Kiribati looks for climate help from Australia
With climate change threatening his tiny Pacific nation, Kiribati President Anote Tong on Friday asked Australia for help in the battle against rising seas that threaten to erase his atoll home.
Reuters, June 20, 2008

School says male Aboriginal teachers key to better attendance
A school 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs says it needs male Aboriginal teachers to continue its educational success. Attendance at the Ntaria school at Hermannsburg has risen an estimated 50 per cent since the Commonwealth intervention began a year ago.
ABC Online, June 20, 2008

Corruption hits Asia-Pacific’s poor the hardest, UN says in new report
Pervasive corruption is a stranglehold on the lives of the Asia-Pacific region’s poor, limiting their access to education and health services, according to a new United Nations report, which also highlights innovative ways in which communities are striving to fight the problem.
UN News Centre, June 12, 2008

South Pacific: poverty breeds child labour and sex tourism
Beyond the fabulous palm-fringed beaches and cascading waterfalls of the islands of the Pacific is a sordid reality – child labour and commercial sexual exploitation of children.
IPS News Agency, June 18, 2008

Radio Australia
Comprising seven languages and focusing uniquely on Asia and the Pacific, Radio Australia is the international radio and online service of the ABC, Australia’s national broadcaster. Radio Australia provides radio and online content, including English lessons, information about Australia and objective, accurate regional news and current affairs.
www.radioaustralia.net.au

Animation: Travel with the pilgrims
Late in 2007, a group of 50 young people from across Australia came together to travel with the World Youth Day Cross and Icon from Darwin to Adelaide, as pilgrims. The journey cut through the middle of the country and touched the hearts of many along the way, in the big communities and in the small. The experiences of the pilgrims during the journey caused them to reflect on social justice issues in Australia and how their faith calls them to act for justice. See an interactive Flash animation (5MB) which follows the stories of four young pilgrims. You will need the latest Adobe Flash Player installed to see the animation. Install it for free here if you do not already have it.
www.caritas.org.au

Prayer

O God of all youth, we pray to you:

We are young people,
and we want to celebrate life!

We cry out against all that kills life:
hunger, poverty,
unemployment, sickness,
repression, individualism, injustice.

We want to announce fullness of life:
work, education, health, housing,
bread for all.

We want communion, a world renewed.

We hope against hope.

With the Lord of history
we want to make all things new.

A group of Brazilian young people (1998 Share Lent kit, CCODP)

Source: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives www.kairoscanada.org