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I recently returned from Southern Africa with our Top End Regional Director, Erin Reilly. The journey and remarkable immersion – led by Igniting Change, the Graça Machel Trust (GMT) and Foundation for Community Development (FDC), – brought together First Nations leaders and entrepreneurs from Australia with African activists, communities and organisations. The trip was generously sponsored by Steve Kloss, an entrepreneur and philanthropist deeply committed and connected to a vision for justice and the phenomenal initiatives that we experienced.
The brilliance of two very special women – Jane Tewson and Graça Machel – sparked this visit, which was then supported and made possible by generous philanthropic leaders and a phenomenal team both at Igniting Change, GMT and the FDC.
It was life changing, it was an enormous honour and a visit that will stay in the hearts and souls of those who had the privilege to attend for the rest of our lives.
Graça Machel, an international leader in human rights and justice and a founding member of The Elders, hosted the delegation. She is a global treasure whose power is breathtaking. Her clarity of purpose, her commitment to women and children, and her leadership of two nations and two foundations embody excellence and love.
This special trip followed Graça Machel’s 2023 visit to Children’s Ground in Central Australia, where she met the late Dr M.K. Turner OAM and families on Country. That meeting forged a profound connection across continents, carried by culture, ancestors and a shared vision for dignity, truth and human rights. This was then followed by a 2024 trip led by Igniting Change at the invitation of Graça to Meet the People and Feel the Issues of Southern Africa with 26 non-indigenous Australians, which in turn made possible this 2025 iteration.
This immersion was designed to connect the work of the Graça Machel Trust in South Africa and the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique with First Nations organisations in Australia, including Brother to Another, First Nations Futures, Kings Narrative, Speakwrite Consulting and Children’s Ground. Its impact will live on in the lives of all who took part, shaped by the depth of learning, the connections formed, and the leadership of Mama Graça.
In South Africa, we were immersed in the country’s history of resistance. At Regina Mundi Church in Soweto we stood in a place where thousands once gathered in defiance of apartheid.
Families shared stories of the 1976 student uprising and the children who were lost. These accounts revealed both the scale of injustice and the strength of communities determined to fight for freedom at immeasurable cost.
We witnessed today’s challenges as well. Families in Soweto still endure poverty, in homes vulnerable to rain and mudslides, and dependent on shared water pumps. Yet community organisations are creating opportunity. The Kliptown Youth Program, for example, offers education and holistic support, demonstrating the determination of people to build hope even in the face of hardship.
The Graça Machel Trust’s Pan-African Adolescent Girls’ Movement was one of the most striking experiences. Young women, some as young as eleven, spoke with confidence about rights and responsibilities. Supported by Elders and known as “Eagles”, they are already soaring as leaders. Their clarity showed the capacity of the next generation when they are trusted and empowered. The visit also allowed us to reconnect with members of the Trust team who had travelled to Alice Springs in 2023. Meeting them again on their own lands and seeing their leadership with young women across Africa strengthened bonds first forged in Central Australia.
The Trust’s Women Creating Wealth program was equally inspiring. Entrepreneurs spoke of wealth as a responsibility to community, building enterprises in health, agriculture, design and education. Their approach reflects our belief at Children’s Ground that economic empowerment must be collective, strengthening families and communities as well as individuals.
In Mozambique we visited the Foundation for Community Development, founded by Graça Machel after the civil war. At a vocational training centre, young people are gaining practical skills in trades, hospitality and renewable energy. We planted cashew trees alongside them, a gesture that symbolised investment in future generations. The symbolism of planting resonated deeply with me. This act echoed the principle behind our 25-year strategy at Children’s Ground: building strong foundations now so that children can flourish in the decades to come.
Conversations with activists and community leaders in South Africa added another dimension. Facilitated by human rights and climate justice leader Kumi Naidoo, the dialogue was candid and courageous. During his time as Secretary General of Amnesty International in 2018 and 2019, Kumi visited Children’s Ground in Alice Springs. To meet him again in South Africa, and to share reflections on justice and freedom, felt like a circle closing and opening anew.
This experience reinforced the importance of intergenerational work and community-led systems of change. Across Africa we saw young people stepping into leadership, women building collective strength, and Elders holding cultural authority.
Stories of First Nations peoples in Australia were shared and striking parallels were found. Communities everywhere are creating solutions from within, guided by history, culture and a determination to ensure a better future.
For Children’s Ground, the exchange affirmed what is possible when people are empowered to lead in their own communities. It strengthened our commitment to place children, families and culture at the centre of long-term reform. It reminded us that while institutions can move slowly, people themselves have the clarity and courage to create new realities.
Erin Reilly’s leadership was evident throughout. She brought depth to dialogue, drawing on her experience across regions in Australia and engaging directly with the realities we witnessed in Africa. Her participation created meaningful connections with leaders across continents and highlighted the strength of her vision for systemic change.
I return to Australia with gratitude to the Graça Machel Trust, the Foundation for Community Development and Igniting Change for creating this experience. Most importantly, I return with conviction that the lessons we witnessed in Africa are living examples of what can be achieved when vision, courage and collective effort are placed in the hands of communities.
Igniting Change has gifted us all with something that will stay with us and ignite many lives across continents and cultures.
Special thanks to our colleagues at the Graça Machel Trust and the Foundation for Community Development – Shiphra, Nangamso, Wokedje, Korkor, Adelino, Laurinda, Inacio, Mangia, Alan and Angelo – who looked after us with strength and care. Their generosity will remain with us personally and organisationally.
Lydia from Igniting Change was an extraordinary host and guide, supported by Lachie, who worked tirelessly with the GMT team to create an experience that was seamless and filled with joy.
And of course, Jane Tewson – the magician who creates the impossible. Together with Mama Graça, you have gifted us one of the most humbling and moving experiences of our lives. We have learned, connected, listened and felt. We have exchanged culture and knowledge, laughed and cried, and danced together. What we carry home is a lifelong responsibility: to serve others with dignity and to walk in the footsteps of Graça and all those we met.
Special recognition must also go to Leila, who stands beside Mama Graça and brings her vision to life each day. Behind every great leader are others whose brilliance makes it possible, and Leila embodies this truth.
We are deeply grateful to Igniting Change, the Graça Machel Trust and the Foundation for Community Development for the enormous work that went into this brilliant trip.
As the ten days unfolded, the shared experience bonded everyone. It ignited connections that will last. Not everything can be captured here, but every moment was profound and deeply felt. I cannot predict what will come, but I know much will grow from this journey. The next generation of First Nations leaders who joined us shone brilliantly, and the cultural connections built across continents have created experiences that will shape identities and futures on both sides.
Jane Vadiveloo
CEO, Children’s Ground
