By Caroline Smith
Morley parishioner Maggie Box has found a novel way to raise money for development projects overseas, by producing a book of spiritual reflections on Australian culture and history.
Stand Tall You Are Australian: A Prayer Journey Aussie Style was published in 2013, with funds going towards the RESTORE project, which supports home restorations in southern India and Myanmar.
The book is divided into 44 different sections dedicated to themes in Australian history including Aboriginal heritage, the arrival of Captain Cook, the First Fleet and the Australian Gold Rush. Each includes a poem, a narrative, a prayer and a relevant Bible reference.
Mrs Box said she had been inspired to write it not only to help support the development projects she was involved in but also to explore faith with a specifically Australian slant.
“The book was written firstly to help people on their own personal faith journey and secondly to help boost our missionary projects,” she said.
“I thought it would be good for people to have a book like this every day that would provide prayers they could use along with reflections on Australian history.
“I used to work with Aboriginal people when I was much younger and that inspired me to include a prayer that focuses on their history and place in Australia.”
The book is one of several sources of funding going towards RESTORE, a project which enables groups or individuals to ‘adopt’ a building in one of the ‘aforementioned countries, and then raise money for it to be renovated or restored.
RESTORE is supported locally by Mission Partners, a charity set up at Morley parish in 1988,
On the ground, the restoration work is overseen by Marthandam Integrated Development Society, a Catholic organisation based in southern India.
Mrs Box said that with its help, many people in the parish and elsewhere had heard about RESTORE and decided to adopt a building.
“Different people have taken it up and we now have 104 huts that have been built altogether,” she said.
“I went to India in November last year and every hut was photographed.”
When people ‘adopt’ a house, they are given a ‘before’ photograph and then an ‘after’ one upon completion of the work. The costs of restoration can range from $700 to $1800 and may include the mending of leaking roofs, concreting dirt floors, weather proofing walls and adding windows, rooms or toilets to one-roomed dwellings.