Agrifutures Australia Rural Women’s Award - NSW/ACT Finalist
I was recently honoured to be a State finalist for the Agrifutures Australia Rural Women’s Award for NSW/ACT. Although I did not win and move through to the national award I am so deeply appreciative of being a part of this experience.
The finalists had all been asked to prep an Acceptance Speech in case we won. I wanted to say a few things while I had my 5 minutes of fame. So while I didn’t get to read it on the night, I thought I would re-phrase it and make it a blog, so that you could read about the passion I have for rural women and to know I will continue with the Bush Blossums Project as it is important and needed in the bush.
I would first like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we met that night for the award, the gadigal people of the eora nation. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all First Nations people. I respect the grief they experience and the traditional healing practices of their culture. My heart sees the hearts of indigenous baby loss mums and their families.
Congratulations also to Michelle (of Moorambilla Voices) for winning this years state award and Dimity (of A Lasting Tale) for being a finalist also. Their programs and projects are incredible and they are amazing women and leaders that I wish every success for in the future. We have chatted after our state judging and we agreed that we felt we had already won with what we have gained from each other and those we have met along the way. I look forward to watching all of our dreams for rural Communities coming true.
Never did I think that after almost 2 decades as a pharmacist that anything would have changed my career and passion from that area. But that’s what baby loss can do. Completely throw you off kilter into an uncertain future.
Our loss, our story, our culture, our location, our expression of grief - these all combine for an experience that is as unique to each of us as our very own fingerprints. This requires a personalised approach, one that looks at the whole mother. The unique challenges she has faced just because she lives rurally needs to be understood. Practicality needs to exist in this space.
I am proud to have been raised and surrounded by rural women all my life. I grew up over a 100km from a regional centre and never do I remember feeling isolated. We were so well catered to by our community as kids. The rural woman is the heartbeat of her communities, she is literally the thread that holds the fabric of a community together. I truly believe that the health of RRR communities & their industries rests - sometimes heavily - on the shoulders of its women. These communities thrive when their women thrive, when they are healthy & coping. We cannot ignore that around a quarter of our women are experiencing pregnancy or infant loss - yet they are receiving little to no support as this part of their motherhood journey unfolds.
Being recognised at this level by so many organisations, government departments and individuals means so much to both myself and the community I serve - the Bush Blossums. You.
This has reinforced to me the necessity to look into expanding my services to guide, support and direct rural baby loss mums. What will that look like? Raising awareness and providing education and implementation at a rural industry, corporate and community level so that baby loss mums feel understood, seen, heard and most importantly safe as they integrate back into their own tight knit communities and workplaces.
I would also like to thank the state sponsors NSW Farmers, CWA NSW for generously supporting TBLM with $1000 grant each. I appreciate this so very much and it was a totally unexpected but welcome suprise. Of course, thankyou to AgriFutures, as a sponsor but also as a visionary - by caring for and supporting Rural Womens initiatives like The Baby Loss Mentors programs so profoundly with these awards - you are enabling the longevity and sustainability of rural communities for generations to come - I think that deserves recognition too. I also thank my family - my mum, Elaine, who was with me on the night - husband Robert and my two boys. Also kudos to my friends who did not give up on me and have supported this vision any way they can.
Finally, of course I thank my beautiful firstborn son Edward, his tiny life has changed the trajectory of mine and consequently every one’s lives around me. Being in service to the Bush Blossums community is how I get to parent him from afar.
I wish that no one would ever have to go through what I did with the loss of Edward - but if they do I will strive for them to be better supported, guided and understood than I ever was.
Thank you.
