REBECCA Cameron from Coast Real Estate, formerly Rebecca McNevin, told Milton District CWA about her continuing work with the Santa Clara Orphanage, Dili, at the August Meeting.
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She humbly said that she was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
“I couldn’t walk away,” she said.
But the club suspected it was more than that, which ensured she achieved what she did.
Milton District CWA pays tribute to the incredible perseverance and dedication of Rebecca Cameron, whose bubbly personality, intelligence and sense of commitment makes an understanding of East Timor so accessible.
This former Blessing of the Fleet Princess, Quota Student of the Year, exchange student to Sweden and member of the Leos program raised $60, 000 to assist the home, during and after the years spent in East Timor with a UN contingent.
She was 19 when she graduated from the Australian Federal Police, one of only two women in the group and the youngest.
Rebecca was offered her choice of work, choosing to train police recruits where she had to prove herself to many young male recruits, who often didn’t realise how well-qualified to drive she was.
After 10 years with the federal police, she was recruited for the UN, and in 2000 went to East Timor.
This was just after East Timor had become independent, and was a place of no regular electricity, no running water and one hour a week of power to collect water for the week.
She worked with the riot team in Dili for 12 hours a day, seven days a week for eight months before the election.
Her jobs included dangerous situations on road blocks, disarming people carrying weapons such as hand grenades, and a lot of gang problems.
Most of her work involved domestic violence intervention, and there were 53 orphanages in Dili as a result of the many deaths of adults in the struggle for independence.
In addition to work, she took up sponsorship of the nearest orphanage, taking them rice and fish and spending time with the children.
She was able to build a chicken house and obtain 30 chickens to give them sources of eggs and meat.
When she was 30 weeks pregnant, she returned to Australia, a fortunate choice as the baby was born at 31 weeks.
She said it was incredible that one of the poorest nations in the world can be only an hour’s flight from Darwin.
Thirty-eight per cent of children suffer from anaemia caused by poor diet, malaria and intestinal worms which often cause death.
Rebecca praised the RSL, who donated funds to sink a bore for the orphanage.
Then, as funds accrued, a new building was built for the orphanage, where former students return to assist the six Franciscan nuns who manage it.
Rebecca says the best way to help is to take a holiday to East Timor, a beautiful place in the world, as this will boost the economy and there are a number of places there that offer top-class accommodation.
