Moira Kelly (humanitarian)
Encyclopedia
Moira Kelly is an Australia
n humanitarian
worker. In 2001 she was awarded the Order of Australia
in recognition of her humanitarian service to both the Australian and international communities. In 2003, Kelly received the Victorian of the Year
award and in 2003 and 2004, she was nominated for the Australian of the Year
awards.
about Mother Teresa
and decided she wanted to be an aid worker. As a primary school student in Carlton
, she would climb the fence of her school to help feed the children at the special school next door. In 1982, after completing year 10, she left school and completed a course to be a special education Teaching assistant
and in 1984 trained as a lay
missionary
and completed a Probation Officer
course for working with young offenders. She then traveled to Western Australia
and worked as a "house mother" at an Aboriginal mission. On returning to Melbourne, she sold her car to finance her airfare, and left for Calcutta where she stayed and worked with Mother Teresa’s mission. Kelly, a practising Catholic, remained in India with Mother Teresa for six months until her visa
expired. In 1987 she returned to India and continued her work with Mother Teresa and in 1988 she was honoured as an Australian Bicentenary Young Woman of the Year for her work in community services and the Advance Australia Ambassador Award.
In 1992 Kelly received the Paul Harris Rotary International Award for her work in The Bronx
, New York City
and in 1994 she was awarded the first Sir Edward Dunlop
award for humanitarian service. In 1994, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina
, Kelly started Nobody's Children, a volunteer program at a refugee camp. She became the program's Director of Field Operations and organised aid and welfare programs in several refugee camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including opening two pharmacies
, starting a free mobile dental health care clinic
, starting a home care
program, organising the emergency medical evacuation of patients to hospitals overseas, and developing education and recreation programs. Kelly left the Nobody's Children program in 1997.
Kelly returned to Australia in the late 1990s and in 1999 she set up the non-profit organisation
Children First Foundation. Children in developing countries who have existing and often serious health problems, which local doctors are unable to treat effectively, are referred to the Foundation by aid workers, medical staff and church ministries and missions. The Foundation then facilitates provision of medical treatment, often bringing the children to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital
and the Epworth Hospital
, where specialist medical and nursing staff donate their expertise. Specialists in New York
, Boston
and Ireland
have also donated their services. In 2001, Kelly and the Children First Foundation opened a farm in Kilmore
known as the Open Door Rotary Farm, where she accommodates and cares for the children brought to Australia for treatment. Donated and built by Rotary, the property includes a purpose-built house with 12 bedrooms where children having surgery and medical treatment can rehabilitate before returning home to their families. The Children First Foundation has brought children to Australia for medical treatment from countries including Albania
, Djibouti
, East Timor
, Indonesia
, Fiji
, Papua New Guinea
, Nauru
, Nigeria
, Zambia
and the Solomon Islands
.
In 2001, Kelly's humanitarian work was recognised with several awards, including the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding community service, the White Flame Award from Save the Children
for her service to disadvantaged children, and she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to both the Australian and international communities. In 2003, Kelly received the Victorian of the Year
award, and in 2003 and 2004, she was nominated for the Australian of the Year
awards.
A Compassionate Rage is a 2001 documentary film by Film Australia and Alan Lindsay following Kelly for 18 months on her missions overseas as she tries to organise medical treatment for sick and injured children.
from Bangladesh
, Trishna and Krishna, separated in 2009 in a 32-hour operation at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital by a 16 member team of specialist medical and nursing staff led by Wirginia Maixner
, director of neurosurgery at the hospital. Their birth mother Lavlee Mollik, a twenty-two-year-old student completing final exams at the Keshobpur Agricultural College in Jessore, gave the twins up for adoption in a Dhaka
orphanage.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n humanitarian
Humanitarianism
In its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution...
worker. In 2001 she was awarded the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
in recognition of her humanitarian service to both the Australian and international communities. In 2003, Kelly received the Victorian of the Year
Victorian of the Year
The Victorian of the Year is an award given to the most outstanding Victorian in any given year.This is not to be confused with the Victorian winner of the Australian of the Year awarded in Canberra by the Australia Day Council .The Victorian of the year is awarded in Melbourne by the Victoria Day...
award and in 2003 and 2004, she was nominated for the Australian of the Year
Australian of the Year
Since 1960 the Australian of the Year Award has been part of the celebrations surrounding Australia Day , during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual...
awards.
