Awards Magazine 2017

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The Community Leader Awards
2015
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ora duffley
Finalist - Volunteer of the Year 2017
Ora Duffley: The
faith is the centre
of my life. It’s not
just something that
I do on a Sunday. It
inspires me every
day.
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What do you do in your community?
For the past few years I’ve been working with on
the Street and through my work there I met people from all over
the world – people from the Middle East especially. From hear-
ing their stories over a cup of tea on a Friday night my interest
in the Middle East grew and grew. I made a lot of great friends
from the refugee community through my work in Logan.
How did you get started?
When I read everything that had been happening since 2014 in
Iraq and in Syria I was shocked and, as a Catholic, my heart went
out to the people there because they’re families just likes ours,
they’re trying to live the faith just like we are and I couldn’t sit at
home and do nothing. For the first two years in 2014 and 2015 as
at
Christmas to the children of Iraq. Then through a mutual friend
I heard about and I decided that I must
join them, I must go there to be with the people.
What do you love about your role?
The warmth of the Iraqi people was amazing. Their hospitality is
like none I’ve ever experienced before. I carry them very close to
me in my heart. The thing I loved was just visiting the families,
sitting down, having a cup of tea, hearing their stories and shar-
ing the faith with them, praying together, and being there in sol-
idarity with them as a Christian. That meant an awful lot to the
people there. They couldn’t believe that I had come all the way
from Australia to be with them. I loved being with the families.
I loved playing with the children. We worked in many camps
where the children didn’t have many toys so we would bring all
the toys with us and in the volunteer house we had to come up
with lots of ideas of what we would do that day, face-painting,
hopscotch on the grounds. The thing that I suppose struck me
the most about being in Iraq was when I visited the villages,
when I saw the destruction. It was so shocking. Christians have
been in Iraq for 2000 years. Long before Christianity came to
Australia or came to Europe, there were Christians in Iraq. St
Thomas went there, St Paul went there. They belong in Iraq as
much as we belong in Australia. It’s their country. I was glad that
I was able to go there and able to help them in my own small way
through this organisation.
Why is your Catholic faith important to you?
Being Irish, I’m a cradle Catholic. I have two amazing parents
who taught me the faith from a young age. The faith is the centre
of my life. It’s not just something that I do on a Sunday. It in-
spires me every day. I look at the Bible and I look at the beautiful
messages that Our Lord gives us. “Love one another as I have
loved you, if you do this to one person you do this to me.” All
these beautiful messages of charity and of love have inspired me
to be the person that I am. I’m wearing a wrist bracelet today that
says WWJD. What would Jesus do? Really and truly I keep that at
the forefront of my mind as much as I can in my everyday life.
What was your reaction when you heard you
were a finalist for The Leaders?
I honestly couldn’t believe it. The fact that it’s anonymous. I was
really, really shocked because, I’m a worker bee and I like to do
things in the background. I’m a little bit shy and for somebody
to recognise the little things that I’ve done. I’m just an ordinary
person who is trying to live their faith and help as many people
as I can, so to receive that recognition to be a finalist, it was very
humbling.