02 ALUMNI NEWSLETTER CONTENTS WELCOME 05 MICHAEL WATSON – SURINAME | FELLOWSHIP 05 TRICIA LOVELL – ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA | FELLOWSHIP 07 CHRISTINE BAILEY – JAMAICA | INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANT IN GRADUATE TRAINING (IPGT) 07 DR JAVIER ZUNIGA – BELIZE 08 ROHIT PANDY – BELIZE 09 DIAN VASQUEZ – BELIZE 09 EDDY LEBELON | HAITIAN ALUMNI FEATURED IN AUSTRALIAN PLUS MAGAZINE 10 GUY-ROBERT LAHENS – HAITI 11 JEAN GARINCHA DORCE – HAITI 11 VANESSA ST VAL – HAITI 13 RIPHARD SERENT – HAITI 14 DADRIA SMITH – JAMAICA 14 MOY-ANN SIMPSON – JAMAICA 15 KIMBERLYN CAMPBELL – JAMAICA 15 RANDELL BAILEY – JAMAICA ALUMNI NEWSLETTER 03 So please send us your stories about your studies and life in Australia and how your Australian experience has helped you in your professional life back in e Caribbean. We want As the new Australian High to celebrate your achievements wi e rest of Commissioner, I am delighted e world! to bring you the third edition We are also pleased to see so many of our of the Australia-Caribbean Alumni linking up on LinkedIn. Your professional Alumni Newsletter. Australia-Caribbean LinkedIn group is growing in membership and ere has been some The Caribbean has been my passion for almost stimulating discussion on topics of interest in e forty years now and it’s great to be back in e Caribbean. region aer so long. I hope to meet as many of We hope is is a useful avenue for you to share you as I can during e next few years as I travel your knowledge, experience and oughts in a around e Caribbean. setting where e future leaders of tomorrow Over half a million international students from can collaborate and inspire one anoer. nearly two hundred countries studied in Finally, e Australian High Commission stands Australia in 2015 but you are all very special to ready to support and strengen our us – you are pafinders from e Caribbean to Australia-Caribbean connections and hopes at high quality Australian teaching, learning and wi your support e bond of friendship will research. grow as more alumni return from eir Australian We want to tell e stories of as many of you as experience. we can – wheer it is rough is Newsletter or rough our ocial FaceBook page, Australia in e Caribbean, to remain in contact wi you JOHN PILBEAM High Commissioner and to help you to stay in touch wi each Australian High Commission oer. Port of Spain FELLOWSHIPS University of Sydney where I pursued a Masters in International Public Heal. To make a difference While practicing medicine I came to for my community and realize at ere was much more to human heal an simply healing and my country I decided INTERESTED IN STUDYING caring for e sick. My personal to sacrifice a year away experience in witnessing a young child IN AUSTRALIA? die in my care, a moer weeping due from my family and to e passing of her newborn, e friends after being diabetic and hypertensive patient wi HERE ARE SOME LINKS TO FIND OUT MORE. a sequelae aer suffering from a heart granted an Australia www.studyinaustralia.gov.au attack or a stroke, and grieving families Awards Scholarship. due to e loss of a loved one, all www.education.gov.au made me empaetic but yet annoyed My experience while studying in given at most of ese deas and Australia was anoer of life’s www.internationalstudent.com/study_australia My name is Javier Zuniga and I am diseases could have been easily challenges at provided me wi e www.border.gov.au from Belize. I am a medical doctor by prevented. tools to make a difference in people’s profession and an alumnus of e lives. The knowledge I have gained IN THE WORLD while studying International Public is equal, accessible and affordable to sharing of information and knowledge, Heal has prepared me to strengen all. and e establishment of lifelong primary heal care in Belize and friendships. accept as true e old proverb at My experience as a recipient of e ‘prevention is better an cure’. I am Leadership Award and as a scholar in I ank e Australian Government, e now e Primary Heal Care International Public Heal has allowed Australia High Commission in Trinidad Coordinator and Heal Manager for me to network wi people from and Tobago, and e people of Belize’s largest heal region. My goal around e world. Sharing Australia for e opportunity ey gave is to better e lives of all Belizeans experiences from our countries has me to make a difference in e lives of wiout prejudice to race, sex or age given us an insight on best practices all Belizeans. and to impart quality heal care at but more importantly e continuous ALUMNI NEWSLETTER 05 Australia. We visited Cairns, Brisbane, planning for sports and identifying and e Gold Coast, Newcastle, Canberra