About

The Pacific Fellowship makes grants available to promote peace and social justice. These small grants are designed to enable individuals to develop their practice of peace.

Grant recipients become Fellows who join the Pacific Fellowship, a community of like-minded peace-makers who are, in their own ways, committed to building peace and social justice, particularly in the Pacific region.

The word 'pacific' has a number of meanings. When it is written as 'Pacific', it refers to the geographical region in and surrounding the Pacific Ocean. This is a region of great physical and cultural diversity and beauty, which includes 20,000 - 30,000 islands as well as countless forested areas, mountains and plains. Unfortunately, this region is also prone to natural disasters and anthropogenic risks where the people of small island states are endangered by rising seas and other effects associated with climate change. It is an area in need of peacemaking because of underlying tensions and conflicts between and within countries; some of these conflicts could have global consequences because of the actors involved, because of the potential to escalate to nuclear war, and because the world is increasingly globalised.

The word 'pacific' also describes actions and relationships. It means peace-loving, nonviolent, peacemaking, and calming. The Pacific Fellowship uses both general meanings of 'pacific'; our focus is on the Pacific Region and we hope to promote peacemaking in this region by offering fellowships.

Our first Fellow, Danity Laukon

In 2018-9, we are proud to have been able to support Danity Laukon from the Marshall Islands Student Association with a small grant, which helped MISA develop their campaign, My Fish is Your Fish. The Pacific Fellowship's support enabled MISA represent key issues related to youth in the Pacific especially that of the Nuclear heritage and its linkage to climate change.

We also supported Danity to come to Melbourne, Australia, to participate in a peace conference, allowing Danity to meet a large group of peace-makers active in Australia. This was a great networking opportunity for MISA to expand its' own network and capacity. The Pacific Fellowship's support also helped members of MISA explore and develop leadership skills, raise the capacity of the student-led initiative, and nurtured creativity through the integrating of cultural themes into videos and events.

We are...

Dale

I was born and raised in New Jersey, USA. In 1970, I was offered a job as an atmospheric researcher and came to Australia and have since become an Australian citizen. I live in Boon wurrung country in Australia (Melbourne). My interests include peace education and international development, but I have a particular interest in West Papua, the most protracted conflict in the Pacific, and in promoting greater freedom and justice for the people of West Papua through nonviolent action. I am a member of the Victorian Regional Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Anna

Anna was born in Japan and raised in Australia on Boon Wurrung land. When asked where she's from, she often answers 'from the Pacific'. Her pursuit of the life well-lived has taken her to live in a number of different countries and has led to interesting adventures and challenges along the way! After a period of meditation and creative rest, a light-bulb moment came when she realized that she wanted to 'pay forward' a generous scholarship, the modest beginnings of the Pacific Fellowship. Her vision is to help peace-builders create a community of support and find a wellspring of resilience within.

Joseph

Born in China, from the age of two, Joseph has spent the rest of his life in the Pacific where he received different stages of education from 5 different countries. The friends and teachers Joseph met along the way have been formative. In fact, for many years he found it a challenge to answer the question of where he is from. Trained as a mathematician, Joseph began his working life as a mathematics lecturer. His work has evolved to the application of mathematics and computational methods to different systems. For the past 13 years, Joseph has worked in the environmental field. For fun, Joseph plays competitive squash. Joseph also enjoys photography, travel, the performing arts, food and "people & places".

Vanessa

Vanessa was born and raised in New Jersey, USA. Her joyous curiosity has led her to pursue a Master’s Degree in documentary filmmaking. Through her films she wishes to explore and understand the world we live in and how videos could be the medium of social change within ourselves and our communities.