In ‘Secret life of…’ we reveal the lesser-known sides of some well-known Macquarie people. Here, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students and Registrar) Deidre Anderson talks about a project very close to her heart.

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It was five years ago, in a poor Namibian town called Otiwarongo, that I met a woman called Petra who was fostering 50 different children. She’d taken them off the streets, placed them in secure accommodation, enrolled them in school and was finding them sponsor parents from around the world.

Already struck by the poverty I had witnessed in Namibia, I was completely inspired by the impact that this one person was having on so many vulnerable young people. My close friends and I wanted to make a similar difference and, from that, our charity Hope Africa was born.

I asked Petra a simple question: “What can we do to help?” After a long discussion we landed on building a youth centre that would increase access to quality and affordable education, skills training and recreational facilities, and would give sustainable social and economic empowerment to underprivileged children and their families. It is against this background we began to make a meaningful contribution to this vulnerable community by empowering the youth through education — ultimately providing them with an opportunity for a better life.

The youth centre will be established in direct partnership with the local government and community-based NGOs that are involved in youth matters. It is an enormous undertaking, but the benefits will be significant.

I’m lucky enough to be able to apply my passion for developing potential in young people in my everyday work,  through my role as DVC Students and Registrar at Macquarie.

But — after having been blessed with a life that has afforded me an education and opportunities to travel and experience the amazing world we live in — I now  also have a very special means of giving something back. Being involved in this project has changed my life and there is not a day that goes by when I don’t reflect on what I saw in the eyes of the children that I met in Otiwarongo.  It keeps me going.