Caitlin was a High School buddy of Cassi’s and as most
school years friendships go, once that final bell rang
out, so did the connection with people we once spent
many a school hour with. However, there are those
school yard friendships that somehow turn a corner and
collide at a time the Universe sees as just right. You
could say the reuniting of old friends hurtled Cassi
straight off the beaches of Cronulla and into the dusty
landscape of remote Africa, bringing Cassi everything
she begged life for - the opportunity to make a difference.
When Cassi was looking for work shortly after leaving
the corporate law life, her old school friend’s name
popped up as someone who may be able to open a
door. As it turned out, Caitlin, founding CEO of Community Development Organisation Love Mercy Foundation,
was leaving on maternity leave from her position at the
Love Mercy Foundation, allowing Cassi to literally leap
into a position that appealed to her true passion. Her
new role would see her amongst the projects developed
by the foundation in Northern Uganda… and you
guessed it, helping people with basic human rights, like
access to adequate medical services and the opportunity
to create and sustain a life, better than the one they
were continually struggling within.
Havaianas off and work boots on, it wasn’t long before
Cassi was on the ground amongst the Love Mercy Foundation projects in action, seeing for herself how a little
help can go a very long way. Her recent trip to Northern
Uganda saw her spending 4 months amongst the foundations projects in action.
“While I was there my role was to collect information
and analyse the programs in place to confirm that our
goals were being met and to also identify any areas we
may need to take a look at, before moving on to other
projects the foundation is looking to expand into.
My favourite program is the ‘Cents for Seeds’ program,
as it has been designed to look at prevention rather
than waiting to fix a problem when it is in its latter
stages. This program has been incredibly successful in
showing women how they can draw an income to support their family and also help each other.” Cassi said.
Cassi also feels Western Governments should play a
more positive and productive role in assisting Third
World areas. She raises a good point in that, assistance
should be provided not only from a financial perspective, but from the knowledge that - in some way - First
World countries do play a role in creating the problems
experienced by the people in these effected areas. “You
can’t just say, well, yes we did this, but what do you
want us to do about it now?”, Cassi states. And, it’s a
not a cash handout Cassi believes will benefit the people. It is financial funding of proactive and structured
organisations, like the Love Mercy Foundation, that will
inevitably help these people in a greater and more long
term capacity.