The 2006 Seed food Life Gala Dinner
Please click the pictures to view a larger image
Spring into Action for GOYA, it was the night that had everything: good food, fine wine, laughter, tears, music, an auction, a celebrated speaker, and a brand new unplugged band. Above all, it was a night which raised $27,000 for our neighbours to the north in Timor Leste.
With its theme of Seeds Food Life, The 2006 Goya Gala dinner fittingly was held on the first day of Spring, Friday, September 1 at the Hawthorn Town Hall, when more than 120 diners enjoyed a spread with a Mediterranean - and Adriatic - flavour: Turkish dips with pide and Egyptian dukkah, Greek tsatziki, chicken in vine leaves, polenta tartlets with mushrooms, salads and petits fours for dessert.
Guest speaker was the doyenne of Australian cuisine, Stephanie Alexander, whose address on her kitchen gardens project at Collingwood College highlighted the importance of horticulture and the need for support of work being carried out by GOYA in East Timor and Papua New Guinea.
GOYA founder, Felicity Fraser (who trained and worked with Ms Alexander), spoke passionately of the need for funds to further the programmes already being run and to develop new projects, more specifically, community gardens where Timorese communities will work together to achieve sustainable self- sufficiency. Under the guidance of Sr.Aurora Pires who operates a pre primary school in Dili, the capital of Timor Leste the students will learn from a young age, the importance of the seasons, water preservation, compost and the nurture of the produce needed to sustain their families.
Among the night's highlights were presentations made by MLC students, two of whom - Frankie Rizzo and Tenille Rickard - spoke of their experiences in East Timor in 2005, and screened a powerful slide show looking at the harsh conditions of Timorese life, but also showing the optimism of this troubled people.
Two auctions were held during the evening. A silent auction of items assembled by the students of Methodist Ladies College raised $10,000. Master of Ceremonies, the lapsed TV cook Ian Parmenter - who has been a long time supporter of Ms Fraser's work in East Timor - acted as auctioneer and managed to wrest a further $7,000 from the generous crowd.
Music for the night was by Little Flo', a jazz band made up of MLC students, who played to welcome in patrons. Later in the evening, a new acoustic folk trio, formed especially for the occasion and led by Steve Blundell, who himself has contributed greatly to the East Timor efforts and is a member of the committee.
The funds raised on the night will go towards sustaining the GOYA projects but more specifically, to the establishment of the community gardens.
Ms Fraser acknowledges the special support provided by Mary and Steve, The Caterers and their lovely Staff; Vicky Manos, Janice Bate and the MLC Hospitality Students; Katherine Lee for her beautiful graphics; the tireless work of the GOYA Committee and all the members of the GOYA Foundation, without their support this precious and important work could not continue.
Ian Parmenter, September 2006.
Felicity's speech for 2006 Seed Food Life Gala Dinner
Thank you Ian for that lovely introduction. Many of you may not know that Ian has been generously supporting our work since the very beginning in 1997 and is now in fact a paying member....I warmly welcome everyone to this special evening, SEED FOOD LIFE - especially our guest speaker Stephanie Alexander.
Tonight is the result of much collaborative hard work, energy and the dedication of many people and I thank everyone who has had a part in bringing this evening together.
I thank the GOYA Committee of Jill, Sally, Terri, Lee, Stevie, Libby, Sue, Rebecca, Ildi, Eloise, Sophie and the MLS support squad led by Vicky Manos and Janice Bate dedicated team of Hospitality students waiting on us this evening. I must also mention the efforts of Kristy Keppich who now drives the MLC Timor Relief effort and the senior school House coordinators, tutors and students at MLC who assembled the beautiful hampers on display today. I also welcome the MLC students Frankie Rizzo the prefect for TL, and Tenille Rickard whose moving poem about a little Timorese girl was published in our newsletter. These young women came with me to TL last year and will be speaking to you about the effect that this trip has had upon their lives.
