We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through.

Our purpose here is to observe, to grow, to love… and then we return home.

Australian Aboriginal Proverb, The Flower Hunter

NEW BOOK  ~ Ruff & Ritual  

Author Stella Coram’s new book Ruff and Ritual is now available.

Not yet on the shelves of bookstores, you have the opportunity of purchasing  an early-release copy online.

Ruff and Ritual records my observations and critical reflections whilst deployed to Papua New Guinea as a ‘trailing spouse’ to my partner, Shane, an Australian official. First and foremost, it pays respect to the people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in particular the many women who are so giving and work tirelessly for their country. Secondary to this, is the objective to open up debate on the ethics of aid that go beyond political speak of supporting a developing nation to question the deeper purpose beneath aid. It is proposed that relations of dominance determine the provision of aid to PNG to the detriment of PNG.  In this context, aid, as good-will, becomes expedient to the politics of self-interest. 

Stella Coram

Stella Coram ~ Author

I grew up in a rural town in Bulls in the north island of New Zealand. A Maori girl, who did not speak Maori, I studied French at a ladies’ secondary college because I was placed into a language stream. I completed my final year of secondary studies and gained sufficient marks to go to university but was denied entry. Maori did not go to university in the 70s. So, I took off to the big smoke as most young people do. I enrolled in a psychiatric nurse training but was bundled out of the pre-entry program because I naively made too much of a fuss by going to the media about the mistreatment of inpatients.

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