Australia Archives - Sally Hetherington

Australia, Cambodia, Developing countries, Human and Hope Association, Poverty, Responsible Tourism

The Problem with False Promises

May 13

There used to be a Khmer volunteer who taught at Human and Hope Association in addition to his full-time work teaching at a nearby NGO. The NGO he taught at was funded primarily by Australians who frequently visited the organisation. He formed a close relationship with a lady he called ‘Mum’. One day in early 2013, this volunteer came into our office and proudly told me that his ‘Mum’ was going to pay for him to move to Australia to study. I was sceptical. I knew how difficult it was to get ...

Australia, Thoughts

Why I am Torn about the ‘Change the Date’ argument

January 26

I recently took part in Indigenous cultural training. Although I have always been empathetic to the horrors that Aboriginals have gone through, I honestly had no idea of the extent of it. This is why I am now torn about the ‘change the date’ argument surrounding Australia Day. Out of respect for our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, we should change the date. However, to make more people aware of the, for lack of a better word, utter shit we have put them through, the date should ...

Australia, Cambodia, Thoughts

Why I don’t mind if the electricity cuts out

July 26

This morning the electricity cut out at my home in Sydney. I didn’t realise it at first. I thought that the lightbulb had just blown. After flicking the switch on and off a few times, I ventured into the bathroom with the light from my iPhone. It was while I was in the bathroom that my boyfriend, having just left the house to head to his community services course, messaged me and told me there was a problem with the electricity. As I walked to my bedroom and tried turning on the ...

Australia, Charity, Crowdfunding, Developing countries, Development, Human and Hope Association, Poverty, Sustainability, Thoughts

Running a crowdfunding campaign for your charity? Read this first.

July 25

It isn’t easy for charities to stand out from the crowd nowadays. It takes a lot of planning, networking and commitment to run a successful crowdfunding campaign. These 10 tips on how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign have been put together from my personal experience of running several crowdfunding campaigns for Human and Hope Association, a Cambodian charity. With each crowdfunding campaign, I developed my knowledge, worked out what didn’t ‘speak’ to ...