At last week’s Network Central breakfast in Sydney I was moved into action by guest speaker, Wendy McCarthy AO.  I’m sure I join a long list in saying that - Wendy is just one of those people who commands attention and inspires many to take action to do something - anything - rather than sit idle.  I’ve long been a fan of Wendy’s feminist achievements, but it was her role as past Chair of Plan Australia that really caught my attention and which introduced me to Ghulam Fatima.

After Wendy's presentation I went home and googled Plan to find out more. I had a look at the many resources on the Plan website and decided it was time for my family to sponsor a young girl.  Given the current flood disaster in Pakistan, I chose Ghulam, the 9 year old girl daughter of peasant farmers. Ghulam’s information pack tells me that her family lives in a house made of brick, they draw water all year round from a borehole with an electric pump in the house backyard, and importantly, the family uses a private latrine!  

Ghulam currently attends preschool and my hope is that she will have the education she deserves and go on to create a better life for her family.  And my hope for my son, as he grows into a little boy and then a man, is that he will learn from Ghulam’s experience what a difference we all can make when we decide to take action.  

If you would like to change the life of a child who wasn’t lucky enough to be born in Australia, you can click here to find out more.