Valerie Browning is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and an Australian nurse who has lived in the Afar region of Ethiopia for 35 years.
She has dedicated her life to the rights, health and safety of the nomadic people of Afar, one of the hottest, harshest and remote places on earth. Throughout Ethiopia, she is known as ‘Maalika’, which means Queen in the local Afar language, for her tireless commitment to her people. She has been described by 60 Minutes as 'Australia's Unsung National Treasure'.
Valerie is the program director of Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA), which she co-founded in 1989. Valerie will discuss APDA’s work in the space of maternal health, covering challenges including female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage, obstetric fistula, malnutrition and literacy, all in the context of conflict, extreme weather and political upheaval.
This event is being held jointly by Rotary Albert Park and Ethiopiaid Australia (partner of APDA)
We are so fortunate to be able to be able to meet & hear Valerie speak at this time, while she is back visiting family in Australia. What an amazing lady she is, having devoted her life to this work, as has her nephew, Dr Andrew Browning & others in their family.