South Caringbah resident Cailtin Barrett has been recognised for her humanitarian work during this month's UNSW Alumni Awards.
Ms Barrett received her Young Alumni honour for her work as chief executive and co-founder of Love Mercy Australia, which helps empower communities in Northern Uganda to overcome poverty caused by war.
She helped launch the volunteer enterprise with athlete Eloise Wellings in 2009 while studying a Bachelor of International Studies at UNSW.
The foundation started with a small goal but quickly smashed it.
‘’We started wanting to find sponsors for 20 orphans in 12 months,’ she said.
‘’We did that in just one event at Sutherland so we had to go back and come up with a bigger goal.’’
Since then the organisation has focused on building an agricultural program.
‘’We found that if you empower women to grow their own food they have enough money to send their own children to school,’’ she said.
‘’It’s a more long-term solution.’’
So far they have helped 10,000 women and plan to double that by 2020.
She said she was surprised with the win after being nominated by a colleague.
‘’I felt really honured,’’ she said.
‘’Since Eloise is so well-known she gets a lot of media attention so it was nice to have recognition for my part.
UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs helped present the awards.
“Choosing these winners from the extraordinary pool of talent spread across 146 countries and all facets of human endeavour is not an easy task,’’ he said.
“A key measure of a great university is how much it values its alumni and the contribution they make to society.
“We are extremely proud of the alumni we honour here tonight, the remarkable innovation they demonstrate, and the impact they are having in Australia and worldwide.’’
For more information on Love Mercy Australia go to www.lovemercyfoundation.org.
The organisation will also be putting together a team in this years Sutherland 2 Surf. To join or donate visit the website.
