Find out what is happening at ACC and in the neighbourhood.
“connecting our community”
Hi Leanne here. On Monday we had our monthly committee meeting and so I got the chance to hear The Flukes, our uke group in action (they were meeting in the room next door).
They sounded super. I asked them if I could make a little video for social media. You can watch it (and listen) on Instagram here.
On Sunday night we helped Friends of Baucau cater the 3rd of 4 February concerts held down at the Fairfield amphitheatre. It was a lovely evening, relaxing music, super weather and … great food!
The Portuguese tarts sold like hot cakes, and we also sold out of the mains on offer.
The profits from the food will go towards supporting on the ground activities in Timor-Leste - which is fabulous. They do great things like helping women start town cooperatives and supporting young girls to train as teachers etc.
It really is lovely to be working in partnership with this local but international organisation full of committed and passionate community minded locals.
And … also, FYI we have a new stock of their coffee. Beans and ground. Pop past ACC or Juliette’s milkbar if you’ve been feeling deprived!
A few years ago now I (Leanne) had the opportunity to go to Timor-Leste to visit lots of women’s organisations and meet politicians, along with diplomats and all the big NGOs … it was amazing all round and particularly wonderful to meet local people working in their communities trying to improve lives and living standards and make a difference.
The trip was organised by Friends of Baucau, which is a long-standing organisation based in Darebin and Yarra Council areas (that works officially with Council ) to support both the community groups and administration of Baucau in Timor-Leste.
Anyway … they do wonderful things and build super partnerships … and I have been actively involved with them ever since.
And after a hiatus due to Covid the are hosting their first fundraising concert for a couple of years - that you might be interested in attending. The concert will happen in Kew (just over the river) on Sunday 4 December from 3.30pm. Tickets cost $50.
Timor-Leste is the poorest country in our region, and people live on less than $1 per day. This fundraiser will support the Friends of Baucau scholarship fund - enabling young women to undertake a Bachelor of Education at the local Teachers College and become a teacher.
Here are the details …
GABRIEL VARGAS
Guitarist Gabriel Vargas has headed up bands such as Gasoline Inc. and Veludo, which saw him supporting acts such as rock icons INXS, and his song Superstar was picked up by the AFL in 2010. As a solo musician he has supported and toured with Jeff Martin (The Tea Party), Jon Toogood (Shihad), and James Reid (The Feelers). As a songwriter, he aims to use music as a means to inspire, heal and connect.
Sunday 4 December 2022 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
4 Redmond Street
Kew Victoria 3101
Buy them here.
Friends of Baucau Inc (FoB) is an incorporated community organisation based in the municipalities of Darebin and Yarra in Victoria, Australia. Our aim is to promote friendship links between the people in these cities and the communities of the Baucau municipality in Timor-Leste, and in particular, to work closely with 11 villages in the Baucau Villa sub-district. Friends of Baucau is endorsed and supported by the Councils of Darebin and Yarra, the national government of Timor-Leste and the municipality of Baucau.
The Salustiano Freitas Scholarship Fund supports quality education in Timor-Leste by providing scholarships to young Timorese to undertake the Bachelor of Teaching at the Marist Brothers’ Teacher Training College in Baucau (ICFP). Each scholarship, for US$1000 per student per year, pays the tuition and living costs, and we continue this arrangement for the duration of their training.
Hi Leanne here. In March (along with what always seems like half of our suburb) I went once again to Port Fairy Folk Festival - where Archie Roach has regularly performed over the years. He was looking very frail. He’d been in a wheelchair last time I’d seen him, but this year he really couldn’t walk at all and had an oxygen tube.
I have seen him in concert for half my life, since going to Folk Rhythm and Life Festivals around the late 1990s and through the 2000s where he and his partner Ruby Hunter were often the feature act.
As you know if you’ve seen him live, he generously shares his story throughout his performances, and his recounting of reconnecting with his family here in our neck if the woods - Fitzroy - is mind bogglingly eye-opening and deeply sad. The stolen generations experience is such a tragedy for whole families and communities and it’s not a distant thing - the trauma sits here now today, close to the surface. It happened to our neighbours and friends, it is their lived experience. Archie Roach was only 66 after all.
It’s very sad that he died so young. Amazing that he was so willing to share his life so openly.
You can get a taste of his connection to Fitzroy and his family story in this great episode of Kutcha Edwards’ show Kutcha’s Carpool Koorioke that is also jam packed with understated kindhearted love, respect, caring, gratefulness and joy in community and connection.
Alphingtones Choir has been going for many years now and is full of lovely (tuneful) locals! They used to meet at ACC but now meet at St Andrew’s Church just behind Grill’d off Station Street so they have more room to spread out in these Covid times …
And they need some more members - in particular bass and tenor singers (but everyone is welcome!).
If you are interested in being part of this group that meets weekly on a Thursday night just email or call (details below).