A special thank you to Katherine Lee who is the creator of our beautiful graphics that are used to represent our Foundation.
Lastly and so very importantly, all of our generous sponsors who have been giving to help us grow for many years. This year we have many new sponsors including Hemphills Herbs who provided your gift of seeds, packaged especially for tonight.
I began working with Stephanie in 1981 when I was a complete novice in the ways of the Hospitality Industry and she was already a legend. I have some great memories and stories from that time. Stephanie is no longer a restranteur and has replaced her whisk with a shovel dedicating her time to the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation “that exists to develop life-long healthier and Happier eating Habits in a new generation of Australians by engaging them in growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing delicious and healthy food at primary school.” So here is the link with this evening ….. Stephanie is a respected leader within our community seeking to improve the lives and quality of lives of others through the work of her Foundation and we at GOYA seek to do likewise…..even if our gardens are a little further afield!
The GOYA Foundation supports many women in position of leadership in both TL and PNG and Frankie and Tenille will mention later this evening ManaLu who inspired them on their visit in 2005. ManaLu establishes community gardens in all of her 8 missions across TL as well as educating the local people in sustainable self sufficiency, but tonight the - Seed Food Life project is supporting the efforts of Sister Aurora Pires, a Timorese born Cannossian nun who has built and operates a kinder in Dili Timor Leste. I have had a long association with Aurora and her family especially her mother Marga who was my first contact with the Timorese Community in Melbourne. Marga, her husband Fernando and their 7 children fled from Timor when the Indonesian Military invaded in 1975. They were in grave danger as Fernando was an official in the Government and of mixed Portuguese Timorese blood and they were being targeted. They left in a small boat and were picked by a Norwegian tanker and taken to Darwin. Eventually the family settled in Melbourne’s west and took on any employment they could in order to educate and support their family. Marga said she wanted to work in a chicken processing plant but she couldn’t reach the chooks! Fernando started the Victorian East Timorese Association and worked tirelessly, as did the entire family to bring international attention to the situation and bring freedom. He insisted that his children speak both Tetum, the local dialect and Portuguese at home so that when they returned to reclaim their lives in Timor they would be free to communicate.
Fernando died one year before the liberation and his entire family have either returned to T in some capacity or work with the Timorese community in Melbourne. Aurora’s community sent her back to Timor to assist in the rebuilding process. Aurora is a chip off the old block and despite the habit she wears and the vows she has taken, she actively seeks to improve the lives of the children in TL, whatever it takes. Besides her formal religious duties and the operation of the kinder she has taken on the responsibility of educating the few child care workers that are facing the challenge of developing systems across the entire country. If one of the many children aren’t at kinder she will borrow a vehicle and try to find them and discover the reason. One such child she discovered lying on a floor at home unable to walk. The child had tuberculosis in her thigh joint and if Aurora hadn’t discovered her and taken her to the hospital, She surely would have died. The child recovered.
Aurora is also trying to develop and publish books written in Tetum, the local language and when she found that her carpenter was an artist she sought funding to pay him so he could support his family and create Timorese drawings for the stories. More recently, the kinder became a refugee camp for many thousands of people who sought shelter there. And the ground have been ruined. Aurora would stand sentry at the gates and when the rebels came to drag the men away to shoot them she would prevent their entry and berate them for their stupidity.
She has been formally trained in the emilia romagna method of pre primary school education which is immensely creative and allows the individual to develop their own creativity. Its pretty progressive stuff for T. She works tirelessly and will fight to develop what she believes in. She thinks that the older generations have been damaged by their history and that Timor will only improve if the children are nurtured and well educated and the earlier the better. The children will learn good practices and then take them to their villages. We have supported her work for many years and her lastest project has become even more important since the latest outbreak of violence and chaos. Now that the kinder has been built she is seeking to create a community garden where the children will learn to plant by the seasons, will learn about compost and water conservation, they will harvest and cook what they have grown and they will involve their families. They will learn to respect the land and their dependance upon it for their survival. In some villages, the parents will work in the garden in return for their children’s education. Sustainable self sufficiency is the only way that most people in TL will survive. You won’t find an obesity problem, but there is widespread evidence of malnutrition and starvation.
