The idea generated was the ‘Book of Light’. ‘Book of Light’ is a cybersafe, interactive and engaging online environment where children can share their thoughts of life while their communities are rebuilding.

Working in collaboration with the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, approximately 5,000 children, from the bushfire affected areas, are now sponsored with special access to the “Book of Light” site within the cybersafe SuperClubsPLUS site. SuperClubsPLUS is jointly funded by the Telstra Foundation and the Victorian Department of Education and at the time of writing, has 90,000 Australian children registered, joining another 150,000 children globally. Read more on the work of SuperClubsPLUS.

Read all about the “Book of Light” in this flyer from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

Current status:

Participating schools have been enthusiastically working on their contribution to the “Book of Light” project over the past few months. For example;

• At Epping Views Primary School the children have nearly completed building a range of handmade large ‘eggs’. These eggs are filled with new soil and seedlings and will be shared with other primary schools affected by the bushfires. These eggs are a symbol of new growth and shared new beginnings.
• At Chum Creek and Healesville Primary the children are building a regenerative frog pond to symbolise new beginnings. Additionally they are helping the local hobby farm - Leslie’s Labyrinth - to remove dead bushes and to re-plant new bushes. It is all about creating new life and hope for a brighter future.

“The benefit of these projects to the children is enormous; they are really excited, happy and engaged when working on their Book of Light projects. SuperClubsPLUS has been a very positive addition to the schools curriculum and has been embraced by the children.” Project Manager of the Book of Light, Victorian Department of Education.

It is fantastic to hear about the passion and value this project is bringing to these Victorian schools and the communities. The children are in the process of finalising their projects and documenting their journey and experience - through drawings, poems, stories, video and photos. These will be included in the online ‘Book of Light’, with a hard copy version to be printed later in the year. The Printed version will be available for members of the community to enjoy.

I look forward to sharing more on the progress of this groundbreaking project over the coming months.

For example the remaining funds can be used to set up a modern playground with safe, attractive equipment suited to the needs of small children (6-9 years). This is one of the aspects that will help them attract and retain children in the area - a core principal of the Hope School Projects. We can also explore using the remaining funds to support short term teacher training programs through Project Hope’s training centres.

An official opening of the school will take place later this year, or early in the new year. Look forward to sharing the continued progress.

There is great progress being made on the construction of the new facilities. As there are quite a lot of works occurring, the students have had to be transferred to other surrounding schools. They are all extremely excited to return to their school as soon as possible!! The new facilities have been built to accommodate a growing population in the future and adhere to the strict new earthquake building guidelines.

AVI will provide a full report on their visit to the Melbourne Hope School and its progress shortly.

Visit the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge website for all of the details.

Many leading athletes participated along with celebrity guests and corporate teams. It was fantastic to be part of the event and to have the opportunity to support such a committed Australian like Mark Webber, who despite living in the UK, sets a great example by contributing to Australian charities year in and year out. Visit the Mark Webber Challenge site to see the full wrap-up of the event at www.markwebberchallenge.com

You can also read how Telstra helped facilitate the immediate response to Mark Webber when he was injured at Now we are talking

The day started with a boat trip from Port Arthur that was great fun, however was quite rough and cold. The real race started on top of Mt Wellington with a tough descent followed by a very technical mountain bike leg ending up at Wrest Point Casino. We then did a quick run to the top and a rope section off the top of the Casino. Then we ran to Hobart town centre for a few more checkpoints and to finish off today’s racing and the Challenge for this year. We are all very happy to finish and looking forward to celebrating tonight!

The first leg for the two Telstra teams was a 15km run from Waterfall Bay to Fortescue Bay. This trail run has some of the most spectacular scenery to be found in Tasmania and the Telstra teams ran the leg very strongly. David Moffatt and Jacinta Worland were one of the fastest teams competing in the Ambassadors Cup and Team Telstra competing in the Van Diemen Cup continued to push their lead out and challenge for 3 spot overall. Unfortunately for Team Telstra Mark Comer sprained an ankle just prior to the end of the 2 hour run leg which slowed the team somewhat when they were pressing for 3rd place.

The next leg was a 22km mountain bike ride on very hilly rough roads into a very strong head wind. Again both Telstra teams road strongly and continued to pick their way through the field. The next leg was a 6km run around a wind blown peninsular with some very large sand dunes to be traversed. Following the run it was onto the mountain bike again for a 8km ride to the finish. Both Telstra teams finished the day extremely well.

As the teams cooled down word was sent around that there would be a 10km kayak in the evening and so the teams had to regroup and get back into their wet and sweaty gear to undertake an additional kayak leg to complete an epic day. The kayak leg took place off the Port Arthur historic site with a large spectator contingent and concluded with the competitors kayaking through and under the bow of a very large catamaran. Another example of the mystery legs and spectacular natural environment interaction that this race brings out.
With the final day 5 due to take place in Hobart tomorrow the two Telstra teams are very well placed to take out their respective categories in the event.