Biography
Born in Melbourne on 31 January 1964, Kelly first developed an interest in disadvantaged children when, as a 8-year-old, she saw a documentary filmDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
and decided she wanted to be an aid worker. As a primary school student in Carlton
Carlton, Victoria
Carlton is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
, she would climb the fence of her school to help feed the children at the special school next door. In 1982, after completing year 10, she left school and completed a course to be a special education Teaching assistant
Teaching assistant
A teaching assistant is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include graduate teaching assistants , who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants , who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school...
and in 1984 trained as a lay
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
and completed a Probation Officer
Probation officer
Parole officers and probation officers play a role in criminal justice systems by supervising offenders released from incarceration or sentenced to non-custodial sanctions such as community service...
course for working with young offenders. She then traveled to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and worked as a "house mother" at an Aboriginal mission. On returning to Melbourne, she sold her car to finance her airfare, and left for Calcutta where she stayed and worked with Mother Teresa’s mission. Kelly, a practising Catholic, remained in India with Mother Teresa for six months until her visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
expired. In 1987 she returned to India and continued her work with Mother Teresa and in 1988 she was honoured as an Australian Bicentenary Young Woman of the Year for her work in community services and the Advance Australia Ambassador Award.
In 1992 Kelly received the Paul Harris Rotary International Award for her work in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and in 1994 she was awarded the first Sir Edward Dunlop
Edward Dunlop
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop, AC, CMG, OBE was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.-Early life and family:...
award for humanitarian service. In 1994, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Kelly started Nobody's Children, a volunteer program at a refugee camp. She became the program's Director of Field Operations and organised aid and welfare programs in several refugee camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including opening two pharmacies
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
, starting a free mobile dental health care clinic
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...
, starting a home care
Home care
Home Care, , is health care or supportive care provided in the patient's home by healthcare professionals Home Care, (also referred to as domiciliary care or social care), is health care or supportive care provided in the patient's home by healthcare professionals Home Care, (also referred to as...
program, organising the emergency medical evacuation of patients to hospitals overseas, and developing education and recreation programs. Kelly left the Nobody's Children program in 1997.
Kelly returned to Australia in the late 1990s and in 1999 she set up the non-profit organisation
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
Children First Foundation. Children in developing countries who have existing and often serious health problems, which local doctors are unable to treat effectively, are referred to the Foundation by aid workers, medical staff and church ministries and missions. The Foundation then facilitates provision of medical treatment, often bringing the children to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital
Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
The Royal Children's Hospital is a major children's hospital in Melbourne, Australia.As the major paediatric hospital in Victoria, the Royal Children's Hospital and offers a full range of clinical services, tertiary care and health promotion and prevention programs for children and adolescents...
and the Epworth Hospital
Epworth Hospital
-Epworth HealthCare:Epworth HealthCare is a provider of acute medical, surgical and rehabilitation services in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The group has four divisions: Epworth Richmond, Epworth Eastern, Epworth Cliveden, Epworth Freemasons and Epworth Rehabilitation, with rehabilitation sites...
, where specialist medical and nursing staff donate their expertise. Specialists in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
have also donated their services. In 2001, Kelly and the Children First Foundation opened a farm in Kilmore
Kilmore, Victoria
Kilmore is a town in the Australian state of Victoria. Located north of Melbourne, it is contentiously claimed as Victoria's oldest inland settled town...
known as the Open Door Rotary Farm, where she accommodates and cares for the children brought to Australia for treatment. Donated and built by Rotary, the property includes a purpose-built house with 12 bedrooms where children having surgery and medical treatment can rehabilitate before returning home to their families. The Children First Foundation has brought children to Australia for medical treatment from countries including Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Djibouti
Djibouti
Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...
, East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
, Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
.
In 2001, Kelly's humanitarian work was recognised with several awards, including the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding community service, the White Flame Award from Save the Children
Save the Children
Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...
for her service to disadvantaged children, and she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to both the Australian and international communities. In 2003, Kelly received the Victorian of the Year
Victorian of the Year
The Victorian of the Year is an award given to the most outstanding Victorian in any given year.This is not to be confused with the Victorian winner of the Australian of the Year awarded in Canberra by the Australia Day Council .The Victorian of the year is awarded in Melbourne by the Victoria Day...
award, and in 2003 and 2004, she was nominated for the Australian of the Year
Australian of the Year
Since 1960 the Australian of the Year Award has been part of the celebrations surrounding Australia Day , during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual...
awards.
A Compassionate Rage is a 2001 documentary film by Film Australia and Alan Lindsay following Kelly for 18 months on her missions overseas as she tries to organise medical treatment for sick and injured children.
Trishna and Krishna
Herself a twin, Kelly is now the legal guardian of the originally cranially conjoined twinsConjoined twins
Conjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of...
from Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Trishna and Krishna, separated in 2009 in a 32-hour operation at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital by a 16 member team of specialist medical and nursing staff led by Wirginia Maixner
Wirginia Maixner
Wirginia June Maixner is an Australian neurosurgeon and the director of neurosurgery at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia...
, director of neurosurgery at the hospital. Their birth mother Lavlee Mollik, a twenty-two-year-old student completing final exams at the Keshobpur Agricultural College in Jessore, gave the twins up for adoption in a Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
orphanage.