“When I was 20 years old, as a first year social work student at UniSA, I went to Bolivia for the first time as a volunteer a children’s home for 4 months. Little did I know, those 4 months would change my life forever. Struck by the lack of resources and opportunities for the kids I was working with, I became determined to try to do more to help. That was how TIA was born. Tía is the Spanish word for auntie, and that’s what we are – an Auntie to children who don’t have anyone to call family. Now, 8 years later, TIA has grown into a successful and effective non-profit organisation that works with teens and young people who have grown up in state care homes, supporting them through the transition into adulthood when they legally have to leave these homes at the age of 18.
I now live in Bolivia, working with our local team to grow our projects to be able to reach more young people. I was very proud when I was invited to be a keynote presenter at a conference in Sydney held by the CREATE Foundation – the national advocate for children living in care in Australia. But I couldn’t travel to Australia and share our story on my own – to me it is extremely important that the young people we work with are able to tell their own stories. So I decided to bring one of our young people with me to tell his story himself. Ramiro is a young man who has overcome exceptionally difficult circumstances and is flourishing as a responsible, motivated, energetic, kind and caring young adult. I couldn’t be prouder of the person he is and the things he is achieving in his life. I am so excited to bring him to Australia with me and give him this opportunity to learn, grown, and experience new things. Unfortunately financially it is very difficult for TIA to fit this trip into our budget (we raise all our funds through a team of very hard working and dedicated volunteers in Adelaide), so we have created this campaign on Chuffed to raise the rest of the money we need to make this trip a reality.
All of the money crowdfunded through Chuffed.org will be put towards Ramiro’s costs – my costs have been funded through CREATE as their Keynote speaker. ”
Join TIA to bring one of their incredible young people, Ramiro, to Australia to share his story and grow TIA’s impact:
