Many of our Cave Hill Creek and Silverband Lodge community will know our daughter, Bella. She has quite literally grown up in our businesses, spending years helping across all sorts of roles and becoming part of so many camp, school and guest experiences along the way.
Over the next three months, Bella is living in Jinja, Uganda, undertaking an internship with Women Rights Initiative (WORI), a women-led organisation dedicated to ending gender-based violence and supporting women and girls to build safer, brighter futures.
As parents, we couldn’t be prouder.
Listening to Bella share her experiences over the past few weeks has been both inspiring and eye-opening. She has seen first-hand the incredible resilience, strength and faith of people living with very little, and in many cases, next to nothing by Australian standards. It has reminded all of us how fortunate we are and how easy it can be to take many of life’s comforts for granted. Despite the challenges many face, Bella continually speaks about the hope, determination and sense of community she encounters every day.
The experience has deepened her understanding of the challenges confronting women and girls around the world, but it has also shown her the extraordinary impact that compassion, opportunity and support can have in changing lives.
The work WORI does extends far beyond crisis support. Their programs include human rights and advocacy, sexual and reproductive health education, economic empowerment initiatives and leadership development, all aimed at creating opportunities and lasting change for women and girls.
One of WORI’s current priorities is supporting a shelter that provides safety and support for women and children escaping gender-based violence.
To help raise awareness of this important work, Bella has created a GoFundMe page that shares more about the shelter project, the challenges faced by the women it serves, and the broader work WORI is undertaking in the community.
If you’d like to learn more, you can do so here: Go Fund Me: Help Survivors of Gender Based Violence in Uganda
And if you feel you’d like to help, any contribution, big or small, goes a long way in Uganda and is greatly appreciated.
Most of all, we are incredibly proud of Bella’s passion, empathy and willingness to step outside her comfort zone to learn, serve and make a positive impact in the world.
In her spare time outside of her internship, Bella is in the early stages of a personal project to brighten the WORI shelter by painting a mural in the children’s room, creating a welcoming and uplifting space for children and families accessing support services. We look forward to seeing this project unfold!
We hope you enjoy these images from Bella’s journey.
Ange, Tim & Family x
Read more about WORI here: Women’s Rights Initiative – Jinja Uganda
