Humans in Geelong

Kiribati is sinking… What can we do? The country, Kiribati is made up of 33 islands and has a population of about half of Geelong. It’s a beautiful place in the South Pacific nestled between the Marshall Islands, Fiji and Western Samoa and is right on the equator. Some of you may have known it as the Gilbert Islands. It is a poor country and its people are struggling to survive because of the rising sea level and constant flooding caused by Climate Change.

Most of Kiribati is only 2 metres above sea level and because of rising sea levels is subject to frequent flooding. The inhabitants have started to build a wall to keep them safe but this is only a short-term solution. The people of Kiribati are also growing mangroves to help protect their vulnerable coastlines from further erosion. Choi Yeeting has been the official Climate Change Commissioner since 2010 and among other things, he is concerned about sanitation problems.

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“I always wanted to be a writer. My other passion is animals – who’d have thought I’d get to marry these two loves? I’m currently the Senior Reporter for Werribee Open Range Zoo. Work as a writer has taken me to more than 50 countries but I call the Surf Coast my home.”

We had the pleasure of interviewing award-winning writer Miranda Luby.

“I can remember being on my bed in tears. ‘I’ll never find a job in writing,’ I’d said to my Mum. She told me to believe in myself and that I was on the right path. Remembering this makes me appreciate how far I’ve come. I finally gained an internship at the Geelong Addy. After 6 weeks, someone left and I was hired. I wrote for GT magazine for 4 years and had a wonderful female leader and mentor in Kylie Oliver. This is where I started to learn about story telling.

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“The last day filming at Point Impossible in July, there was a large swell running and I thought I would get as close as possible to waves breaking over rocks. Sure enough, a rogue set of waves hit and I suddenly found myself standing in waist high water holding my camera above my head. I got the shot… and was soaked in the process!”

John Foss is an award winning local filmmaker who has just released his latest short documentary about a significant coastal area in Torquay.

“Respect Point Impossible tells a unique story about a local beach under threat and what people can do to help protect it and the environment. Point Impossible is a very special area under significant threat from development. It also has such a rich history of being abused and then protected by surfers.”

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Ikani Vaitohi is from Tonga and he is a big man with a big heart. He is the Minister at Belmont Uniting Church. He has a wife called Moana (she even looks like the girl in the movie!!) and a bus load of kids. Words to describe Ikani are kind, fun and a wonderful cook!

He loves music very much and noticed some school kids in Geelong were not getting to play an instrument. Ikani set up the Whittington Strings project for children whose families could not afford for their children to play violin or cello. It has been an AMAZING success.

Ikani is making a huge difference in children’s lives. He has a load of LOVE to give.

Story by Anna Wood, from Grade Prep at Christian College Junior School, the winner of the Lower Primary School Section of Humans in Geelong Writing Competition “Discover your Inner Journalist” 2018. Photo: supplied

“’You won’t make a living out of music!’ I’d been told, but here I am living my dream.” How does a boy who grew up on the land in Ceres become one of Geelong’s leading showmen? I was fortunate enough to find out. Meet Joss Russell, the 22 year old who delights audiences at the Piano Bar.

“I love working there, it’s party central and so energetic. I look around the room at everyone’s smiling faces and I feel very proud. I can’t speak highly enough of the Piano Bar. The guys do so much fundraising and it’s a safe, inclusive place where people can come and not be afraid of being the person they are.”

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Ange Liston-McCaughley is running the New York Marathon on November 4^th, to honour Madison Lyden, a Geelong student who lived with Type1 diabetes and was tragically killed in August when riding a bike in NYC. Ange will wear Madison’s photo on her running singlet as she runs through the streets of NYC. The funds raised will go to honouring Madison’s Legacy and to allow Type1 children to have access to connect with one another.

Ange is the Founder and Director of Geelong based charity The Type1 Foundation. Geelong Mum of 4 children, Ange, ran 10 Marathons in every state around Australia 2 years ago to raise enough funds to start the local charity The Type1 Foundation. Read this story published on our website Nov 4^th 2016. The charity supports families living with Type1 diabetes. It started off small, supporting just 4 families and now supports over 200 families and grows weekly.

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Hi everyone. We care about our futures. Our names are Milou and Harriet, and we are fourteen. We live in Castlemaine and are in Year 8 at school. We have decided to go on strike from school to make our politicians do something about the climate emergency. PLEASE SHARE. We’ve been inspired by Greta Thunberg, a fifteen year old girl in Sweden, who has been striking from school, on Fridays, in front of the Swedish Parliament.

Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the world and it isn’t being addressed quickly enough. We are striking because in Australia, education is viewed as immensely important, and a key way to make a difference in the world. But just going to school isn’t doing anything about climate change. And it doesn’t seem that our politicians are doing anything, or at least not enough, about climate change either.

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