While we were in Sydney, we had the opportunity to spend some time with José Ramos-Horta, the President of East Timor, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and a driving force behind East Timorese independence for more than 30 years.
As soon as President Ramos-Horta speaks you begin to get a sense of the passion he has; not only for East Timor, but for making the entire world a better place. He had some really interesting things to say in regards to how individuals can make a difference, and seemed to have a strong respect for people who volunteered their time and resources to try to make a positive difference in the lives of others. It was a truly humbling experience to hear this from a man who has spent most of his life doing just that – fighting for the rights and freedoms of others.
I have photographed numerous politicians and leaders in the past, but President Ramos-Horta was completely different to any of them. For a man with such a distinguished political career he was humble and gracious, and made a point to acknowledge and thank everyone in the room for their presence and participation.
While in Sydney we also spent some time working with Caroline Perberton, a former Miss Australia who has agreed to be one of the spokespeople for the Change The World Project. Caroline is also passionate about making a positive difference in this world, and demonstrates this through her involvement as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. While her work with UNICEF has taken her from Kenya to Uganda, she is particularly passionate about the Baguia Orphanage in East Timor.
We also spent a great afternoon interviewing Sydneysiders about what they would do to change the world.
What would you do? Please leave a comment…
