This year our

Project Compassion theme is:

A Just Future.

Through your generous support of Caritas

Australia you are empowering young people to
build a just future for themselves, their families
and their communities.

A Just Future starts with You.

For more than 50 years,
Caritas Australia has
worked together with our
neighbours in Australia
and around the world to
combat poverty, promote
justice and uphold
human dignity.
 NEPAL CAMBODIA

JANAKI RATTANAK

PHILIPPINES
JORDAN
PSYCHE MAE
BAYAN

MOZAMBIQUE

DITOSA

AUSTRALIA

EVANGELINE
FEATURED COUNTRY

WHERE WE WORK
 CHINA

FEATURED COUNTRY

WHERE WE WORK
Janaki, a young businesswoman from Nepal, has turned
her life around.

Growing up in extreme
poverty and forced into a
marriage at the age of
twelve, she faced many
challenges.

Her husband died just two

years into their marriage. Janaki and her parents in the front room of their
house that also operates as a convenience
store.
In 2015, Janaki joined a
youth club formed by
Caritas Australia’s partners,
Caritas Nepal and the Ekata
Foundation Surkhet,
learning how to sew.

She took a loan from the

youth club to purchase her
first sewing machine.
Janaki using her sewing machine to make
clothes and earn a living.
Two years on, Janaki has 11 sewing machines and is running
her own business teaching others. She is a role model in her
community.

Janaki is now a Youth Club leader.

A Just Future starts with Empowerment.

FEATURED COUNTRY

WHERE WE WORK
The Caritas Australia supported Deaf Development
Program (DDP) was a lifeline for Rattanak, helping him
to participate in his community.

Rattanak contracted polio as

a child and also became
deaf. DDP provides sign
language, job training and
interpreting services to
people who are deaf.

Rattanak standing in his barber shop.

Rattanak graduated from
the education program in
2010, returning the following
year to train as a barber.

DDP then helped him to set

up his shop in his parent’s
house in his village.

Rattanak working in his barber shop.

Rattanak has emerged from his isolated world at home. He is
now running a successful business and supporting his family.

Rattanak and his wife, Phirum.

A Just Future starts with Community.

 TURKEY

FEATURED COUNTRY SAUDI ARABIA

WHERE WE WORK
Bayan is 12 years old living with her family in Jordan.
She grew up in Syria’s capital, Damascus before the
conflict in Syria forced her family to flee.

As a quiet, young refugee,

she struggled to overcome
the trauma she experienced
and faced the prospect of
missing out on an
education.

Bayan waiting outside her home for the

Caritas school bus.
Fortunately Bayan has
been able to attend a
Caritas supported
Education Program in
Jordan.

Here she receives

support and tutoring.

Bayan attends classes on Saturdays run by the

Caritas Education Program.
Now, Bayan is an academic high-achiever and is
flourishing in the stable environment school life brings.

A Just Future starts with

a Safe Place to Learn.
FEATURED COUNTRY

WHERE WE WORK
Evangeline was first featured in Project Compassion
2016, and has risen to the role of Senior Artsworker.

Evangeline’s small remote

community in the Northern
Territory face a range of
challenges stemming from
the violent experience of
colonisation, including few
jobs, crowded housing and
lack of access to services.
The non-profit Aboriginal
organisation, Djilpin Arts is
supported by Caritas Australia
and is a key employer in this
community.

At the Centre, young people

come together with Elders to
learn about their culture through
art, storytelling, dance and song.

Djilpin Arts provided Evangeline

Evangeline – Senior Artsworker for
with an opportunity. Djilpin Arts Aboriginal Corporation.
Evangeline and the team of Artsworkers are doing really
important work promoting their cultural knowledge and
providing excellence in Indigenous tourism.

A Just Future starts with Culture.

FEATURED COUNTRY

WHERE WE WORK
Ditosa lives in Mozambique. She was first featured in
Project Compassion 2013 when she was just 12 years
old and had lost both her parents to AIDS-related
illnesses.
Caritas Australia helped
Ditosa, her aunt and her
grandmother build a new
home and assisted with
transport, school materials
and fees, to help Ditosa to
stay at school.
Ditosa in her classroom in 2013 when she
was first featured in Project Compassion.
Ditosa has now graduated from school and hopes to go to
university to become a police officer. She loved school and
is ambitious for the future.
Ditosa with Mama Cacilda, Director of
Caritas Regional Chokwe

A Just Future starts with Education.

 FEATURED COUNTRY

WHERE WE WORK

INDONESIA
Psyche Mae is now a young social worker, achieving her
dream of helping others struggling to leave poverty
behind them – with plans to study a Master’s degree.

When Psyche Mae

featured in Project
Compassion 2008, she
was living in a squatter
settlement, on the edge of
a giant rubbish dump
outside Manila, in the
Philippines.
In 2008, Psyche Mae helping her father in the
squatter settlement.
Participating in a
Caritas Australia
supported urban
renewal program,
Psyche Mae’s family
have been able to lift
themselves out of
poverty.

Psyche Mae’s mother learnt how to make bags to sell to

support her family.
Ten years later, Psyche Mae continues to give back to her
community.

Psyche Mae visited Australia in 2016

as the keynote speaker of Caritas
Australia’s Women for the World
event.

A Just Future starts with Opportunity.

 THANK YOU!
Photo credits
Janaki, Nepal: Rattanak, Cambodia: Bayan, Jordan – Richard Wainwright. Evangeline, Australia – Sascha Costigan. Ditosa, Mozambique – Erin
Johnson and Ivy Khoury. Psyche Mae, Philippines – Nicole Clements and Sean Sprague