I'm Donrita Reefman, Distinguished Toastmaster, with over 20 years experience as a public speaker. I've delivered advanced oral communications courses to post graduate research students at Macquarie University and the University of Newcastle.

In 2019 I was invited to travel to Noro, Solomon Islands, to run a public speaking course, "Speak with Impact", for the local women. Women in Pacific nations experience double the global average of domestic violence. The women in Noro asked for someone to come and empower them to speak confidently, that they might advocate for themselves and their families, to have a voice and give them agency to challenge and change the social patterns that allow domestic violence to go unchallenged. After the 6 day course, previously shy and nervous women found their voices as they successfully completed the course with a 15 minute seminar that concuded with confidently answering questions related to their presentation. Before leaving, I'd assisted them to establish an ongoing "Spokeswoman Group" which was able to meet regularly to continue building their public speaking skills.

In 2023, I was also invited to run the same course in Kiribati, with similar success.

I've now been invited to return to Noro, to repeat the course for a new cohort of local women, and I will be leaving on April 25.

I need your help to get me there, as the cost of travel makes significant debts in our personal finances, not to mention the lost income, during the ten days I'll be away from work.

I will be immensely grateful for any amount you can contribute. As St Teresa of Avila said, "some contribute by going, others go by contributing".

Thank you to all!