STORY - "The Road Less Travelled By"

Fiona Cairns is at home in Redhead for the moment, but she hopes that is just a break from her work in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) for PALMS, an independent organisation recruiting, preparing, sending and supporting volunteers for work overseas.

Fiona comes across as utterly unassuming, but her story is a dramatic and inspiring example of “true grit”. Though much of her journey has been very unusual, even amazing, the path that led her to volunteer for Papua New Guinea is, she says, very ordinary. She grew up in Redhead, attended Whitebridge High, completed a degree at Southern Cross University, worked in Sydney and then in Newcastle for four years. But now she is on a path “less travelled by”, and her happiness and enthusiasm are quite uplifting.

Perhaps Fiona could be said to have been on a different but parallel path to other young Novocastrians all her life. For Fiona was born with Spina Bifida, and has journeyed on with a paralysed leg, challenged by the disability but supported by a loving family and her own courage and determination. She says her parents gave her the confidence that she could do and be anything she wanted. Fiona is a young woman of ability, not disability.

An element of that confidence is Fiona’s faith that God’s providence has been shaping her life in quietly supportive ways. Her family’s belief in her and the challenges she had growing up have given Fiona not only a deep understanding of the struggles of others, but a conviction that help and healing come through people who care. Her degree in Business and Human Resources Management opened the way for her to help those with injuries and disabilities obtain rehabilitation. In Newcastle Fiona worked with people injured at work in getting back on their feet and finding new jobs.

Throughout her life, Fiona has had recurring episodes of sickness because of her bad leg. Indeed her orthopaedic surgeon suggested it might be better to amputate her lower leg, but Fiona was not ready to accept this drastic solution. She got on with a life of wellness, not illness, and continued her work. It was through her involvement with St Vincent de Paul activities that another gate opened, and she felt God was offering her the opportunity to take a different path.

At a St Vincent de Paul conference she met a young woman who had been a PALMS volunteer. It was two years later that Fiona, thinking seriously again of this conversation, decided to investigate the possibilities.

Fiona realised she would need a cool climate that suited her health, as well as work using her qualifications and experience. Again she feels that God was working in her life as PALMS just then had an opening in the cool Highlands of PNG, managing a factory which makes lenses and spectacles for Papua New Guineans unable to afford private care. She loved it and is delighted to have improved the efficiency and output of the business. However, in less than a year, she again became very ill and had to be medically evacuated back to Australia.

This was a time of tough decision for Fiona. She yearned to return to her work in PNG, and realised that to do so, she would finally need to face the operation to remove her lower leg. It was done, and now Fiona proudly shows off her new prosthetic leg. There was a big party at Redhead, Fiona celebrating her new found liberation and her family and friends celebrating her courage.

So now Fiona is planning to go back to PNG when her rehabilitation is complete.

There is a handful of volunteers working in the town of Goroka from all around the world and Fiona is the only Australian. Perhaps the young people who have learned so much from immersion experiences in other countries might consider also going down that road. There are many needs, and many opportunities.

Talking to Fiona, it is clear that what one needs to be a PALMS volunteer is a sense of adventure, a sense of humour, a desire to help others and an openness to the gifts of those from a different culture. It is also clear that Fiona has found happiness on that road and a deep sense of satisfaction from work worth doing.

“…and I,
I took the road less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost

Please visit www.palms.org.au

Angela Maley

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