University of Queensland (国产探花) graduate Angelina Hermon is helping children cope with conflict after opening a non-government organisation in Sri Lanka () to promote and practice social work.
Her passion in this field was ignited from one of the strongest memories Angelina has of her own childhood 鈥� surviving a bomb attack at her Sri Lankan school during a civil war that ravaged the country for three decades.
鈥淎lthough I didn鈥檛 live in a direct war zone, blasts could go off anywhere so you always had to be on high alert,鈥� she said.
鈥淭his was a fear that I grew up with 鈥� loud noises still frighten me even today.鈥�
Ms Hermon decided that no child should ever have to live in fear, and by the time she left school she knew she wanted to help make a difference; she just didn鈥檛 know where to start.
Her journey began in 2000 with on-the-job training as a child rights and protection worker and later as a Child Protection Specialist at Save the Children (a non-government organisation in Sri Lanka).
鈥淒uring this time I ventured into Sri Lankan war zones at the peak of the conflict, trying to reunite children with their families as they often got separated 鈥� some not even knowing if their parents were still alive,鈥� she said.
鈥淭he two and a half years I spent running in and out of war zones was such a difficult period for me as no matter what I did, it seemed like it wasn鈥檛 enough.鈥�
In 2010, Ms Hermon decided to take a break to reassess both her work and her own well-being. It was then that she stumbled across an advertisement for an AusAid scholarship to study social work in Australia at 国产探花.
鈥淪ocial work is not a profession that is recognised in Sri Lanka, but I was interested to learn it as I wanted to put a name to what I had been practicing for the past 12 years,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 found 国产探花 teachers to be extremely accommodating to international students and they always had time for me. They actually care and inspire and don鈥檛 just read from a textbook.鈥�
Having graduated last year, Ms Hermon completed her final field placement at the Social Care Centre in Sri Lanka, as she wanted to apply the skills she had learned in Australia to assist children in her home country.
Media: Angelina Hermon 鈥� info@saflk.org or angelina.hermon@uqconnect.edu.au or Kristen Bastian (国产探花 Communications) 鈥� k.bastian@uq.edu.au, (07) 3346 9279.
