ISLANDERS to Australia’s north forced from their homes by rising seas believed linked to climate change will benefit from a fundraising event initiated by a Brisbane Sister of Mercy.
About 1700 of the Carteret Islands’ more than 3000 occupants are being forced to relocate to Bougainville in Papua New Guinea to live on 48ha of land donated by the Catholic Church as their island home disappears under the seas.
The low-lying island group is 86km north-east of Bougainville.
Mercy Sister Wendy Flannery, who has worked around the Pacific Islands region for more than 20 years, said funds raised at the event to be held at the Irish Club in Brisbane on September 13 would go to an organisation known as Tulele Peisa.
Brisbane archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) executive officer Peter Arndt assured the organisation of his support, and said “the plight of people who are losing their homes to rising sea levels reminds us that climate change is a very urgent issue for some people right now and it demands an urgent moral and practical response”.
Tulele Peisa plans to relocate 1700 Carteret Islanders voluntarily, 10 families at a time, to three safe and secure locations on mainland Bougainville over the next 10 years, including 83 families (about 830 people) within the next three years.
Sr Flannery said the name “Tulele Peisa” meant “sailing the waves on our own” and is run by Carteret islander Ursula Rakova.
“The name Tulele Peisa is most appropriate – its vision is to help the community members maintain their cultural identity and live sustainably and independently wherever they are,” Sr Flannery said.
Ursula Rakova moved listeners to tears when she visited Brisbane in 2007 to speak of her people’s plight.
Ms Rakova told how the predominantly Catholic Carteret Islanders were suffering the loss of crops and water supplies from the rising seas.
Sr Flannery said the Catholic Church at Bougainville had donated an area of land at Tinputz and was willing to consider a second land grant “once the first group of houses are built and families resettled”.
The Mercy Sister, who is also a member of the CJPC sustainability group and of the Climate Frontlines collective of Friends of the Earth, said the Church’s teachings were calling for a new awareness of such issues.
“The ‘ecological conversion’ to which our Church calls us requires a new look at our relationship with the divine source of all life, and an examination of the basic ways we live and relate to one another, and to other creatures, on our common home of planet Earth,” she said.
Mr Arndt agreed and said “we in countries like Australia have a moral responsibility to act to help our neighbours who are living with the consequences of our carbon pollution”.
Financial support for Ms Rakova’s visit and for the fundraiser has been provided by the Brisbane Sisters of Mercy and Catholic Religious Australia Queensland.
Brisbane’s Irish Club has provided its Tara Ballroom venue free of charge for the fundraising evening.
The September 15 event, starting at 6.30pm, will feature a short film, a presentation by Ms Rakova, and music and dance performances.
Finger food will be provided. Other fundraising activities will be held during the evening.
For catering purposes, RSVP to emma.brindal@foe.org.au by September 10.
For more information or to make a donation phone Sr Wendy Flannery at (07) 3350 5802 or email wendyflan@uqconnect.net