evaluating sport events for economic and Sydney. grow, we were fortunate to attend an Under 18 Rugby Finals, go to a In Newcastle we attended e Hunter Night Zoo, see e Mareebo Rodeo in Festival of Sport, a Titans vs Knights action and visit e Great Barrier Reef. rugby league match and attended a session at e Hunter Academy On e world famous Gold Coast we among oer ings. learnt about preparing aletes for international competition, completed In Canberra, apart from functions wi individual training sessions wi Sandy MICHAEL WATSON SURINAME ocials of e Australian government and Chris and en took some down Caribbean Sports Leaders Fellowship we were given a winery tour and a time to visit e local Sea World. 2013 tour of e Australian Institute of Sport. Our tour leads also organised a meet We also had e pleasure to interact up wi Commonweal Games In 2013 I visited Australia as part of a wi en Senator Kate Lundy (Federal organisers and we had a very two mon Caribbean Sports Leaders Minister for Sport) and Andrew Barr engaging session wi em. Fellowship, along wi several oer (en State Minister for Sport), and participants from around e world. engage in sessions at e I really enjoyed my time in Australia University of Canberra. and am looking forward to visiting Our tour leaders, Sandy Daley, again soon. Chris Nunn and Vicki Nunn were very Cairns was an interesting experience helpful roughout our time in as well. Aer full sessions on strategic Research and Security (ANCORS) in educational and eye-opening. I am Wollongong University and was truly grateful for being afforded such specifically tailored to e needs of an amazing opportunity. Caribbean based fellows. It was a wonderful and rewarding experience The course Director, Professor Alistair not only from e point of view of McIigorm was welcoming and learning but also because of e accommodating; all of e professors opportunity to experience e beauty were extremely knowledgeable and and culture of New Sou Wales. eager to impart eir knowledge to e It was a true honour to be lectured on fellows and; e support staff at University of Sydney where I pursued TRICIA LOVELL To make a difference ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA matters of fisheries governance by ANCORS was a delight. Wollongong a Masters in International Public Heal. Fisheries Law and Management some of e leading experts in is was e perfect backdrop to learn While practicing medicine I came to for my community and Training Workshop field. about matters of fisheries and ocean realize at ere was much more to University of Wollongong | 2014 governance. This coastal town is human heal an simply healing and my country I decided The organisers of e course ensured tranquil and inviting wi beautiful caring for e sick. My personal to sacrifice a year away My name is Tricia Lovell and I am a ere was a good balance of classroom vistas of e Pacific Ocean. I enjoyed experience in witnessing a young child Senior Fisheries Ocer in Antigua and lectures, field trips, interactive group walking along e coast to take in die in my care, a moer weeping due from my family and Barbuda. In 2014 I was afforded e sessions and opportunities for views of e lighouse and scores of to e passing of her newborn, e friends after being opportunity of travelling to Wollongong peer-to-peer learning. I particularly recreational fishers casting eir lines diabetic and hypertensive patient wi Australia (New Sou Wales) to attend enjoyed our visits to e Sydney Fish out to sea. This was an unforgettable a sequelae aer suffering from a heart granted an Australia e second Fisheries Law and Market and Canberra. Seeing e experience for me and will remain wi attack or a stroke, and grieving families Awards Scholarship. Management Training Workshop for Sydney Opera House up close was e me always. Thank you to e due to e loss of a loved one, all Member Countries of e Caribbean fulfilment of a dream. Walking e government of Australia, AusAid and made me empaetic but yet annoyed My experience while studying in Resource Fisheries Mechanism halls of e Australian Parliament was of course to e staff, professors and given at most of ese deas and Australia was anoer of life’s My name is Javier Zuniga and I am (CRFM). This one mon, intensive awe-inspiring. Visits to New Sou everyone we met at Wollongong diseases could have been easily challenges at provided me wi e from Belize. I am a medical doctor by training course was based at e Wales Protected Areas and e Coast University who made is experience prevented. tools to make a difference in people’s profession and an alumnus of e Australian National Centre for Ocean Guard Command Centre were one of e most memorable for me.