Art Exhibition - 17th October from 6:30 - 9pm.
Venue - Still to be confirmed
FACTS AND STATS
"NATSEM has estimated that the rate of poverty for young people is 17.4%. It can be especially bad for students. Murdoch University recently conducted a welfare survey of 666 students. They found that:
- more than 60% of respondents were living below the Henderson poverty line, which is $533.44 per fortnight, and that of the totaly respondants:
-26% could not afford to buy healthy food- such as meat fruit and vegetables
- 10% regularly went without food, skipping breakfast and/or lunch because they could not afford it
- 5% could not afford to go to the doctor when they needed to
(Advance Australia Where? excerpt from pamphlet produced by final year student Social Workers from the University of Western Australia in partnership with the Western Australian Council of Social Service)"
Australia is a country which is said to be rich in wealth, with it's economy booming. Yet I believe that our society lacks the awareness of the poverty many people are experiencing every day; especially youth.
By holding an Art exhibition, which openly and rawly exposes how young people see poverty, it raises awareness in the wider community providing them an opportunity to express and voice what it means to them and how it effects their lives.
We (Society in general) may have a broad perception of what poverty looks like, however we cannot really understand until it is unmasked in our lives. I believe that the most effective and powerful way of raising awareness is to seek those in the situation who can define poverty purely through sharing their stories. My hope is that our society will feel empowered to take action and make a difference in the lives our broken and struggling youth.
Chloe Asselin - Youth Worker Trainee
Interview
" I think young people are getting more and more disconnected from their communities. Sometimes it seems like there are two different kinds of classes. People going to school, who achieve and do well and have kind of well adjusted lives and people on the other side who are always in trouble, have little support systems, little plans for the future and little hope"
John Marion, Youth Worker, The Salvation Army
Did you know that 100,000 child slaves work on cocoa fields in West Africa producing the very chocolate we eat? In 2001, all the major chocolate companies promised to end child slavery in cocoa by July 2008. We only have four months to go!
We need young people like you to lead the movement. Become an End Child Slavery Ambassador. Applications close this Friday 4 April!
Sign up to be an Ambassador by this Thursday you can win one of 100 free double passes to Operator Please this Friday night at the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda (18+). Once you've applied on our website, just send an email to info@theoaktree.org with the subject line "ECS Ambassador - Operator Please Tickets" and you will win free tickets if you were one of the first 100 to apply!
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