Meet the Aussies.

Meet the team. You can click on the picture to see the full size pic of us. (Is it just me, or do I look completely dorky?)




It's a very cool and very diverse group. Hopefully this will help when I'm boring you with endless stories about the boat and all things SWY related.

Ari, is our National Leader (NL). He comes has a hell of a lot of experience that will prove to be hugely beneficial for us all on the boat and as we continue our preparations. He currently works for the UN, in the Office for the Secretary-General, as one of the 6 Speakers for Kofi Anan. In a week or so, he flies off to Lebannon for a couple of months on a UN peace-keeping tour. Suffice to say, he has countless interesting stories to tell and a wealth of experience and skills that will prove to be invaluable to us all.

Emma and Kelly are our Japanes language experts, Kelly works for DFAT and is down with international policy while Emma is almost fluent and has lived for many years in Japan. Eloise works with youth through a local council and is a big traveller. Felicity has also been all around the world, is an OT and has heaps of team experience. Narges, Geraldine and Scott, are university students majoring in areas such as law, economics and peace and conflict studies, plus they're all into youth advocacy and participation work. Mat works in tourism and local government, with links to Japanese business and Dan is our tech guy who's currently studying Engineering. And me, well I guess I fit because of my cross-cultural and team work experience, my huge interest in Japan and Japanese culture.

Many of us are talking about being at cross-roads in our lives and being passionate about cross-cultural understand and youth participation. We all have a wide variety of skills and knowledge to share. Somehow, after a very short time, we're all working together amazingly as a team. And we're all in for the experience of a life-team. It's exciting and daunting at the same time.

More later.

Click here to expand or hide a whole bunch of info about 2007's Aussie SWY Delegation.