Ann Wigglesworth joins the Mary MacKillop Today Board

We asked Ann to share with us what motivated her to join the Board:

“When Jane Woolford, Mary MacKillop Toay’s CEO, invited me to apply to be a Board Director, it took me back to my former work with Caritas Australia where the two of us worked together – Jane in the promotions team and myself as Senior Program Manager, responsible for the international programs.

Working there gave me the opportunity to become deeply involved in East Timor, representing Caritas Australia from 1997-2000. It was a critical time in Timorese history and it was emotionally absorbing to work closely with people who were putting their lives on the line for their belief in their right to self-determination.

That experience influenced the next 25 years of my life, resulting in a PhD, numerous visits to Timor-Leste, meaningful collaborations with Timorese friends and, back in Melbourne, ongoing involvement through two Timorese-focussed community organisations – Friends of Suai/Covalima and Australia East Timor Association.

Although I am not a Catholic, my overseas development work has given me great admiration for the Sisters of Saint Joseph that I have met overseas. Sr Susan Connelly and Sr Josephine Mitchell are two such women, who I met in Timor-Leste during the Indonesian occupation. Their commitment and contributions were exemplary and their deep sense of justice and work based on the principles of human rights and justice cannot be faulted. Their pioneering work to develop a curriculum in Tetum so that Timorese children could learn in a language of their own country was inspiring. How could I not want to support the ongoing work that they established?

Mary MacKillop Today gives me the opportunity to contribute my development experience to an organisation which is focussed not only on Timor-Leste but also indigenous Australia, the Pacific and Peru, where I stayed with the Mary MacKillop sisters when I was monitoring projects for Caritas Australia. The story of Sr Irene McCormack who was assassinated by Sendero Luminosa terrorist group in 1991 in Peru is still charged with emotion. The sisters in Peru were steadfast in their commitment to justice and human rights, and one died for it. Peace, justice and human rights – more is needed to support those working on the ideological frontier.

It is early days to know how effectively I can contribute to MMT but I am deeply committed to the principles of development, human rights and justice, as are the Josephite sisters. I look forward to the journey of collaboration with Mary MacKillop Today.”