Caritas Visit

Africa Programs Coordinator for Caritas Australia Lulu Mitshabu travelled to Young on 2 March, 2021 to present to our Hennessy students on Project Compassion and to provide educational development on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

This is the first time in a number of years that we have had a speaker during Lent, and her presence really emphasized the importance of the colourful Project Compassion boxes we see in our parishes and schools.

Lulu came to Australia in 1990 as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa after a chance meeting in a Church in Zambia.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is considered the worst place on earth to be a woman, because of a thirty-year war that uses gender-based violence as one of its cruelest weapons.

Lulu and her husband Geoff have six adult children, all girls, and if they had remained in the DRC, they would have faced a certain death as they were involved in human rights advocacy.

For twenty years, Lulu has worked for Caritas Australia, and her passion for international aid and development is inspiring and uplifting.

Lulu travelled to Hennessy to speak to the students, giving a short presentation at our morning assembly, and then presenting to most of our Year 7-10 Religious Education classes.

She inspired some of our house leaders to start fundraising for goats, water sources, cows and education, and encouraged each of the students to “aspire not to have more but to be more”, a quote from the martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Most poignant in her presentation was the new commandment to “Love your neighbour as your iPhone”. She expounded on this by getting the students and teachers to imagine how much more we would value others if we started to consider how attached we are to our “things”.

Lulu ran a Religious Education formation for the staff of Hennessy, and despite it being a long day of teaching, they remained engaged and participated in the modules enthusiastically.

We finished the day with a wine and cheese night where four of our senior leaders served parishioners and staff. This was a wonderful opportunity for our staff and students to meet some members of the parish and create some connections with the work of Caritas.

We are so grateful to Lulu for her visit to our college.

Beth Doherty, Religious Education Leader, Hennessy Catholic College.