• Creativity in Cold Lentils
• Recovering Hope
• Truth Is A Two-Way Street
• Our chance to stand in solidarity
• Human Rights: a common meeting place?
• The Heart of God
• Dare to Dream
• Learning to Listen
• Finding meaning in the experience
• Towards An Understanding of Home
• Silence
• Peregrinasaun Haksolok Hamutuk
• Peace
• The Big Show
• Weakness and Strength
• United in Peace
• The Ring
• ACUSA
• People as seeds of hope and change
• Being Grateful
• In the midst of 250,000 people
• UN World Habitat Day
• Praying The Rosary
• I Want To Make A Difference
• How Fragile we are
• The Challenge of email
• Being Socially Responsible
• Thirsting for Knowledge
• The Lord is my Shepherd
• Archived Thoughts of the Week
• An Idea

Another semester has come to an end and I have time to reflect on my accomplishments over the last year and a half. Never would I have dreamed that I could be standing at this place; almost finished one degree and starting on my second.

I have never been known as the smart girl. I was always in the ‘special’ class at school. I did not know how to spell, let alone write an essay. The thought of going to University never entered my mind; I was just not smart enough. It was not until I found myself in a situation where I could no longer work that I discovered the need for a qualification.

Deciding to go to University was a difficult decision for me, despite having dreamt about it for years. Now that I’m here, it is still difficult. I spend a lot of my time and energy feeling stressed and ‘freaking’ out; wondering if I’m smart enough and fighting the demons which tell me I’m not. I believe I’m going to University for a reason and the hardest part is the ability to believe in myself.

In the last eighteen months, I have learned that courage and the ability to dare to dream have a great impact. If I believe that I can reach my goals no matter what the obstacles; that I have the right to ‘Dream Big’ - then, slowly but surely, those dreams will be realised.

• Cassandra Garvie,
• B Theol B Soc Work (student),
• Canberra

Assisted by:

• Nyree Beer,
• B Theol B Soc Work (student),
• Canberra