Please help us to help Aurora and the Children of Timor Leste. Help us to rebuild their kinder, establish a watering system, to buy their seed, grow their food and to give them life.
For me I believe –
”The purpose of life is to matter –
to count
to stand for something
to have it make some difference that we have lived at all”
So I thank you for being here tonight – and choosing to make that difference!
Speech by Felicity Fraser.
Frankie and Tenille's Speech
We went to East Timor with no expectations of what the country and the people would be like, however after studying about the Australian and United Nations involvement in East Timor, a picture of what we could expect suddenly began to form.We presumed the country and people would have little hope for their future. After 25 years of Indonesian occupation and facing consistent turmoil, you would expect the people to be filled with despair. However, the reality that we experienced was quite different!
Yes, there WAS sadness and loss, BUT at the same time a sense of hope and determination for a better future. We immediately felt that the Timorese dreamt for a better life.
Throughout our time there, we felt frustration and confusion because we didn’t feel we could do a lot to help their situation immediately. We went expecting our actions to produce immediate results. However this was not possible. As with all good causes, time is needed to produce a result. We did our best, helping wherever we could, working in the smoke filled kitchen, walking for miles to fetch water or digging in the vegetable gardens and in the fields. We realised that the most beneficial way of contributing in the long term, was for US to attempt to understand the lives and hardships of the Timorese, and then return home and share their story with others. With knowledge comes understanding. With understanding comes action!
We have great respect for the people of East Timor and for their persistence. The people we met had such horrific life stories but had consistently sustained a positive outlook within their lives. Mana Lu stands out as a mentor and inspiration for us all. She is a woman of intense compassion and fearless leadership. She is one in a million, especially in a developing nation where women are seldom given equal respect. She modestly told us of her courageous efforts in dealing with the Indonesian soldiers. How she knelt down on her hands and knees and begged the soldiers to not come into her refuge and bring violence to the women and children who sought protection with her. We give our support to Mana Lu unconditionally and for good reason.
She has given homes, food, education and shelter to thousands throughout the tiny nation. Mana Lu is the woman responsible for the communities we support here tonight. It was with her dream of an Independent country that many in Timor have survived throughout the years of atrocities, which are unfortunately still ongoing. She has given people HOPE.
Each one of us that travelled on the tour learnt so much from our individual experiences. We gained an appreciation for Australia; gratitude for our opportunities in life, and that we are given many advantages to achieve our dreams.
We know that we need to use these advantages as we see best- and For Tenille and I this is by giving our support to the Timorese.
We met many underprivileged people who we felt we had an impact upon, HOWEVER… the effect that THEY had upon US was far greater! We made a promise to support them from hundreds of kilometres away. We now share Mana Lu’s commitment to a better life for the people of East Timor and we thank you all for sharing this opportunity with us and for offering YOUR support to Mana Lu and to her people. THANKYOU, for supporting OUR promise.
Speech by Frankie Rizzo and Tenille Rickard.
Tenille's Poem
We witnessed the pain and the suffering that bellowed through their eyes, Their calm and pleasant nature could not possibly disguise.
They courageously fight on without the willingness to complain, Their lives, despair of tragic events, none of us could imagine the pain.
We stand here with our freedom, our rights, our hope, our life, We live on to remember, the gleaming determination of their cites.
We have all come together, to celebrate their spirit that lives on Their hopes and dreams and, overwhelming hearts that shone.
So lets toast to the individuals that in East Timor we both met, Forever they changed our lives, and forever we won’t forget.
Poem by Tenille Rickard.
[ Terms of Use ] [ Privacy ] GOYA Foundation Australia. All Rights Reserved.