like that I never really doubted that I could do the same thing. There are a lot of girls that don’t have that growing up. It’s amazing how much just one role model can change that.’

What advice would you give to young girls?

‘Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do what it is that you love. It’s probably unlikely that people will give you that positive message so you’re going to have to discover the courage within yourself to believe that.’

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‘The big change for me was that I lost my dad. It was over two years ago. He was a doctor and he’d been in the same community for over 30 years. He did quite well for himself and he had a lot of stuff and all the things that come with that.

‘But when it was all said and done, the thing that made the biggest impact on me was they had a big memorial for him and they had the biggest hall in our small suburb in Newcastle. I turned up and there were just crowds of people in the streets out the front who couldn’t fit inside.

‘I realised that that’s the only thing you’ve got is the impact you’ve had on other people’s lives. It’s not about all the money that you earned and all those successes and that was just a huge change for me. From that day, I went down this path.

‘Looking at what I’m seeing today shows to me that there is definitely the interest out there for people to be able to come together for many different reasons to express themselves. I just like to bring a little bit of happiness to people’s lives in some way, help the community and be part of it. I hope that then creates a domino effect of people helping each other. Something I’ve always lived by is to be the change in the world you want to see.’

COMMUNE founder, Sam Ali.

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‘Life is meant for laughing and joking and things like that. Not for worrying and being serious about things. And if you feel like dancing and singing, go ahead. Life is for joy – not for miseries. Here on the Earth is a wonderful place. We should be looking after it a lot more than we do.

‘I’m proud to be an old coot. On the 22nd of September, I shall be 90 years old. I’m no longer a dashing young chap. I used to dread old age but now I’ve learnt all these things about how to maintain my health.

‘Avoid all synthetic food – like margarine. The other thing to avoid is Aspartame – it is quite a poison. Also, there are five exercises called ‘The Five Rites of Rejuvenation’. These are the most interesting things I have learnt. I’ll demo the first one. You’ve heard of prana and you’ve heard of chi and George Lucas tells us about the force. It’s all around us. There is a way of scooping it in. This is the basic one – now stand back. What you do is you’re scooping it up with this hand and with the other hand you’re flinging it away.

‘I do that every morning. I learned this at 60 years old. I still get up half an hour earlier every day to do this. People are flattering – they tell me I don’t look a day over 60. Well, 60 was a long time ago!’

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‘My friend took his own life about 3½ years ago. That was really sad – it was a hard thing to go through. We were really close. We were supposed to actually hang out the day he did it but our plans got cancelled.

‘I was completely shocked. I didn’t think he’d actually ever do it. He talked to me about it. I was trying to help him through it a bit so I felt a bit responsible and a bit guilty but that passes. Things happen and people have talked to me about it so I feel a lot better now but yeah, just completely shocked.’

If you could go back in time, what would you say to him?

‘I would probably go over there and hang out with him that day and tell him how many people cared about him and that we miss him and that it would be different without him there because it’s definitely different.’

What would be your message to other people who may have friends in a similar situation?

‘Make sure you’re there for them and don’t take it lightly. Even if you don’t think they’re serious, just talk to them about it. They’re obviously doing it for a reason. They need someone to be there for them. Either way you have to make sure you’re there.’

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‘I work on an international project in the HIV sector.’

If you could communicate one point that would make people more aware about the issues associated with living with HIV, what would that be?

‘In Australia, having HIV is not a crime and it’s a stigma about HIV that’s the biggest issue that we have.’

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‘The last time I saw my husband was on the 30th of September 2012. I miss everything about him – he is so interesting.I’m from Cameroon and have been in Australia for one year. I came here with nothing but the most important thing is I’ve got a place to sleep. I have no other family here.My husband got involved in a socialist group at home. My country is bilingual. We have the French and the English part of it. The French are more dominant because there is a larger population of them. My husband joined the English movement. It’s termed illegal by the President so anybody who is caught trying to fight for the rights for the English Cameroonians falls in to trouble with the President. We are treated like we are not part of the country.

During one of the meetings he got arrested but managed to get out of the country through the help of one of the senior members. I didn’t know where he was. The police were after me because of my husband’s involvement in the rights. He was a serious member of the movement.

It’s a government that nobody asks questions of. What happens happens. I have a Masters Degree in Communication but sometimes I am really scared to be a journalist because we know some of the things that happen. I was worried my husband would go to jail or be killed. Most of the members have been killed.

I didn’t know anything about Australia but when I came I had a warm welcome. The people have been very nice even though the whole visa process has been slow.

I’ve been training at Parliament on King for five weeks. I’m not a coffee person but now I get to make coffee and have been learning about all the different types. I am now in contact with my husband – he made his way to Austria. We speak every other day.’