“It was really good to be able to go up there and help the community out.”
These were the sentiments of Mackay Cane Growers Network Secretary Marice Perna, who was proud to have taken part in the Wet Tropics Women In Sugar Conference held recently at Mission Beach, Queensland. Marice and eight other ladies were the recipients of a joint ChemClear/drumMUSTER travel bursary to travel north for the event, which they enjoyed immensely.
“The Conference was wonderful; it was fantastic to be able to do a lot of the social networking and to just catch up with some of the other ladies,” Ms. Perna said.
“ChemClear kindly gave us money towards petrol and the hire of the bus, which was very helpful because we needed the transport for four days- two days at the Conference and one day of travelling up and back!”
One of the more eye-opening aspects of the trip was a bus ride around to some of the worst cyclone-affected regions in the vicinity.
“They took us around to a lot of the destinations where the cyclone hit and while we were there in late April, the damage was still quite bad, even then,” she said.
“It was still a mess, with trees stripped and large amounts of cane down all over the place. We also had a chat to some of ladies who were heavily affected by it as well, which was interesting.”
ChemClear National Program Manager Lisa Nixon was delighted to be able to lend a helping hand.
“We are pleased to be able to support rural women in obtaining further professional development through conferences and seminars by providing travel bursaries,” Ms. Nixon said.
“It really helps them mix with other women working on farms and helps create a diverse knowledge on the farming sector.”
Marice is a regular contributor to the drumMUSTER program and is always looking to play her part in reducing the environmental dangers caused by burning or burying empty chemical containers. The positive effect of the service is also being felt by a fellow MCGN member.
“One of our members actually lives on the river around here and she has said that the number of empty containers floating downstream is far less than it used to be,” she said.
“We take our drums back to our local tip all the time; we find drumMUSTER is a very good program for us.”
To find out more about the drumMUSTER program, head online at www.drummuster.com.au or call 1800 008 707.
For any ChemClear enquiries, log on to www.chemclear.com.au