You can’t tell a book by its cover

What’s it like to seek refuge in another country or to lead a charity, to edit a newspaper or to nurse on a mercy ship?

Talk with people from all walks of life at the Human Library.

You will be inspired as you listen to their stories.

Browse the catalogue below.

The Human Library is just like a normal library, except the books are human and the borrowers interact with their book. It aims to reduce stereotypes and prejudice and to promote respect for human rights and dignity.

A free presentation by Avondale Libraries and Friends of the Library.

Program

9.30 am, Introduction and preface to books
9.45 am, Borrowing session 1
10.05 am, Borrowing session 2
10.30 am, Morning tea
10.50 am, Borrowing session 3
11.15 am, Borrowing session 4
11.40 am, Borrowing session 5

Catalogue

1. I know what the Anzacs in the trenches thought about God
Associate Professor Daniel Reynaud is a historian at Avondale College of Higher Education and has spent the past 12 years reading the diaries and letters of soldiers about their faith. His main research interests lie in the challenging aspects of Anzac mythology, especially in cinema and on religion, where the notion of the secularity of the Anzacs has reached dogmatic proportions. Reynaud has also worked with the National Film and Sound Archive in the recovery and partial reconstruction of several silent films, including The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915), Australia’s first Gallipoli movie.

2. A universal innate yearning to love
Tanya Lawrence recruits and supervises volunteers for Restore One trips to Cambodia and the Myanmar–Thailand border. As a trained nurse raised in Fiji, her compassion and love for other cultures has been an asset. She first visited Cambodia in 2007 to help build a school: she became hooked from day one. A born organiser, Lawrence has been leading successful trips ever since.

3. MercyGirl
Sonja Dawson is a follower of Jesus and a nurse with training in intensive care. After leaving Australia at age 24 on a working holiday to discover her roots in Zurich, Switzerland, Dawson heard about global charity Mercy Ships. She signed for only three months and flew to Ghana to work on the Anastasis. Three months became 12 years.

4. God can change anyone
For 35 years, Marc Erbsleben was self-centred, had no work ethic and lived for himself. In the year 2000, God changed everything. Erbsleben is now married with two children and three grandchildren. He has two ministries, teaches scripture at Morisset High School and travels around Australia delivering seminars to high school students on subjects such as sexuality, drugs and alcohol, self-image and pornography.

5. Stop the press!
David Quick was born under a bed in East London during the Blitz in 1944. He had a youthful ambition to be a long distance truck driver in Europe, coal miner and a steeplejack within two years of becoming an engineer apprentice. Quick did the truck driving and became a journalist apprentice instead. At age 20, he became a folk singer and a rock band guitarist who busked in the Greek Islands, mostly Crete. He came to Australia in 1982 and joined the Sydney Daily Mirror as a casual journalist. He became a section editor in charge of travel, motoring, electronics and real estate within two years. Then Quick was sent to Romania, and was possibly the only journalist invited into the country by the Romanian government just weeks before Nicolae Ceceusescu was slain by the people during the 1989 uprising to rid the county of communism. Quick’s current hobbies include flying, which he learned at Avondale, small boat fishing, motorcycling and helping the elderly and low income people by repairing small machines free of charge.

6. Escaping the killers in South Sudan
Thok Pal Chay Jiok escaped South Sudan four years ago but lost two roommates to the war. He came to Australia to pursue a career in public health but is now completing a Graduate Diploma in Ministry and Theology at Avondale College of Higher Education. With experience in local church and in literature ministry, he has helped translate Seventh-day Adventist literature from Nuer to English.

7. An uplifting decade: logbook of a Royal Flying Doctor Service pilot in outback Australia
God repeatedly answered Nathan Tasker’s prayers for help, giving him courage and hope.

8. Endless Praise Christian Vocal Band
Sandra Maletin is co-founder of Endless Praise, one of the longest running vocal music bands of any genre. Acclaimed internationally, loved locally, Endless Praise is celebrating 34 years of full-time Christian music ministry.

9. Beyond heartbreak: lessons I’ve learnt in life and business
Having worked in fundraising roles over the past 10 years, Grace McLean knows firsthand the feelings of frustration and isolation when working in regional not-for-profit organisations. As a result, she left full-time employment in the industry to establish NFP Connect, which helps support, connect and grow not-for-profits in regional areas. In her fundraising roles, Grace has a proven track record in growing and supporting not-for-profit organisations. She has established two financially successful regional offices from the ground up, for which she received regional recognition as the 2014 Lake Macquarie Young Business Person of the Year and for her work with NFP Connect as the 2015 Lake Macquarie Citizen of the Year.

REGISTER