Graduate to tackle poverty in third-world countries
A Maleny woman who left high school in Year 11 a decade ago is now well on her way to earning a Doctorate at a prestigious Japanese university after studying at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Naomi Stenning, 26, had plans as a teenager to change the world by taking photographs that highlighted the plight of the poor.
Now, after several twists and turns in her tertiary education, she has a much clearer picture of how she can improve the living conditions of people in third-world countries.
Naomi is doing a PhD in Asia Pacific Studies at the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University after receiving a scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Education last year.
Her thesis is on rural community development, and her research has involved trips to countries like Indonesia, Kenya and Uganda.
“I’m very interested in the international development field and that is definitely where I want to work,” she said. “I’d prefer to go into consulting and development projects because that would be meaningful for me.”
When she left high school, Naomi completed a Diploma of Photography at TAFE after studying several university-level subjects through Open Learning.
In 2000, she enrolled at the University of the Sunshine Coast in a combined Bachelor of Arts/Business degree, majoring in International Business and Japanese, and has gone from strength to strength since.
“My plan was to go into international business and make heaps of money with a multinational company,” she said with a wry grin, explaining that her future work would probably involve dealing with non-government organisations, charities and displaced persons.
Naomi said her decision to study Japanese at USC had opened many doors for her.
“Japanese is a beautiful and intriguing language and I just wanted to learn more and more,” she said. “That definitely helped me in my application for a scholarship for my Masters and for my PhD.”
In her third year at USC in 2003, Naomi went on a Global Opportunities (GO) program to Sugiyama Women’s University in Japan where she developed much greater fluency in Japanese.
This gave her an edge in gaining scholarships to do her Masters at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in 2004 and her Doctorate last year. Her current scholarship covers tuition fees, accommodation, flights and about $A1,700 a month in spending money.
Naomi said she now saw her business and language skills as important assets in building communities in developing countries and building bridges between cultures.
This was evidenced by Naomi’s recent return to Australia to help her mother, Sue Lee – who also is a USC graduate – stage the inaugural Woodford International Performance Art Festival (WIPAF) at the Woodford Folk Festival.
Sue organised a spectacular line-up of performing artists from Korea and Japan as well as performing in the festival herself. Naomi interpreted and translated for the Japanese artists, photographed performances and provided narration.
Sue has put together an exhibition of images, taken by Naomi and herself, of the artists who participated. The exhibition is on display at the Upfront Club, Maple Street, Maleny, and will open at a gallery on Howard Street, Nambour, in April.
— Terry Walsh