03 June 2015. FACPI Clubhouse, Bedford WA
Symposium.
On 3rd June, convenors of The First Perth Filipino Symposium gathered community leaders to A Congenial Conversation Over High Tea on An Early Winter Evening.
Fr Nelson Po made an invocation and sounded a call for a vibrant and significant interaction among Filipino community groups. Mrs Glenys Godrey, MP for Belmont and representative of the Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Interests delivered the traditional welcome, acknowledging the Noongar people as traditional owners of the land. Mrs. Ruth Lopez presented an interesting profile of Filipino migration in WA and outlined 3 challenges for the present-day migrant community to consider, one of which was a way to connect back to and help the motherland. This paved the way for first-time Perth visitor, Gawad Kalinga founder Mr. Tony Meloto, who was a special resource speaker for the night, to present The Philippines Rising, a blueprint for making poverty history for 500,000 of the least privileged families in The Philippines by 2024. Together with Mr. Meloto were social entrepreneurs Fabien Courteille and Thomas Graham, one a French and the other an Englishman, who both impressed as advocates for their faith in the economic and social development potential of The Philippines.
The Symposium participants invariably described the evening as ‘electric’ and ‘memorable’ in terms of content and presentation.
