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“Mixing and working with women of different nationalities has taught me tolerance and consideration towards all migrants.”

Pictured: Soula Kanellopoulos (President), Rosa Schirato, Amparo Miller (Treasurer), Tess Jordan (member and volunteer)

Rosa Schirato was recently presented with life membership of the International Women’s Group for her 25 years of dedication and support. She was the President of the Gippsland International Women’s Group for 8 years from 1998 until 2006 and as such was an active and dynamic force.

Rosa prides herself in never having missed a meeting, but in recent years, ill health has meant that she has had to withdraw from active participation.

She is the only Ecuadorian in the Gippsland region. Born in Guayaquil City, Ecuador, South America, Rosa trained and qualified as a kindergarten teacher. She came out to Australia on 6 January 1971 to live with her Italian migrant husband in the little country town of Erica, Gippsland.

Rosa has done much volunteer work in Latrobe City including 30 years with the Red Cross and for a time was the secretary of the Gippsland Multicultural Services Inc. and a committee member of the Gippsland Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria.  She has taught Spanish at SCOPE has been part of the translation service to the community of English into Spanish for many people. She has voluntarily given her time as a speaker on Spanish culture and has given cooking demonstrations at both Moe and Morwell Neighbourhood Houses.

The International Women’s Group would like to publicly acknowledge all of Rosa’s hard work and leadership since the group’s inception in 1996. Under her direction the group has grown from a small handful (8) of like-minded women from different cultures to a large and welcoming organization. Today the International Women’s Group has over 100 members from 20 different cultural backgrounds.