From Mouths of Babes

December 23, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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Sometimes you just trip over great blogs. Other times you have to travel thousands of kilometres to find them.

As well as the many great stories that I’ll be sharing about my trip to Papua New Guinea, I want to share a blog I’ve just discovered. It’s called From Mouths of Babes and it’s written by Katrina Roe who was a member of the media team that travelled to PNG. Katrina’s the morning announcer on Hope 103.2 in Sydney.

So what’s her blog about? Here’s part of the story in her own words.

When I fell pregnant for the first time, I couldn’t have been happier. We had been trying for a baby for a while and I knew I was ready for this next stage in my life. But so often my friends with kids had only negative things to say about becoming a parent. ”Enjoy your sleep while you can!” ”You don’t know what you’re in for!” Or sometimes just a smug smile that said, “You’ve got a big shock coming.” The thing is, my first year as a Mum was the best year of my life. I loved everything about it. That doesn’t mean the adjustments weren’t difficult, but just that the joy of knowing my child far outweighed the difficulties.

So I really want this site to be a celebration of parenting, a celebration of all the joy and love our kids bring us. Yes, we need to talk about the hard stuff too, but let’s talk about it in a way that encourages us to be better parents and better people.

I love that attitude. We had people telling us the same sort of negative stuff when our kids were very young but I can assure you that Emily (14) and James (12) have brought us untold pleasure over many years. Of course there are tough times but I wouldn’t swap parenting them for anything.

Katrina’s most recent post, A Brown River Christmas, tells part of the story of our trip to a couple of villages near Port Moresby. I hope you’ll enjoy reading her account of the trip and that you’ll stick around to read more of her posts.



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Do you need a goat?

December 1, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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You might not have a lot of use for a goat but for a rural family in a developing country the simple gift of a goat could be just what they need to break free from poverty.

So where do you buy a goat and how do you get it to someone who needs it? Compassion Australia’s Gifts of Compassion is open and ready for business. Their gifts help people who are battling desperate poverty. They can take your money and turn it into a very real solution to poverty.

You can buy everything from mosquito nets to a mechanic workshop with lots more in between including chickens, cows, sewing machines and a kit to help new mums.

I know that it’s wonderful to recieve gifts at Christmas but most of us already have more than enough ‘stuff’, so why not do something different this year and let your friends and family know that you’d like them to choose something from Gifts of Compassion for your Christmas gift this year?

Go on … you’ve thought about it before but unless you let your loved ones know now it’ll never happen.



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Mila’s Story

October 28, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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I mentioned Operation Christmas Child yesterday and the great difference it can make in the life of a child and a community.

Today I wanted to share a video with you to let you see what it’s really all about.



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Operation Christmas Child 2010

October 27, 2010
by Rodney Olsen

There’s only a few days left for Operation Christmas Child with 98.5 Sonshine FM this year.

The yearly project, run by Samaritan’s Purse, is a great opportunity for families in developed nations to touch the lives of children in developing countries. The great thing is that it doesn’t only effect the children who receive the shoe boxes filled with toys and other items, it reaches into the lives of family and the wider community.

Operation Christmas Child is a unique project of Samaritan’s Purse that brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes.

It provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple but hands-on project that has the power to transform children’s lives.

In 2009, our teams in Australia and New Zealand delivered over 300,000 gift-filled shoe boxes to South East Asia and the South Pacific. Globally, Samaritan’s Purse distributed an estimated 8.5 million shoe boxes to children in 105 countries.

As each shoe box gift is delivered, it is treasured by the child that receives it, and is a lasting reminder that he or she is precious to God.

Our family has put shoe boxes together for a number of years and our church, Thornlie Church of Christ, is not only enthusiastically involved but serves as a collection centre for people in the area wanting to drop off their completed gifts.

The amazing thing is that many of the children who receive the shoe boxes have never before received any kind of gift. They’ve never known what it’s like to be given a birthday or Christmas gift. Their families are often so poor that they’ve never had the means to give their children a gift of any kind.

Our son, James, is turning a year older on Saturday and while our family finances are very tight right now, I couldn’t imagine not spoiling him with gifts and celebrating with him. When I think of the children receiving these shoe boxes I also think of the pain their parents must be going through in not being able to provide something special for their little ones.

At a Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child shoe box distribution in Papua New Guinea, the children were asked if they had ever received a new gift and, if not, what they would hope for.

Tawhiri, a 9-year-old boy who lives near the Kokoda Trail, waved his hands and shouted that he would love something to cover his head when it rained.

So imagine his excitement when Tawhiri opened his box and pulled out a perfect beanie! His joy was infectious as all the children saw that his wish had come true. They all opened their boxes to discover they were full of gifts – just for them.

While the cut off date for this year’s Operation Christmas Child is rapidly approaching, the reality is that Samaritan’s Purse is collecting boxes year round, so there’s always plenty of time to put together a box to change a life.



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Street Law

August 3, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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National Homeless Persons’ Week 2010 is on now and runs until Sunday. It aims to raise awareness of homelessness in the community, celebrate and acknowledge current services being offered to homeless people, foster collaboration of services working with the homeless and attract more volunteers and financial support into the sector.

Everyday this week during my morning radio programme I’m speaking to people who serve Perth’s homeless community. Today’s guest was Tahnee Davies who is Board Member of Street Law.

Tahnee is a lawyer who is actively involved in helping to launch an independent free legal service for homeless people in Western Australia under the Street Law banner.

Street Law’s priorities over the last few years have been focused on obtaining seed funding for the centre. Finally late last year funding for the employment of a principal legal officer, an administrative officer and other administration expenses was secured from the WA Attorney-General.

Even prior to the funding grant, Street Law devoted a great deal of time to drafting administrative and legal manuals and creating partnerships with commercial law firms so that once funding was obtained, the service could be fully operational in a short period of time.

Street Law also entered into discussions with other homeless person’s service providers to determine appropriate locations for outreach legal services.

The Street Law service will be officially launched later this year.

To hear our discussion simply click the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR080310_1105.mp3]

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